And the cycle of incompetent journalism continues. Charles C. Johnson, the editor-in-chief of GotNews.com and the St. Louis Dispatch are now suing to try and get access to Brown’s juvenile records. That it has no relevance to his murder doesn’t seem to matter:
“There is interest in knowing Michael Brown’s background,” [Joe] Martineau [the attorney for the St. Louis Dispatch] said. “What we’re asking for here is just verification, one way or the other … We’re acting in a vacuum here.”
[Cynthia] Harcourt [the St. Louis County juvenile office’s attorney] said that “simple curiosity” doesn’t trump the state’s legal interest in protecting minors accused of crimes.
The fact that Brown didn’t face any juvenile charges at the time of his death will probably be lost in all this. Let the smearing of Mike Brown’s character continue.
Team Blackness also discussed free weed in Berkeley, belated justice in the Renisha McBride case, and the police arrest of a young black politician for distributing voting rights leaflets.
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OzarkHillbilly
As a long time St Louisan, I am not surprised. And for the record? It’s called the “St Louis Post Disgrace.“
ranchandsyrup
Chuckles is still going after the records and is now going after Brown’s father’s records. Also, is a gigantic turd.
BGinCHI
Elon, I assume you missed the threads yesterday where we christened Mr. Johnson. Please welcome:
Cudlip Johnson.
(to avoid confusion with the LGF Charles Johnson)
PurpleGirl
I was disheartened by the murder of Michael Brown. The efforts made to disrespect him further are gross and disgusting. I feel so sorry for his parents and family who have to hear all this BS.
Violet
I know some news organization was trying to get Officer Darren Wilson’s juvenile record as well. Anyone know where that stands?
jl
So many victims of police thuggery to smear, so little time. So many hacks operating in ‘a vacuum here’ wrt to ethics, morals, brains and even sub-normal but functional levels of common sense.
Because quite a few of these white bigots coincidentally always find beating up or shooting or baseless harassment or unjust imprisonment of somebody from a group they don;t happen to like, is really all for the best, ALL things they think should be considered, and of course, exactly in the way they decide to consider them, no matter how far fetched or fantastical. To question their nonsense in any way is always racist against whites of course.That is a very important point with them to get out in front and repeat over and over again.
Disgusting people, a discredit to my race. I apologize for them, to all decent people, as a gesture of goodwill.
lamh36
@Violet: that was actually just meant as sarcasm, i think.. It was in reaction to the STD request and it was posted as an editiorial blog post. I don’t believe it was a serious request.
over at LGF, last week I believe, they had a post about the “counter” request
Violet
@lamh36: Oh, okay. I thought someone had actually done it. Why not do it? Seems fair.
Elie
I though that these accusations have already proven untrue and irrelevant.
Of more significance, today the Ferguson PD has agreed to cooperate with the Dept of Justice. That will not be good for a lot of folks on that PD and to me, is an even better outcome than trying to get that loser Wilson.
Lets face it: a lot of local police, especially in small towns and suburbs, are likely folks who have been unable to do anything else. Many have backgrounds in the military and do not have the requisite intelligence to overwrite that training with appropriate assessment and intervention skills necessary for an urban police officer. Being a bully is the only thing that they know and have. Most are white, but not all….
There will be losers and morons trying to dangle shinny objects about Michael Brown for a long time to come. They adhere to nothing noble or righteous – just smearing and resentment. It is the mark of losers — and they know it. Long after their clown show has closed up, the impact of this will be helping us — yes, helping us. It was unintentional, but now everyone is talking about the over militarization of the police. White friends of mine are remembering times that they were stopped for traffic offenses and were treated as though they were in Fallujah. Folks get it in deeper ways than if we purposely tried to get them to get it by less horrible means.
So don’t freak out too much about what these sad folks have to say. The lesson was given — not the one that they wanted to give, but the real one that matters…
shelley
He was nineteen , no? So no longer a juvenile. If he was going to be charged with anything, wouldn’t it have happened before?
Mandalay
@Elie:
Today the NYT reproduced a detailed analysis (from 2007 unfortunately) of white cops in the police force compared to whites in the local population.
Mike J
@Elie: Probably a hundred Barney Fifes per Andy Taylor.
jl
@Elie:
” I though that these accusations have already proven untrue and irrelevant. ”
Perhaps so, but those issues are completely irrelevant (to these bigots).
Elie
@Mandalay:
Of course, the “right” answer to the statistics for this study would be 0 to +10 or each location? What is the “right number”? The majority culture (still) is white. We want the police to generally reflect the communities in which they serve. How much should this “match”?
What do we want ALL the cops, whether white or black to do? I will tell you, I am black and know that all cops have issues. We focus on the white ones, but plenty of black and latino cops have the same bullying habits. How do we get better cops? YES — I want the racial mix of the cops in a town or locale to reflect the community that they police — but its not the only thing. Lets not lose sight of that..
RepubAnon
That’s the problem with calling them “news stories” rather than “news” – folks want to tell a story, and look for things to support the story rather than the truth. It’s why you don’t want people conducting an inventory check to know how many items of each type are on the shelf – they see what they think is true, rather than the reality.
Here, of course, the comfortable narrative for folks who don’t care to admit their prejudices needs to be that:
a) Michael Brown was a “thug”
b) The police department in Ferguson are a bunch of violent racists.
The evidence to date seems to support “b” – so the folks who worship police activity that is not directed at white men on horseback in Nevada are desperately seeking some facts, any facts, that can be stretched to support their favored story: “a”.
JaneE
Just how desperate are these people? You don’t need to search for a reason to justify killing Michael Brown unless there was no reason to justify his death in the first place. The people who shout “innocent till proven guilty” for the officer, don’t want to offer the victim the same courtesy.
jl
@Elie: I agree. Having a government workforce that reflects the make up the population is an important goal. But getting a nice situation where the government workforce, especially the police with their guns and tasers and clubs and handcuffs and all, which knows and follows the law might take priority,. At least in the short run, until other issues are fixed.
But, I am sure the NYT finds their analysis of facts already well known an nice distraction. I am OK with it, since it is a problem. Anyone know if they published anything on the police lawlessness issue, straight up and no flinching? Or not?
Roger Moore
@Elie:
They’ve said he didn’t have an serious felonies, but they haven’t revealed his whole record. By asking for his whole record, which they have no right to whatsoever, they can keep the smear going. Even better, they can pretend the authorities’ refusal to give them the records is a coverup rather than exactly what the law requires. If they can keep the campaign going for a while longer, they can set in people’s minds that he was a criminal even through there isn’t any evidence.
Mnemosyne
As I’ve said before, it’s pretty much guaranteed that they’re going to find some kind of juvenile record for Michael Brown, because pretty much every man, woman, and child in that town has had some kind of charge, ticket, or citation issued to them. Radley Balko has the biggest article about it out now, but I think at least one other person beat him to the punch on that aspect of the story.
Elie
@Mnemosyne:
That is why I want us to also think about (not focus exclusively but think about), the broader take aways. As I said above, the issue that reverberates is the militarization issue. That is tied to this and the power of that issue pulls the issue of cop abuse of black young men into the same orbit.
I want Michael Brown to receive FORMAL justice within our system. Failing that, however, he can still receive another kind of justice almost as profound… his murder can possibly change what we expect of our policemen as Emmett Till did for the civil rights struggle.
Lets look at narrow AND broad justice.
Roger Moore
@JaneE:
Exactly. Your problem is that you want an impartial search for the facts. The people who want to find about his juvenile record don’t give a damn about an impartial search for facts; they want to find support for their preferred conclusions. If there was none at the scene, they’re going to look into his background, his family and friends’ background, etc. until they find some.
Elie
@Roger Moore:
Let them spend their energies there. It won’t matter. As I said, the resonant issue they can do little about. All their work will just underscore the dog whistle to the racists and won’t help improve their message to the general population that really is hooked to the militarization and over use of power. Their train let the station a couple of weeks back and there is not way to link the absent and paranoid Wilson to a broader positive message.
MomSense
One part of me is following every new angle to this “story”; the Justice Dept. investigations, the RW smearing, the community response and organizing, the erratic and inconsistent media handling of this case, and of course the so far non-existent criminal prosecution of officer Wilson. The other part of me is just grieving for the parents–for the brutal agony that they have to endure. Michael Brown’s parents are part of a long and unbroken chain of parents enduring the brutal agony of losing their precious children to a systematic, insidious, sometimes violent, and ever present racism that is sanctioned and perpetuated by the very people who are supposed to keep us safe.
Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)
Thank you for posting these free samples, cuz $20/mo to subscribe is too rich for my blood these days. Now if this girl whose rent I am paying could finally get her damn medicaid/disability/section 8 then we could talk. She hasn’t gotten her paperwork straight because of her disability, you know, one of those deals. But trying to be her social worker is every bit as exhausting to me as it is for her so it’s easier to give up a week’s worth of pay. Fucking Florida.
It’s times like this I wish I had a religion because there are some people who really ought to be called to account for all the suffering they have caused, but that will never, ever happen in this lifetime.
SFAW
Oh, Elon, you crack me up sometimes. I mean, it’s not as if Michael Brown was a “regular” American.
But the question I haven’t seen answered is: what type of counter tops are in his home? Because that would provide an insight into Brown’s state of mind, when he tried to murder Brave Officer Wilson, after Wilson inquired politely regarding whether Brown might not be endangering himself by walking in/near the road.
Oh, and for the record: fuck Chuck Johnson. He (almost) makes O’Queefe seem (relatively) benign. The world would be a better place if they killed themselves, or each other. Perhaps not as beneficial to the country as the death of Evil Andy Breitbart, but it’s a start.
ETA: And in case anyone was wondering: Evil Andy Breitbart is still dead.
rikyrah
the arresting of the young man is just making another activist and they don’t get it. they don’t get that you’re not going to beat down this young man. you are making him into a leader, who will be fighting for his community
mclaren
Why don’t they just cut to the chase and sue to get access to records of Michael Brown’s blackness? Because they’re genuinely interested in knowing how black he is. Michael Brown could have been, you know…been guilty of aggravated blackness, with intent to be dusky.
Shakezula
Just
Asking
Questions!
That’s because you suck.
A semi-decent attorney would be concerned that his client was going to get whacked with a libel suit, so it sounds like this paper has gotten the legal counsel it deserves.
El Caganer
If they hadn’t crawled up their own assholes, they wouldn’t be acting in a vacuum.