Joe Scarborough Demonstrates a Clear Divide

On Cyber Monday on Morning Joe the host Joe Scarborough threw a tantrum about what he views as a liberal media bias in the reporting of the protesters after the August police shooting of 18 year old, unarmed Michael Brown by Ferguson, Missouri policeman Darrin Wilson and America’s reaction to the grand jury not indicting officer Darrin Wilson and the lionizing by the protesters of Michael Brown, the young man left on the streets dead for more than four hours in Ferguson, Missouri.

Joe Scarborough may never understand.  In his statements he demonstrates a true misunderstanding of the situation and may not realize that he was possibly manipulated by the Ferguson police department when it released the tape of Michael Brown purportedly robbing a convenience store. In his remarks, he references the store video while comparing Michael Brown to, in his words, the “thuggish” George Zimmerman, the self- appointed neighborhood watchman who killed Trayvon Martin. Unfortunately, Joe displays a naive belief that Michael Brown is being held up as a hero. The tape was released by a police department that tried to sway public opinion from the very start with the hope that the tape would extinguish the anguish of protesters and any supporters. The police department was quick in releasing the convenience store tape even though it would not release the police report of the incident, the autopsy report or the accused police officers name and picture. Does that mean the police chief may have intentionally attempted to mislead the public by saying the tape was released because of a freedom of information request? It was later determined that no such request was made. The police department did admit that the released tape had nothing to do with the case; causing many to wonder why the tape was released in the first place.

Joe Scarborough may not understand that despite the so called "ghetto" where Michael Brown was killed or what his family looks like or what Michael looks like, he has civil rights that were violated. Most importantly, Joe may not understand that the movement sparked by the Ferguson homicide was like the Million Man March; the movement was inevitable but waiting on a much needed spark. As the O.J. trial can be credited with fueling the mass participation of the Million Man March, the death of another African-American child at the hands of police sparked today's unrest throughout the country.  I believe the continued protest is much more about the decades of police brutality across America's minority communities. Everyday there is a story about police injustice and how police change the narrative and make the victim a tainted suspect unworthy of sympathy or, as officer Darrin Wilson referred to Michael Brown in his grand jury testimony, a demon to be despised. Cameras on many of America's streets today capture a true picture of the encounter with law enforcement and with it, often times, police in the act of undermining a citizens civil rights. For example,  the recent killing of 12 year old Tamir Rice in Cleveland playing alone with a toy gun, 43 year old Eric Garner in Brooklyn accused of selling single cigarettes, 22 year old John Crawford III in Wal Mart for holding a display toy gun, etc. The list seems endless. I personally feel the pain of these families as an American who is Black and professional and a college graduate who has been profiled and lost friends at the hands of police under questionable circumstances; Prince Jones killed by a Prince Georges County Maryland police, shot 4 times in the back at 3 am in Virginia after being followed through three jurisdictions without the undercover officer contacting police in any of the jurisdictions and Tyrone Guyton, a 12 year old gunned down in Oakland California by Emeryville California police; both unarmed and tainted by lies and innuendo.

Joe Scarborough and many Americans of similar age and background who have been privileged for most or all of their lives and, yes I believe, as Joe stated, there are many that feel like he does, just don't get it. Individuals who don't realize the protest, while sparked by the shooting death of Michael Brown, is as much about America's continued blind eye every time this happens; where the public returns to business as usual, spending money to prop up a weak economy that under-employs Brown people and merely says shame the next time similar deaths happen under strange and unexplainable circumstances. We must find a way to end the division and come together as One Nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.