Riots are the Language of the Unheard

No indictment.

No formal charges brought against a white cop for killing a black teenager. I guess if you’re a cop, some rules don’t apply. Usually, when you murder someone, you get charged, arrested and tried … in St. Louis County, Miss., you don’t even get charged.

The prosecutor, Bob McCulloch, used a secret grand jury to “decide” whether or not to indict Darren Wilson, the officer who killed Michael Brown. The grand jury consisted of nine whites and three blacks and it would’ve required nine votes to get an indictment.

Typically, prosecutors tell the grand jury a variety of charges that could be brought forth against the defendant. McCulloch didn’t recommend any charges.

Usually grand juries don’t hear from the defense, but in McCulloch’s grand jury, Wilson testified for hours.

Usually they announce the decision of the grand jury at a later date; in this case, however, the announcement was made around 8 at night, as if to incite certain violence and instability, and ensure there was no way to get any questions answered.

Seems fair doesn’t it?

Grand juries tend to side with the prosecutor which would usually be bad for the defense.

Not the case of Ferguson, because the prosecutor didn’t want to indict Wilson. He didn’t want to bring charges against him. McCulloch’s father was a police officer who was killed by a black man, so of course he didn’t want to charge a man with manslaughter (or worse) who was a cop just “doing his job.”

After the murder of Michael Brown, the police department started using tear gas to control riots. Tear gas, by the way, has been banned in warfare since 1993, but apparently Ferguson police have an arsenal of it. Then they brought out the big guns and began roaming the streets with tanks to show the citizens of Ferguson how much cops like to “protect” their city.

Dr. Martin Luther King once said that “riots are the language of the unheard.” Maybe it’s time someone starts listening to the people of Ferguson.