It now looks like the Department of Justice is not going to take any action in the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. I'm not really surprised, but I am very disappointed. This basically gives racist policemen (and there are many in this country) the green light to murder minorities with impunity.
Here is the Green Party's response to this discouraging development, written by Green Party Shadow Cabinet member Marsha Coleman Adebayo on January 23rd:
With the New York Times' reporting that the Department of Justice has decided not to bring charges against former Ferguson, Missouri police officer, Darren Wilson and asserting that now DOJ is only working on the language of the decision, the Obama administration has become complicit in the murder of Michael Brown. "We have waged a good fight since August 9th," said Hands Up Coalition Coordinator, Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo. "It was our Coalition staying here week in and week out, good weather and bad, with numbers growing every week that made them move so quickly. Still, at least we won't have to wait for over 2 yearslike Travon Martin's family continues to wait for findings in the investigation into Travon's killing by George Zimmerman in 2013. We smoked them out. Sadly, the DOJ decided in favor of killer cops. The families of John Crawford, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner and all the other victims around the country can let go of any illusions that DOJ is in their corner." "Hiding behind feeble argument that the government needs to show that Darren Wilson intentionally denied Michael Brown his civil rights is chicken shit," said Kevin Berends, Director of Communications, No FEAR Coalition. "They didn't even have to go there. The Fourth Amendment guarantees that citizens need not be afraid of the government using excessive force. Michael Brown was unarmed. He had already been hit by a volley of shots before Darren Wilson unleashed the final burst. Just how dangerous did Wilson think Mike was after taking upwards of 5 rounds before Wilson fired the final head shots?" The Times did not even mention the gross misuse of the Grand Jury system by St. Louis District Attorney Robert McCullough. "The DA had a conflict of interest. He stacked the jury, he manipulated witnessesin some cases with people he knew to be lying. He allowed no adversarial cross examination and then presented the findings as though they were arrived at justly," said Dr. Coleman-Adebayo. "And he stalled for three full months while decent people were getting beaten, shot, pepper sprayed, sound bombed and teargassedwhen he could have accomplished all he had to do in a single day's work by acknowledging that 16 people said Michael Brown's hands were up when he was murdered. It was not up to Bob McCullough to decide guilt or innocence in this case. It was up to him to let a jury decide. But that would have included Michael Brown's peers and McCullough couldn't risk exposing one of his goons to a fair trial." DOJ could have intervened for any one of those egregious acts, but did not. "The Obama administration has innocent American blood on its hands. The entire process is gangrenous. Despite their promises to Michael Brown's family, the Ferguson community and the country, neither the president nor the attorney general have the moral courage to do what is right," said Eugene Puryear of #DC Ferguson and ANSWER Coalition National Organizer. The Hands Up Coalition DC will now take the fight to Congress. Holder had his chance to move the wheel of history toward justice, but was too timid, too polite, too weak. And the president was too intent on expressing his "Je Suis Charlie" to care about his own citizens dead and dying in the streets. What ever happened to "I am a man?" The president has to get Mr. Holder's replacement through confirmation hearings. That will be the next battleground. The members of that committee are going to get an earful from their constituents on these issues. Not one more rubber stamp Attorney General running DOJ. They have much explaining to do about police brutality domestically and torture internationally. If Mr. Obama wants another AG, he's going to have to promise to bring justice to the murderer of Michael Brown and all other murdered Africans and Americans. And he will have to bring justice to those who injured the very soul and fiber of America with systematic torture domestically and abroad.
