Don’t give a pass to false narratives

Last updated 8/15/2019 at Noon

Two presidential candidates did a very bad thing last weekend: Kamala Harris tweeted that “Michael Brown’s murder forever changed Ferguson and America. His tragic death sparked a desperately needed conversation and nationwide movement. We must fight for stronger accountability and racial equity in our justice system.”

Elizabeth Warren upped the ante: “5 years ago Michael Brown was murdered by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael was unarmed yet he was shot six times. I stand with activists and organizers who continue to fight for justice for Michael. We must confront systemic racism and police violence head on.”

They are promulgating a false narrative — a narrative that was comprehensively debunked by the investigation and report of the Obama Justice Department in 2015. The report is readily available online. Brown’s killing may have been tragic — nobody wants to see a young man’s life snuffed out — but calling it murder is inflammatory.

Harris and Warren are intelligent, highly articulate women; they know better. They know exactly what their words mean and the effect they are seeking to create with them.

The persistent narrative that Brown was “murdered” — as some persist in claiming, shot in the back while running away or with his hands up (“Hands up! Don’t shoot!”) — is clearly debunked by the forensics and witness testimony. The report states:

“The physical evidence establishes that (Officer Darren) Wilson shot Brown once in the hand, at close range, while Wilson sat in his police SUV, struggling with Brown for control of Wilson’s gun.

Wilson then shot Brown several more times from a distance of at least two feet after Brown ran away from Wilson and then turned and faced him.

There are no witness accounts that federal prosecutors, and likewise a jury, would credit to support the conclusion that Wilson fired at Brown from behind.

With the two exceptions of the wounds to Brown’s right arm which indicate neither bullet trajectory nor the direction in which Brown was moving when he was struck, the medical examiners’ reports are in agreement that the entry wounds from the latter gunshots were to the front of Brown’s body, establishing that Brown was facing Wilson when those shots were fired.

This includes the fatal shot to the top of Brown’s head.

The physical evidence also establishes that Brown moved forward toward Wilson after he turned around to face him.

The physical evidence is corroborated by multiple eyewitnesses.”

Those who — rightly — criticize President Donald Trump for his lies and inflammatory rhetoric must hold “progressive” candidates to the same standard. Apologists for Warren and Harris may wave off their use of the word “murder” as mere semantics — but they know better, too. At least they should.

Condemning the rhetoric of “their guy” while giving a pass for the same kind of rhetoric from “our guy” is part of the reason we’re in the divided, hyper-partisan state of affairs we’re in.

Those who are promoting civil discourse in Sisters and elsewhere will never get to goal unless they’re willing to hold everyone in the arena to the same standard.

Bad police shootings happen. Racism exists. A cop in Charleston, South Carolina, who really did shoot an unarmed black man in the back while he was running away is sitting right where he belongs — in prison for 20 years.

Facts matter. The rule of law is a precious gift the founders of the republic gave us. It is the final protection of the smallest minority — the individual — from the tyranny of the majority. That we have failed to truly apply the concept of “liberty and justice for all” through our history brings us shame — but you cannot fix that by abrogating the concept in the present.

Each case must be judged on its individual merits and on the facts as best they can be determined — not on what people want to believe or, worse, what is politically expedient for them to believe.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.