Posts Tagged ‘Michael Brown’
Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum: Ferguson Burns As Darren Wilson Walks
The news is full of images of rioting in Ferguson, Missouri. The Grand Jury decided not to charge white Officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of black Michael Brown. The jury – 12 members of the community (nine white, and three black) – found that Wilson acted lawfully when he shot dead an unarmed black teenager.
Read the rest of this entry »
Michael Brown And Ferguson: Biased Cops, Blacks Vote Out Whites And Westboro Church Bigots
THERE is a reason why the police are warned about posting on social media in the UK. It’s to prevent them from looking biased and commenting on cases. But people will be people. As the BBC reports:
Hundreds of police officers have been investigated for breaching social media guidelines, research has revealed.Freedom of Information requests by the Press Association found officers made racist comments online and asked crime victims to become Facebook friends.
Of 828 cases in England and Wales from 2009 to February this year, 9% ended in resignation, dismissal or retirement.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 20th, August 2014 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
News Vines: CNN Anchor Suggests Police Fire Water Cannons In Ferguson
HOW do you quell the protests in Ferguson? Unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown was quietened by a hail of police bullets. The mayor opted for a curfew. But CNN anchor Rosemary Churchhas a new idea:
“Talk to us about what police are saying to you. Why they are using this strategy? Why the use of tear gas, stun grenades? Why not perhaps use water cannons?”
Co-anchor Errol Barnett’s reaction has become an internet meme.
She’s some kind of progressive:
FILE – In this July 15, 1963 file photo, firefighters use their water hose against civil rights demonstrators in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Bill Hudson, File) Date: 15/07/1963
The next generation will learn from their elders:
Michael Brown Killed In Ferguson: The Autopsy Photos
THE Michael Brown autoposy in Missouri. Police shot the unarmed black teenager 6 times.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 19th, August 2014 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
Michael Brown: Why The Death Of A Black Man In Missouri Is World News
STACY MCCAIN has a view on why the trouble following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, is front-page news in the UK:
Here’s the thing: Stories like this happen all the time.
People get shot to death on a daily basis in America, and if I was required to express an opinion every time somebody died in a shooting, I’d never have time to comment on anything else. The only reason the the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, has become The Biggest Story in History of the Whole Freaking World is that (a) Brown was black, and (b) the cop who shot him was white.
That’s it — the whole story.
Criminal suspects getting shot by cops isn’t really unusual. Brown was unarmed, but the policeman who shot him — identified as Darren Wilson — didn’t know that. There was a robbery, and Brown matched the description of a suspect. I don’t know the details of Brown’s encounter with Officer Wilson, and can’t say why he drew his gun and fired. If you forced me to speculate, I’d guess that Officer Wilson believed Brown might be armed, and that Brown made a sudden move that caused Officer Wilson to believe Brown might be reaching for a gun, at which point Officer Wilson made a split-second decision that turned out to be completely wrong. But that’s just speculation, as is nearly 100% of what idiots have been saying about this story.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 19th, August 2014 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Michael Brown: Shot Six Times, Once Through The Skull For Being Black And Non-Compliant
MICHAEL Brown was shot six times by polcie in Ferguson , Missouri. So says a private autopsy.
The New York Times says one bullet pierced the top of Brown’s skull. Four bullets hit his right arm. None hit him in the back.
Brown, 18, was unarmed.
Read the rest of this entry »
Michael Brown: The Killing Of A Bolshie Unarmed Black Teenager In Photos
WHEN Michael Brown, 18, was killed by police in the Ferguson suburb of St Louis, Missouri, there was outrage. Michael Brown was an unarmed, black teenager. The story goes that Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson, 22, were walking down the middle of the road. It was around noon.
The police car approached. They were told to move.
Dorian Johnson says police yelled: “Get the f*** onto the sidewalk”.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 14th, August 2014 | In: Reviews | Comments (3)
Police Brutality: Music Against Cops
FILE – This file photo of Rodney King was taken three days after his videotaped beating in Los Angeles on March 6, 1991. King, the black motorist whose 1991 videotaped beating by Los Angeles police officers was the touchstone for one of the most destructive race riots in the nation’s history, has died, his publicist said Sunday, June 17, 2012. He was 47. (AP Photo/Pool, File)
ANOTHER young black man has been killed by the police in America and there’s the all too familiar narrative to it all.
Vigils, pleas to be heard and unrest has ensued after Michael Brown was shot dead by a police officer in Ferguson. Eye-witnesses have likened the killing to an execution and the policeman in question has been put on paid leave while officials investigate.
Of course, the list of people killed in controversial circumstances by US police forces is depressingly long and, of course, pop-culture has tracked and chronicled what’s happened.
With that, let us listen to some of the most effective tracks about police brutality – some famous, some less so, and spare a thought for those who have been affected by the state killing their children.
Public Enemy ‘911 Is A Joke’
Public Enemy are the most successful group to align politics and music together. In ‘911 Is A Joke’, they expertly detail just how they the can’t trust law and order in America. A lot of things said by PE, even though the message is 20+ years old, are still appallingly true.
Hip Hop For Respect ‘A Tree Never Grown’
In February 1999, 23-year-old Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo was shot to death by four NYPD police officers after the wallet he withdrew from his jacket was mistaken for a gun. The officers involved were acquitted. A veritable supergroup of black musicians (including Mos Def and Talib Kweli) got together for ‘Hip Hop For Respect’, and in blue-collar rock, Bruce Springsteen recorded American Skins (41 Shots) for the same cause.
Black Flag ‘Police Story’
Black Flag have always had a problem with the police and in ’81, the hit out at the authorities with this one-inch-punch of noise.
NWA ‘Fuck Tha Police’
NWA were never going to shy away from taking on the long arm of the law. The song foresaw the mass resentment towards the police that later exploded in the LA Riots in 1992 after the death of Rodney King. NWA even alleged that black people in the police were worse than the whites: “Don’t let it be a black and a white one ’cause they’ll slam ya down to the street top – black police showing out for the white cop”
Dave Goodman & Friends ‘Justifiable Homicide’
Dave Goodman was the sound man for the Sex Pistols’ earliest recordings. However, Goodman put together a band and released ‘Justifiable Homicide’, which protested against the killing of 39-year-old Liddle Towers by British police. After arrest, Towers spent a night in jail where he was brutalised by police to the point where his injuries killed him. An inquest into the incident determined Towers’ death as “justifiable homicide.”
Bodycount ‘Cop Killer’
Ice T’s ‘Bodycount’ did not mince their feelings about the police. Looking at police brutality, Ice T tells a story of someone who can take it no more, and does something themselves. President Bush, Tipper Gore and Dan Quayle were unsurprisingly horrified at the song.
The Hates ‘LA Riots’
The Hates said of their song: “I wrote “L.A. Riot” after the Rodney King debacle and the resulting aftermath. It seemed incredible to me at the time that police brutality could even exist. We as people are supposed to be better than that. Even more incredible was the police trial. Justice seemed blind and it felt as if we had no power against a group who are supposed to protect and serve but end up using their authority to take their frustrations out on others. The riots after the police trial made me feel like we were all living in a Mad Max world.”
