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Missouri State Police Captain Ron Johnson is a tall, big, imposing black man. He was sent to Ferguson, Missouri to dialogue with the people, to get down with them, to be a bridge over troubled waters. Unfortunately, he forgot his place; he forgot who and what he was. I am not, gentle readers, referring to race, at least not in that context.

credit: the guardian.com

credit: the guardian.com

Ferguson, and the rest of America, are seeing community organizing at work. Descending on Ferguson are Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton, Benjamin Crump–an attorney heavily involved in the George Zimmerman persecution-and the race hustling surrounding that prosecution–the New Black Panthers, and a variety of other race hustlers, media fellow travelers, and other social parasites.

Johnson, much of the media, and surely Johnson’s superiors apparently thought that because he is black and successful, he would have some magic power over the crowds and could establish “dialogue” and cause everyone to “work together.” That notion was quickly dashed.

Traveling on a short trip on Saturday, the 16th of August, I listened via Sirius radio to a live press conference with Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Capt. Johnson in which the Captain tried his “this is not who we are,” and “let’s all just work together” schtick. Much of the crowd wasn’t buying and he was frequently shouted down.

What Johnson and others seem to have forgotten is that good intentions and being the “right” color don’t matter at all to community organizers, race hustlers and criminals. They’re not present to establish racial harmony and sing “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing In Perfect Harmony.” They’re present to loot, party, inspire people to be at each other’s throats and keep them there, shakedown anyone that can enrich them, and to behave like community organizers, race hustlers and criminals. They don’t give a boatload of dead rodents what color Ron Johnson or anyone else is, unless that’s useful in their con games. In fact, in situations like this, they’re more likely to consider Johnson a traitor to his race than to say, “my, shouldn’t we all emulate that fine example of an upright black man?”

They were also apparently blind to the fact that in an essentially anti-police atmosphere, an atmosphere where the media and others are screaming about the evils of police officers using military-like vehicles and wearing SWAT-like tactical clothing, employing tear gas and similar crowd control weapons, there are no police uniforms more militaristic in appearance than state trooper uniforms. Johnson obviously understood this to at least some degree because he was seen out in public without his hat. This is significant because state troopers are more serious about the wearing of hats than the preservation of life itself. A state trooper without his hat is like the Lone Ranger without his mask.

Captain Johnson is apparently a fine man and officer, and it’s good of him to try to bring peace–it’s his job–but he’s a police officer. That’s not a problem for good people of any color, but for the people he wants to teach to sing in perfect harmony, he’ll always be nothing more than a cop. He’d be wise to keep that in mind, and according to media reports, after his Saturday press opportunity, many residents of the community approached the “approachable” Captain and let him know just that, and not particularly kindly.

I simply don’t know enough about the circumstances of Michael Brown’s death to make any intelligent commentary on it. I will, in this initial article of what will almost certainly become a series, make a few general observations.

STATISTICAL HYSTERIA:

A variety of pundits, including some who should know better, have observed that Ferguson has changed over the course of several decades from a majority white town to a majority black town. They are blaming the current uproar over the fact that only about four of the officers in Ferguson’s 50-some officer police department are black. This means, to their way of thinking, that Ferguson officials have been horribly negligent in not making the staffing of the Ferguson police department look exactly like the statistical racial makeup of Ferguson, and this supposed “fact” is somehow a contributing factor to all manner of ills. Right.

One can argue about the value and validity of such racial quota mongering, but before one bewails the apparent lack of black faces in blue, it might be good to know how many qualified black people have applied to be Ferguson officers in recent years. Should that number amount to what is commonly known as “few to none,” Ferguson officials might appear to be a bit less negligent. Of course, racial quota mavens will simply argue that this would mean that Ferguson should have done far, far more to recruit them, because having the right colored people in the right numbers is far more important than competence.

THE CHILD/MAN:

Michael Brown has been called a “teenager,” an “18 year-old child,” and 18 year-old teenager,” and a variety of other formulations aimed at making him seem very young and child-like. Those that have followed this scruffy blog’s coverage of the Trayvon Martin case are familiar with that tactic. From the moment he was killed, Martin essentially reverted in age to a child, and a virtual fetus at his trial, the better to ramp up sympathy and muddy the waters.

While any 18 year-old is surely a teenager, as is a 19 year old, they’re commonly considered adults in law and practice unless there is some reason to infantilize them. Many 18 year olds are anxious to be thought of as adults, and 18 is the magic age determining juvenile or adult charges in the criminal justice system. Something to watch and consider as the drama progresses.

Johnson

ROBBERY? ROBBERY DON’T MATTER!

Since the dissemination of stills from Michael Brown’s robbery of a local quick shop a short time before he was killed, even the attorney representing Brown’s companion present for both incidents has admitted that Brown was there, and that it is Brown in the video. However, they have claimed this wasn’t a robbery, and even if it was, it has no bearing whatever on his death shortly thereafter, and it amounts to nothing more than character assassination of a dead man, er boy, er teenager.

This is the Missouri statute that applies:

Robbery in the second degree.

569.030. 1. A person commits the crime of robbery in the second degree when he forcibly steals property.  Robbery in the second degree is a class B felony [Punishable by not less then 5 years and not more than 15 years].

Brown certainly stole property, and by grabbing the much smaller clerk by the neck and pushing him–Brown was 6’4” tall and in the 300 pound range–used force. In other states, robbery without a weapon, employing physical force, is often called “strongarm robbery.” Because Brown was 18, he would surely have been facing adult felony charges.

Some have suggested that because Officer Darren Wilson apparently wasn’t aware of the robbery when he found Brown and his friend walking down the middle of a street about 10 minutes after the robbery, the robbery has no bearing whatever on his death. Nonsense.

Even if Officer Wilson wasn’t aware of the robbery, Brown certainly was, and his frame of mind, knowing that he had just robbed a store, is a substantial factor in this case.  Walking down the middle of a road after just robbing a store might well indicate an aggressive, hostile frame of mind.

ERIC HOLDER TO THE RESCUE:

US Attorney General Eric Holder has already injected the federal government into this case, even ordering a separate federal autopsy of Brown’s body because of the “extraordinary”  nature of the case. News accounts of as many as 40 FBI agents blanketing the community are circulating.

Erik Scott, a red-headed, white West Point graduate was shot and killed by three Las Vegas Metro officers under highly suspicious circumstances, and Holder wasn’t the least interested.

Jose Guerena, a two-tour Hispanic Marine combat veteran was shot to death in his own home in Tucson by a panicky SWAT team and left to bleed out for more than an hour. Holder saw nothing extraordinary in that.

I guess they weren’t Holder’s “people.”  Obviously, Michael Brown is.  I wonder why?

Federal involvement will ensure that regardless of the facts, Holder’s people will get their pound of flesh.  Officer Darren Wilson, regardless of how justified he may have been, is probably toast.  Sentence first, trial later.  Guilty until proved guilty.

OUTSIDERS:

Some claiming to speak for Ferguson residents, many of whom are black, say that the races get along very well in Ferguson, and those looting, organizing the community and causing other kinds of trouble are outside agitators. This may very well be true. Most Americans are too busy making a living and caring for their families to harbor or act on racial animosities. Unless, of course, some folks are community spirited enough to come to town to organize those kinds of hatreds.

Something else to keep an eye on in Ferguson.

YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN:

During the early morning hours of Saturday, August 16, looters ran, unrestrained, in Ferguson. Storeowners called every law enforcement agency in the area, and when they called the Police were told to call the Sheriff. Calling the sheriff, they were told to call the Highway Patrol. Calling the Highway patrol…you get the idea. No one came. No one arrested the looters.

This is a reminder of something all police officers know. The only reason they can do their jobs and survive is because most people are willing to obey most laws most of the time. It takes very little and only a very small proportion of the public to refuse to obey the law, to riot and loot, to render the police essentially useless. It puts the officers in the position of having to use deadly force to reestablish order, and of course, if they did that, they’d be crucified.  This is particularly true when political correctness is involved and officers don’t want to be accused or racial insensitivity.

They’re viciously criticized for using too much force in maintaining order, and as a result, become completely gun shy.

Is anyone surprised to learn that storeowners and their friends took up arms and restored order when the police would not? By then, a great deal of damage had been done, but one of the primary purposes of the Second Amendment was vindicated yet again.

The veneer of civilization is thin indeed.

I’ll add more about this situation as it develops.