In recent months, police brutality has become a rising topic with many, many different sides and thoughts. One case imparticular that has caused a lot of chaos and controversy is the shooting of Michael Brown which took place late last year. In this case, an African-American man died because of a white police officer. Many people, mostly African-Americans, believe that Michael Brown was killed simply because of his skin color. However, many other people, mostly those who are not African-American, believe that African-Americans are simply using excuses to get out of violence and other illegal acts.

Facts about the Michael Brown Case

To begin, the Michael Brown incident took place on August 9, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. Eighteen year old, Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer, Darren Wilson. Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson, were both robbing a convenience store of several packs of cigarillos. Officer Wilson heard over the police radio from another officer at around 12:00 P.M. of the robbery. Wilson originally approached the two men, not knowing they were the robbers and he simply asked them to walk on the sidewalk instead of in the middle of the road. Brown, clearly angered by this, supposedly retorted back, “What the —are you gonna do about it?” During this time Wilson went to get out of his vehicle, but Brown pushed the door back shut, preventing him from getting out. Wilson told him to step away from the car, but then Brown hit him in the side of the head with his fist. By the way, Brown was much heavier than Wilson and Wilson stated in an interview, “I felt like a five-year old holding onto Hulk Hogan” (“Darren Wilson explains why he kill Michael Brown”). At this time, Wilson drew his gun and told Brown he was going to shoot him if he didn’t back away. Next, Brown reached for his gun and both men were fighting for it. When Wilson finally was able to get both of his hands on it, he pulled the trigger but nothing happened. Again, he pulled the trigger, but same thing. No bullet came out. Finally, he shot for a third time and the gun did fire, hitting Brown in the shoulder. Brown, only became angrier and began beating on Wilson more. The officer tried shooting at him twice more, but the weapon wasn’t working. Brown along with Johnson, both eventually took off running. Wilson yelled at Brown to get on the ground. Then, Brown stopped, turned around, and began charging at the police officer. The officer shot multiple times, hitting Brown 6 times before he finally dropped dead.

Racist or Coincidence?

Honestly, I feel that this was just a police officer doing his job and trying to stay alive. When you have a man, double your size, beating on you with all of his might, you will do anything to not die. Now the question is, was Officer Wilson racist? I could not disagree more. This case had absolutely nothing to do with race, in fact if anything, I think Michael Brown was the racist. I personally feel that if Wilson had been an African-American cop of around the same size, he might have chosen his words and actions more carefully. Is it sad that a young man died? Of course it is, but he would still be alive had he not caused the trouble himself. A police officer literally just asked him to walk on the sidewalk. That is not asking for much at all. There is no reason why Brown could have just walked to the side of the road and kept his mouth shut. To make matters worse for Brown, Wilson didn’t even bring up the fact that Johnson was holding a bag of cigarillos. Do I think that there are some racist police officers out there? Yes, but you could say this about any profession. There are racist dentists, but does that mean that all dentists are racist? No, of course not. Thus, although this story caused a lot of anger and sadness, hopefully in the future people will finally live in peace and harmony without discrimination.

~Samantha