Sitting members of Congress – and several others — marked the 8th anniversary of 18-year-old <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/biden-seems-to-suggest-michael-brown-was-victim-on-anniversary-of-death-obama-biden-doj-said-officer-acted-in-self-defense/">Michael Brown&#8217;s</a> death in Ferguson, Missouri, by promoting the long-debunked claim that he was &#8220;murdered&#8221; and had been shot while holding his hands up in surrender.
<a href="https://dailywire.com/news/left-tries-rewrite-story-saint-michael-brown-ben-shapiro/">Brown</a> was fatally shot by former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson — who initially attempted to detain Brown because he matched the description of a suspect in a <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/leftists-say-michael-brown-didnt-strong-arm-rob-frank-camp/">strong-arm robbery</a> at a local convenience store — and according to the police report, Brown attempted to pull Wilson out of his marked vehicle and grappled for his service weapon. He was reportedly running toward Wilson, who had by then exited the vehicle, when he was shot.
One witness, who later admitted to fabricating the claim, alleged that Brown had been trying to get away from Wilson when he was killed — and claimed that he had his hands up in surrender at the time of the shooting.
According to multiple investigations, however — including one undertaken by then Attorney General <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/black-lives-matter-a-movement-built-on-the-illusion-of-martyrdom/">Eric Holder</a> — the shooting was ultimately deemed justified and Wilson was not charged.
&#8220;This morning, the Justice Department announced the conclusion of our investigation and released a comprehensive, 87-page report documenting our findings and conclusions that the facts do not support the filing of criminal charges against Officer Darren Wilson in this case,&#8221; Holder said in a statement marking the close of the investigation. &#8220;Michael Brown’s death, though a tragedy, did not involve prosecutable conduct on the part of Officer Wilson.&#8221;
Despite that, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) went ahead on Tuesday with the assertion that Brown had been &#8220;murdered&#8221; by police.
&#8220;Today marks eight years since Michael Brown was murdered by police in Ferguson, MO,&#8221; Jayapal tweeted. &#8220;We need to honor Michael&#8217;s life with action. Let&#8217;s keep fighting to dismantle white supremacy, so we can ensure racial justice for all.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Today marks eight years since Michael Brown was murdered by police in Ferguson, MO.
We need to honor Michael’s life with action. Let’s keep fighting to dismantle white supremacy, so we can ensure racial justice for all.
&mdash; Pramila Jayapal (@PramilaJayapal) <a href="https://twitter.com/PramilaJayapal/status/1557013334532276224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MO), who was among the protesters on the ground in Ferguson in the days after the shooting, made the same claim.
&#8220;8 years ago today, Michael Brown Jr. was murdered, so we took to the streets for over 400 days. We were maced and tear-gassed, &amp; beaten by police — all for saying that Mike&#8217;s life mattered,&#8221; Bush tweeted, leaving out several key details such as the number of police officers who were attacked and the number of businesses that were <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/11/25/366452769/ferguson-businesses-burn-crowds-confront-police-in-overnight-chaos">looted and/or burned</a> by the protesters she claimed were simply &#8220;saying that Mike&#8217;s life mattered.&#8221;
&#8220;Our fight for justice will not stop. We do this for Mike Brown,&#8221; she added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
8 years ago today, Michael Brown Jr. was murdered, so we took to the streets for over 400 days.
We were maced, tear-gassed, &amp; beaten by police—all for saying that Mike’s life mattered.
Our fight for justice will not stop. We do this for Mike Brown. ✊🏾
&mdash; Cori Bush (@CoriBush) <a href="https://twitter.com/CoriBush/status/1557214781756657666?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Civil Rights attorney Ben Crump, who has made a name for himself through a series of high-profile cases involving police officers and minorities, took the claim a step further and repeated the debunked claim that Brown had his hands raised in surrender when he was killed.
&#8220;8 years ago, Michael Brown was killed, with his hands up in surrender, by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. Michael&#8217;s future was stolen from him mere DAYS after he attended his high school graduation ceremony. We’ll ALWAYS remember him! Rest In Power, Mike,&#8221; he tweeted.
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8 years ago, Michael Brown was killed, with his hands up in surrender, by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. Michael&#39;s future was stolen from him mere DAYS after he attended his high school graduation ceremony. We’ll ALWAYS remember him! Rest In Power, Mike.🙏🏾 <a href="https://t.co/8vhnGGgEe0">pic.twitter.com/8vhnGGgEe0</a>
&mdash; Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/AttorneyCrump/status/1557038011556237313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Several people pushed back on the claims, however, like St. Louis-based radio host Annie Frey. &#8220;Peddling the Hands Up lie drains all credibility from your cause. I follow you because I value seeing your side of this issue. But this is a LIE and you&#8217;re using it for your own personal benefit. It&#8217;s disgusting,&#8221; she said.
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Peddling the Hands Up lie drains all credibility from your cause. I follow you because I value seeing your side of this issue. But this is a LIE and you&#39;re using it for your own personal benefit. It&#39;s disgusting. <a href="https://t.co/HaDIFaQh2Y">https://t.co/HaDIFaQh2Y</a>
&mdash; Annie Frey (@anniefreyshow) <a href="https://twitter.com/anniefreyshow/status/1557259786806231041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Activists Across The Country Gather For March For Our Lives II To Protest Against Gun Violence

Sitting Members Of Congress — And More — Commemorate Ferguson Police Shooting By Lying About It

Sitting Members Of Congress Commemorate Ferguson Police Shooting By Lying About It

Cori Bush

Ferguson

Michael Brown

Missouri

Police

Pramila Jayapal

Shooting

Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) faced backlash online on Monday evening following remarks that she made on social media, claiming that white supremacists shot at her in Ferguson, Missouri, following the 2014 death of Michael Brown Jr.
&#8220;When we marched in Ferguson, white supremacists would hide behind a hill near where Michael Brown Jr. was murdered and shoot at us,&#8221; Bush tweeted. &#8220;They never faced consequences. If Kyle Rittenhouse gets acquitted, it tells them that even 7 years later they still can get away with it.&#8221;
Bush&#8217;s claim that Brown was murdered is false, as The Washington Post&#8217;s fact-check previously <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/13/harris-warren-ignore-doj-report-claim-that-michael-brown-was-murdered/">reported</a>:
<blockquote>[Kamala] Harris and [Elizabeth] Warren have ignored the findings of the Justice Department to accuse [police officer Darren] Wilson of murder, even though the Justice Department found no credible evidence to support that claim. Instead, the Justice Department found that the popular narrative was wrong, according to witnesses deemed to be credible, some of whom testified reluctantly because of fear of reprisal. The department produced a comprehensive report to determine what happened, making the senators’ dismissal of it even more galling. Harris and Warren both earn Four Pinocchios.</blockquote>
Ferguson Police Chief Frank McCall Jr. said on Monday that he was not aware of any record of such an incident occurring, according to the <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/rep-cori-bush-says-white-supremacists-shot-at-ferguson-protesters-but-chief-not-aware-of/article_fbf2b08a-a49e-504b-8080-13dfb6f9f947.html">St. Louis Post-Dispatch</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
When we marched in Ferguson, white supremacists would hide behind a hill near where Michael Brown Jr. was murdered and shoot at us.
They never faced consequences.
If Kyle Rittenhouse gets acquitted, it tells them that even 7 years later they still can get away with it.
&mdash; Cori Bush (@CoriBush) <a href="https://twitter.com/CoriBush/status/1460335492415819786?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Some notable responses included:
<ul>
<li>Chris Barron, political strategist: &#8220;How about the GOP members of Congress grow a spine and introduce a resolution to censure Cori Bush for lying and attempting to intimidate a jury.&#8221;</li>
<li>Dan McLaughlin, National Review: &#8220;Did you file a police report?&#8221;</li>
<li>Greg Pollowitz, Twitchy: &#8220;Merrick Garland should open up an investigation to find out why ~checks notes~ Eric Holder didn’t do anything about this.&#8221;</li>
<li>Ellen Carmichael, writer: &#8220;Were you marching with Jussie Smollet?&#8221;</li>
<li>Kurt Schlichter, attorney and columnist: &#8220;Shut up, liar.&#8221;</li>
<li>John Cardillo, political commentator: &#8220;This is an absolute lie. I guarantee this never happened. @CoriBush is a sitting Congresswoman blatantly lying to the American people to stoke rioting and looting. She could not be worse if she tried.&#8221;</li>
<li>Ian Miles Cheong, writer: &#8220;This is incitement.&#8221;</li>
<li>David Marcus, writer: &#8220;This should be fully investigated immediately.&#8221;</li>
<li>Guy Benson, Fox News: &#8220;This is wild — a falsehood, a dodgy/unsubstantiated allegation, and a baseless non sequitur.&#8221;</li>
<li>Larry O&#8217;Connor, radio host: &#8220;I could be wrong&#8230; But I&#8217;m pretty sure there were plenty of sympathetic reporters covering the Ferguson marches. I&#8217;d think if &#8216;white supremacists&#8217; were taking pot shots at protesters it might have made the news.&#8221;</li>
<li>Harry Khachatrian, writer: &#8220;Is Cori Bush saying they were using WMDs.&#8221;</li>
<li>Matt Walsh, The Daily Wire: &#8220;They never faced consequences for the same reason that Magneto and the Joker never faced consequences. They’re all fictional. A sitting US congresswoman is claiming that armed white supremacists were shooting at people in the middle of a city and it never made the news and no witnesses noticed. This is the kind of brazen lie you can only get from the Left. She knows she won&#8217;t be called on it.&#8221;</li>
<li>Jesse Kelly, radio host: &#8220;I bet those were the same snipers who shot at Hillary!&#8221;</li>
</ul>
Related:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-this-is-where-the-far-lefts-darkness-comes-from">Tulsi Gabbard: This Is Where The Far-Left’s ‘Darkness’ Comes From</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/joe-manchin-takes-high-road-in-response-to-cori-bush-suggesting-hes-racist-for-opposing-biden-agenda">Joe Manchin Takes High Road In Response To Cori Bush Suggesting He’s Racist For Opposing Biden Agenda</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cori-bush-unloads-senator-joe-manchin-hes-anti-black-anti-child-anti-woman-anti-immigrant">Cori Bush Unloads On Senator Joe Manchin: He’s ‘Anti-Black, Anti-Child, Anti-Woman, Anti-Immigrant’</a></li>
</ul>

US-POLITICS-Congress-Biden

‘Incitement’: Cori Bush Called Out For Rittenhouse Remarks, Claims White Supremacists Shot At Her

The father of Michael Brown, who was fatally shot by police in 2014, has signed on to a group demanding accountability and transparency from Black Lives Matter.
Michael Brown Sr. has signed his name to a new group called BLM 10 Plus, which seeks financial transparency from BLM Global Network Foundation, as controversy surrounding BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullor and her lavish lifestyle continues to bubble.
&#8220;Referring to initial calls for more transparency and accountability from the &#8216;BLM 10,&#8217; the name for the ten original BLM chapters, a new group, deemed the &#8216;BLM 10 Plus&#8217; is now speaking out,&#8221; Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/black-lives-matter-infighting-members-demand-accountability">reported</a> Friday.
&#8220;The number of chapters that have aligned in support of our statement has nearly doubled,&#8221; said a statement from BLM 10 Plus, issued Friday. &#8220;Some of these chapters have made their own statements echoing not only our call to accountability but also our experiences as we sought transparency, democracy, and internal transformation for years.&#8221;
&#8220;The BLM 10 Plus continues the call for transparency and most importantly, for principled accountability in movement infrastructures,&#8221; the group added. &#8220;The issues we&#8217;ve highlighted within the Black Lives Matter movement are not unique to this group or to people of color. Grassroots movements have been co-opted across the globe and it is our intention to be a part of the collective creating processes based on integrity so that we, nor any other activist or advocate, encounters these avoidable issues in the future.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9678767/Father-Michael-Brown-joins-anti-BLM-leadership-movement.html">According</a> to DailyMail.com, the group is demanding to see how the $90 million raised by the organization has been spent:
<blockquote>
Black Lives Matter took in $90 million in 2020, and was left with a balance sheet of $60 million by January 2021. Around $8 million was spent on expenses, including staffing costs with the other $20 million donated to local chapters and nonprofits.
Those numbers &#8211; and news of Cullors&#8217; property portfolio &#8211; has led to questions about how BLM is spending its money, and complaints over a lack of transparency from bereaved families previously supported by the group.  
</blockquote>
As highlighted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-self-described-marxist-blm-co-founder-erects-35000-fence-electric-gate-around-1-4-million-property">The Daily Wire</a> on Friday, Cullors, who has since stepped down from her position with the organization, has reportedly put up $35,000 worth of fencing and an electric gate around her $1.4 million secluded Los Angeles home, where the population is reportedly less than 2% black.
As <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/blm-co-founder-patrisse-cullors-35000-fencing-1-4m-home">highlighted</a> by Fox News, a neighbor who spoke to a subcontractor <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9672747/BLM-founder-Patrisse-Cullors-erects-35k-fence-new-1-4M-house-bought-CASH.html">told</a> DailyMail.com that the erected wooden fence around the pricey property, in addition to other “exterior improvements,” totaled up to around $35,000.
<div>
“It will have an electronic gate at the driveway portion, a walk up door, and call box, and other safety measures, cameras – you know, to keep the riff raff out,” the neighbor said.
DailyMail.com reported that “photos of the property reveal the fencing and gate project was near completion.”
</div>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-self-described-marxist-blm-co-founder-erects-35000-fence-electric-gate-around-1-4-million-property">REPORT: Self-Described ‘Marxist’ BLM Co-Founder Erects $35,000 Fence, Electric Gate Around $1.4 Million Property</a>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/candace-owens-on-blm-founder-if-white-people-are-so-bad-why-doesnt-she-want-to-live-amongst-black-people">Candace Owens On BLM Founder: If ‘White People Are So Bad, Why Doesn’t She Want To Live Amongst Black People?’</a>

US-CRIME-POLICE-RACE-UNREST

Michael Brown Father Presses Black Lives Matter, Wants To Know Where $90 Million In Funds Went: Report

Black Lives Matter

Ben Crump is an American attorney who specializes in civil rights and personal injury cases, such as wrongful death lawsuits. In recent years, his practice has increasingly focused on accusations of police brutality.
As a result, Crump routinely appears as one of the central figures in high-profile cases regarding alleged police brutality and so-called “systemic racism.”
However, time after time, Crump has — either intentionally or unintentionally — spread misinformation regarding his cases, often with disastrous consequences.
Here is a list of times when Crump effectively promoted misinformation regarding high-profile cases of alleged &#8220;racial violence.&#8221;
Michael Brown
In 2014, Crump helped propagate the false “hands up, don’t shoot!” narrative following the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
&#8220;Regardless of the decision of the grand jury, this will be a defining moment in the history of the state of Missouri,&#8221; <a href="https://archive.ph/20141119005842/http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/local/2014/11/13/michael-baden-grand-jury-testimony/18959707/#selection-4347.0-4351.125">said</a> Crump, while it was being determined whether charges should be filed against Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson.
Crump also said at the time that he and others believed &#8220;there is evidence that shows Michael Brown had his hands up.&#8221; He was asked if there&#8217;s any doubt, and Crump responded, &#8220;there&#8217;s no doubt about that.&#8221;
Barack Obama’s Department of Justice, headed by Attorney General Eric Holder, decided that this version of events was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/haworth-biden-kamala-ignore-obama-biden-administrations-own-findings">untrue</a>, finding in its exhaustive investigation of the case that witness accounts and forensic evidence overwhelmingly indicated that Brown did not hold up his hands and surrender.
“As detailed in its famous <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1681212/doj-report-on-shooting-of-michael-brown.pdf">final report</a>, Obama-Biden administration ultimately concluded that all the available evidence painted an entirely different story than the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/03/16/lesson-learned-from-the-shooting-of-michael-brown/">racially charged narrative</a> that sparked the Ferguson protests and riots. The administration found that evidence indicated that Brown assaulted Officer Wilson, attempted to steal his firearm, and then charged at him,” reported <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/haworth-biden-kamala-ignore-obama-biden-administrations-own-findings">The Daily Wire</a>.
Breonna Taylor
Weeks after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/myths-misconceptions-about-the-breonna-taylor-case">Breonna Taylor</a> was “shot and killed by plainclothes police officers who raided her Louisville, Kentucky, home” in March 2020, Crump tweeted, “Louisville Police fatally shot #BreonnaTaylor. They had the wrong address AND their real suspect was already in custody. 2 months later, no one has been held accountable for her death…but we will change that!”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Louisville Police fatally shot <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BreonnaTaylor?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BreonnaTaylor</a>. They had the wrong address AND their real suspect was already in custody. 2 months later, no one has been held accountable for her death&#8230; but we will change that! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JusticeForBreonnaTaylor?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#JusticeForBreonnaTaylor</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SayHerName?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SayHerName</a> <a href="https://t.co/wytTAozY5l">pic.twitter.com/wytTAozY5l</a>
&mdash; Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/AttorneyCrump/status/1259867794239258628?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
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As noted by The Daily Wire, “the post contained at least four incorrect or misleading statements about the case that still influence the national discussion today.”
The officers who raided Breonna’s home were not at the wrong address, the purpose of the raid was to find evidence and not to arrest “their real suspect,” they did knock before entering the apartment, neither Walker nor Taylor were in bed when police entered the apartment, and Taylor was not shot eight times.
George Floyd
After the death of George Floyd, Crump called for “first-degree murder charges” to be leveled against Derek Chauvin.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The police were supposed to protect and serve George Floyd. They FAILED. Now I’m calling for first-degree murder charges in the police-involved killing of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloyd?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GeorgeFloyd</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JusticeForGeorgeFloyd?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#JusticeForGeorgeFloyd</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMattter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackLivesMattter</a> <a href="https://t.co/CI0W3QIz9N">pic.twitter.com/CI0W3QIz9N</a>
&mdash; Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/AttorneyCrump/status/1269758805576949760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
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In <a href="https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609.185">Minnesota</a>, first-degree murder requires both intent and premeditation, meaning that Crump believes that Chauvin set out that day planning to kill George Floyd.
Crump made this claim in a piece for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/29/george-floyd-death-benjamin-crump-jasmine-rand">The Guardian</a> in May 2020, writing, “The video evidence clearly shows that the officers acted with the intent to kill and with premeditation. Floyd told the officers he could not breathe 12 times, including within the first few seconds of the video.”
Video evidence showed that Floyd complained of breathing difficulties both while they attempted to place him in the police car, and when he was detained on the ground outside the car.
Jacob Blake
Sharing initial footage, Crump reacted to the shooting of Jacob Blake.
“Wow. This Black man was shot several times in the back by [Kenosha Police] today. He was getting into his car after apparently breaking up a fight between two women. He’s in critical condition now. We demand JUSTICE!” Crump tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Wow. This Black man was shot several times in the back by <a href="https://twitter.com/KenoshaPolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KenoshaPolice</a> today. He was getting into his car after apparently breaking up a fight between two women. He’s in critical condition now. We demand JUSTICE! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackLivesMatter</a> <a href="https://t.co/I1reDEp4nw">pic.twitter.com/I1reDEp4nw</a>
&mdash; Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/AttorneyCrump/status/1297721479711334401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2020</a></blockquote>
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According to an audio recording of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-authorities-release-the-911-recording-that-jacob-blakes-ex-girlfriend-made-to-police">911 call</a> that was made, Jacob Blake’s ex-girlfriend, Laquisha Booker, “reported that Jacob Blake would not give her back the keys to her rental vehicle and she was afraid he was going to take that vehicle and crash it. She reported he had done that before. So now police know there’s a vehicle in dispute, Jacob Blake already has the keys, and the concern is will he crash that vehicle in an effort to leave.”
According to the <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/08/28/this-is-why-jacob-blake-had-a-warrant-out-for-his-arrest/">New York Post</a>, Blake had an open arrest warrant at the time for felony sexual assault, with Blake’s ex-girlfriend alleging that he “used his finger to sexually assault her, sniffed it and said, ‘Smells like you’ve been with other men.’”
After violently resisting arrest, Blake was shot while reaching into his car, and later admitted that he was in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-wisconsin-doj-finds-jacob-blake-had-weapon-on-floorboard-of-car">possession of a knife</a>.
Regardless of the facts of the case, riots ensued in Kenosha, Wisconsin, causing damage <a href="https://www.kenoshanews.com/news/local/damage-due-to-rioting-unrest-in-kenosha-tops-50-million-2-000-guard-assisted-here/article_26473ec9-c08a-5490-9d09-cc2b840b65f1.html">estimated to exceed</a> $50 million.
Daunte Wright
Crump claimed that the reportedly accidental shooting of Daunte Wright — the man killed after resisting police who were attempting to arrest him on <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/daunte-wright-had-outstanding-warrant-for-attempted-aggravated-robbery-when-he-was-killed">charges</a> related to an armed robbery attempt — was deliberate. The officer who shot Wright now faces second-degree manslaughter charges.
“You can spot the difference between a gun and a taser from a mile away! Do you really think a 26 year veteran cop would get the two confused, especially after holding it out infront of her for so long?! The shooting of [Daunte Wright] was NO accident,” he tweeted.
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You can spot the difference between a gun and a taser from a mile away! Do you really think a 26 year veteran cop would get the two confused, especially after holding it out infront of her for so long?! The shooting of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DaunteWright?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DaunteWright</a> was NO accident. <a href="https://t.co/cDO3imnGw2">pic.twitter.com/cDO3imnGw2</a>
&mdash; Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/AttorneyCrump/status/1382827826651357187?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Ma’Khia Bryant
Most recently, Crump responded to the police shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio.
“As we breathed a collective sigh of relief today, a community in Columbus felt the sting of another police shooting as [Columbus Police] killed an unarmed 15yo Black girl named Makiyah Bryant. Another child lost! Another hashtag,” Crump tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
As we breathed a collective sigh of relief today, a community in Columbus felt the sting of another police shooting as <a href="https://twitter.com/ColumbusPolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ColumbusPolice</a> killed an unarmed 15yo Black girl named Makiyah Bryant. Another child lost! Another hashtag. ✊🏾🙏🏾<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JusticeForMakiyahBryant?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#JusticeForMakiyahBryant</a> <a href="https://t.co/9ssR5gfqm5">https://t.co/9ssR5gfqm5</a>
&mdash; Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/AttorneyCrump/status/1384667861642358785?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2021</a></blockquote>
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According to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-rush-to-declare-that-makhia-bryant-was-unarmed-proves-that-narrative-matters-more-than-truth">video footage</a> released soon after the event by the police department, Ma’Khia Bryant was armed with a knife and was in the active process of attacking a potential victim.
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WARNING, GRAPHIC: Columbus Police show body cam footage of officer shooting, killing knife-wielding teen girl &#8211; <a href="https://t.co/627TrzbD9n">https://t.co/627TrzbD9n</a> <a href="https://t.co/bW6wgWlFsb">pic.twitter.com/bW6wgWlFsb</a>
&mdash; Breaking911 (@Breaking911) <a href="https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1384721705004933122?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/ighaworth">@ighaworth</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Ben Crump

From Michael Brown To Ma’Khia Bryant: Meet The Lawyer Whose False Claims Fueled A Generation Of Black Lives Matter Violence

Benjamin Crump

Breonna Taylor

Daunte Wright

George Floyd

Jacob Blake

Ma'Khia Bryant

Riots

Trayvon Martin

Michael Brown Sr., whose son was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, recently sat down with leaders from the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation after demanding the organization allocate $20 million to activists in the St. Louis area.
According to a statement from the Michael Brown Chosen For Change Foundation (CFC) issued earlier this week, “President Michael Brown and Secretary Calvina Brown of CFC met with Black Lives Matter (BLM) leadership including BLM Global Network Foundation Executive Director Patrisse Cullors and BLM-Los Angeles Chair Melina Abdullah.”
“Both foundations mutually agreed to meet, in person for the first time, with hopes to initiate a relationship, reconcile any misunderstandings, and resolve any issues,” the statement continued.
The groups met on March 13 after a news report revealed BLM’s foundation had raised more than $90 million last year. A St. Louis-area activist coalition called the International Black Freedom Alliance (IBFA) had released a video demanding financial support, claiming BLM “has forgotten about Ferguson,” “thousands of protesters,” and the “freedom fighters” associated with the 2014 uprisings that brought global attention to the BLM movement. Black liberation organizer Tory Russell vowed to “hold Black Lives Matter accountable” while standing beside Brown Sr., who remained silent during the message.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Even before the article that <a href="https://twitter.com/aaronlmorrison?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@aaronlmorrison</a> came out <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ferguson?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Ferguson</a> Mike Brown Sr. and many Black community members have had questions about the money <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackLivesMatter</a> was raising. Here is their statement <a href="https://t.co/ykpGZ5Z4KJ">pic.twitter.com/ykpGZ5Z4KJ</a>
&mdash; TheIBFA (@THEIBFA) <a href="https://twitter.com/THEIBFA/status/1366743442370539524?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2021</a></blockquote>
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“We ask that Black Lives Matter leadership fund $20 million for Ferguson organizers, organizations, and community foundations to do the work,” Russell said. “We’re not begging for a handout. We’re coming for what we deserve.”
An IBFA statement that accompanied the video said Brown Sr. had questioned whether BLM ethically manages its donations and went on to accuse BLM of abandoning the families of incarcerated “political prisoners from the Ferguson movement.”
On Monday, CFC leaders announced that Brown Sr. had met with the Los Angeles-based BLM leaders to engage in constructive dialogue and presented their version of the conversation.
“At this time, there is no financial relationship or agreement between BLM and CFC,” the CFC press release said. “As we continue to develop a working relationship with each other, we will continue to focus on fighting for justice for Mike Brown Jr. and support families impacted by community &amp; police violence. The Chosen for Change Foundation is ready to take part in mending any gaps between grassroots organizations and impacted families to ensure that our Black Lives can heal from tragedies so that we can heal our families and communities.”
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Here is the official statement on behalf of our Foundation following our most recent meeting, last Saturday, with the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. We will not be accepting interviews at this time. 
Please forward any inquiries to ChosenForChangeFund@gmail.com. <a href="https://t.co/NhnnmBeAyV">pic.twitter.com/NhnnmBeAyV</a>
&mdash; Michael Brown Foundation /DBA/ Chosen For Change (@CFCFund) <a href="https://twitter.com/CFCFund/status/1374067423532421121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2021</a></blockquote>
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More from the Michael Brown Chosen for Change Foundation:
<blockquote>BLM informed CFC that the focus of BLM will always be to end violence against black people, dismantle white supremacy, and fight for a future where black people are liberated from state sanctioned violence. BLM shared their goals and strategies to build a coalition of organizations across the globe.
CFC shared their experiences from the past six years. When a family loses a loved one to violence, that family attempts to develop new ways to live life without their loved one. The concepts of “normal” and “healing” may become elusive. For the few families whose loved ones’ deaths actually receive media attention, those families are forcibly ushered into a movement that they may or may not have been involved in previously.
While some families appreciate community leaders who have taken up the baton to organize, advocate, and fund the movement to bring awareness of their loved ones’ deaths, some may not. Many families are still seeking justice. Many families have been left alone to fight against the same systems that killed their loved ones.
The goals of impacted families may or may not always align with the goals of a movement or of a foundation. BLM appreciated the honesty in helping them understand why impacted communities and families are confused about the distribution of funding. Executive Director Cullors shared all of the ways that BLM has supported impacted families in the past and how they will continue to develop relationships and ways to support impacted families.</blockquote>
After the IBFA and Brown Sr. released the video, Cullors took to social media to express her general displeasure with recent allegations levied against the foundation she leads. While she did not mention anyone specifically, Cullors accused some of her critics in the black community of amplifying “right-wing propaganda about BLM.”
“So much of what you all see is a sliver of what’s happening behind the scenes,” Cullors posted on Instagram. “I will continue to fight for Black lives even when Black people treat me like dirt. That work is bigger than me and us.”
Black liberation activists have had questions about BLM’s fundraising long before learning the foundation took in just over $90 million in 2020. In December, some local BLM chapters that had been affiliated with the BLM Global Network penned an open letter announcing they had discontinued their involvement with the foundation. They cited “concerns about financial transparency, decision making, and accountability,” claiming the internal friction “undermined the efforts of chapters seeking to democratize its processes and resources.” The letter encouraged allies to donate directly to the local BLM chapters “who represent the frontline of Black Lives Matter.”
More recently, two women whose black teenaged sons were fatally shot by police officers in separate incidents <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rb4h6d2PjECBz0_ILawSyk7LDEPMjdJpSKSNtwYbhG4/edit">called out</a> Cullors, Abdullah, and the BLM Global Network by name on March 19, saying they “need to step down, stand back, and stop monopolizing and capitalizing off our fight for justice and human rights.” The request came in an official statement from Samira Rice, mother of Tamir Rice, and Lisa Simpson, mother of Richard Risher. Both women also criticized black liberation activist Shaun King, Women’s March co-founder Tamika Mallory, and civil rights attorneys Benjamin Crump and Lee Merritt.
“We demand accountability from everyone mentioned,” the joint statement said.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-lives-matter-leader-says-some-black-critics-lifted-up-right-wing-propaganda-about-blm">Black Lives Matter Leader Says Some Black Critics ‘Lifted Up Right-Wing Propaganda About BLM’</a>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-liberal-activist-group-demands-20-million-cut-from-blms-90-million-windfall">Black Liberal Activist Group Demands $20 Million Cut From BLM’s $90 Million Windfall</a>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-lives-matter-leader-says-some-black-critics-lifted-up-right-wing-propaganda-about-blm">Black Lives Matter Foundation Raked In More Than $90 Million Last Year: Report</a>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trained-marxist-blm-co-founder-releases-youtube-video-to-set-the-record-straight">‘Trained Marxist’ BLM Co-Founder Releases YouTube Video ‘To Set The Record Straight’</a>

Ferguson, Missouri Marks One-Year Anniversary Of The Death Of Michael Brown

Father Of Mike Brown Jr. Meets With BLM Leaders After Demanding $20M For Ferguson Activists

The father of Mike Brown, a black man killed in a police-involved shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, and the head of a Ferguson community support group, the International Black Freedom Alliance, are demanding the national Black Lives Matter organization cut them a check for $20 million after finding out BLM received more than $90 million in donations after the death of George Floyd.
&#8220;Mike Brown Sr. and local community organizer Tony Russell have demanded the Black Lives Matter organization provide $20M to continue their work in Ferguson, Missouri,&#8221; Yahoo News reported earlier this week.
Mike Brown was killed in an altercation with Ferguson, Missouri, police in August of 2014.
According to History.com:
<blockquote>Many details differ, but most accounts agree that [Officer Darren] Wilson saw Brown and [Dorian] Johnson walking in the street, demanded they get on the sidewalk, then stopped his police SUV in front of them in order to confront them. He and Brown had an altercation through the open window of the car, during which Wilson fired twice. Brown and Johnson tried to leave, Wilson exited his car to pursue them, and at some point Brown turned back around to face Wilson, who then fired 12 shots, six of which hit Brown.</blockquote>
Wilson claimed he shot Brown in self-defense. The confrontation sparked national media coverage and a series of protests &#8212; and riots &#8212; in Ferguson, Missouri.
Although Mike Brown&#8217;s death was among the first high-profile incidents to give rise to the national Black Lives Matter movement, Mike Brown&#8217;s father says the family has received nearly nothing from the national BLM organization, even after BLM&#8217;s profile &#8212; and coffers &#8212; grew significantly in 2020.
&#8220;According to the Twitter thread, Brown Sr. has only received $500 from any BLM affiliated group since his son’s 2014 killing, despite being a community figure who organizes and supports other families in healing and empowerment,&#8221; Yahoo notes. &#8220;The demand is in response to news of BLM receiving over $90M in response to the uprisings launched after the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and others.
Brown and Russell appear together in a social media video making the request.
“On behalf of many activists in the St. Louis area, I’m joined by Mike Brown Sr., the father of Mike Brown Jr. Today, we hold Black Lives Matter accountable,” Russell says.
According to Yahoo News, Brown, Sr., and Russell are not alone in wondering where money, which BLM had pledged to spend on minority communities experiencing racism, ended up &#8212; and BLM only started releasing information on its financials this year when they filed paperwork showing $60 million in assets.
&#8220;Several chapters of BLM across the country have expressed their desire for transparency regarding fundraising in the organization,&#8221; the outlet notes, but says that founder Patrisse Cullors responded that &#8220;things behind-the-scenes are not what people may assume,&#8221; despite BLM&#8217;s pledge to &#8220;reinvest&#8221; the money they received in donations.
“One of our biggest goals this year is taking the dollars we were able to raise in 2020 and building out the institution we’ve been trying to build for the last seven and a half years,” Cullors said in an interview earlier this year. “Because the BLM movement was larger than life — and it is larger than life — people made very huge assumptions about what our actual finances looked like. We were often scraping for money, and this year was the first year where we were resourced in the way we deserved to be.”
Russell and Brown, Sr., said on social media that they believe they deserve some of those resources. They &#8220;hope to use the money for the Chosen For Change Foundation, the Mike Brown Community Center, organizing grants for Ferguson protests and activists, various programs and services in the Black community, and the annual Aug. 9 commemorations of Brown’s death.&#8221;

Ferguson Calm After Tense Anniversary Weekend

Family Of Mike Brown, Ferguson Protest Organizers Demand $20 Million From Black Lives Matter

Diversity only goes so far in today’s <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/woke-joke-harvey-weinstein/">woke landscape</a>.
Yes, Hollywood and major media platforms like Netflix routinely attempt to bring more people of color into the entertainment industry. The moves come after decades of inadequate representation. In many ways the cultural wave is a worthy one.
There’s a sizable catch, though.
Diversity efforts typically shun right-of-center voices that happen to be black or brown. It’s why the media and film critics mostly ignored Larry Elder’s recent documentary “<a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/uncle-tom-imdb-rotten-tomatoes/">Uncle Tom</a>” focusing on the black conservative experience.
There’s no better example of this diversity blind spot, though, than Amazon’s brief, but telling war against “<a href="https://whatkilledmichaelbrown.com/">What Killed Michael Brown?</a>”
The haunting documentary finds author Shelby Steele examining the 2014 death of the Ferguson resident and the racial firestorm that followed. Those embers blazed anew earlier this year after George Floyd’s death following a fatal police altercation.
Why? What do these events say about American culture, police brutality, and efforts to help the black community?
While most documentaries lean Left, “What Killed Michael Brown?” offers a different perspective. Steele questions the media narratives surrounding high-profile police shootings, suggesting that victimization and white guilt end up hurting, not helping, the black community.
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HP3GVS8yJEY" width="720" height="385" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">﻿</iframe>
The team behind the documentary approached Amazon to stream the film as part of its Prime Video Direct service. The movie is already available on Vimeo, but millions of potential consumers tap Amazon to watch new releases.
Amazon declined, saying the film didn’t meet the company’s quality standards. A quick peek at the documentary shreds that argument. A variety of conservative news outlets, including Fox News, National Review, and The Wall Street Journal, covered Amazon’s dubious decision.
“What Killed Michael Brown?” director Eli Steele credits that pressure for changing Amazon’s stance. The film is now available for <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Killed-Michael-Brown-Shelby-Steele/dp/B08L9Q4J9M/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=what+killed+michael+brown&amp;qid=1603297258&amp;sr=8-1">streaming on Amazon</a>.
“We were very fortunate to have the ability to raise the level of publicity that we did because if we had not had that power our film would have been pushed to the margins,” says Eli Steele, the son of the film’s star.
The production got little help, though, from organizations formed to promote people of color in the arts, as well as major news outlets. The former have ignored both the documentary and its battle against Amazon.
Hollywood in Toto reached out to six organizations dedicated to empowering black filmmakers:
<ul>
<li>Project Involve (Film Independent)</li>
<li>Array Now</li>
<li>Hue You Know</li>
<li>Blackhouse</li>
<li>The Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West</li>
<li>The Black TV &amp; Film Collective</li>
</ul>
We asked if the groups in question had any comment, or reaction, to Amazon’s initial stance against a film featuring black storytellers.
None responded.
Eli Steele says he hopes his film’s victory will help fellow artists as they fight against potential censorship.
“I am hopeful that this experience created an important data-point going forward in the fight to make big tech media giants more balanced and accountable,” Steele says. “We do know that when Amazon makes policies from here on they will do so with this experience on their minds, and we know that if other filmmakers are similarly rejected like we were, they will have a precedent to refer to.”
“That is the moral victory that we sought,” he adds.
A version of this article can be found at HollywoodInToto.com.

Michael Brown memorial

Amazon Buckles, Agrees to Stream ‘What Killed Michael Brown?’

Amazon

There is a contradictory narrative promoted by the American Left that racism is both an integral part of the American psyche and a phenomenon that burst onto the political scene when Donald Trump became president. While there are certainly aspects of Trump’s political history and rhetoric which have exacerbated existing tensions, it is incorrect to place the blame for the breakdown in race relations squarely at the feet of the current president. Indeed, if we follow the Left’s advice and pay attention to the “science,” <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1687/race-relations.aspx">poll data</a> suggests that race relations collapsed from 2013 onwards. The occupant of the White House at that point was, of course, not Donald Trump but Barack Obama. In 2016, a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/05/politics/obama-race-relations-poll/index.html">CNN/ORC poll</a> suggested that the majority of Americans said that “relations between blacks and whites in the US have worsened under President Barack Obama.”
Obama is routinely presented as an almost messianic figure by the political Left, an adoring mainstream media, and American culture at large. Through the flawed lens of intersectionality, Obama’s impact on race relations in the United States is often assumed to be positive based solely on the fact that he was the first African-American president. When presented with data suggesting that race relations deteriorated under Obama, his supporters will often reject any notion that Obama was responsible, instead preferring to claim that Obama’s political ascendency was simply the catalyst for the further awakening of innate “American racism.”
This is a predictably simplistic conclusion. If we can argue that Trump is uniquely responsible for the further decline of race relations, we must at least consider that Barack Obama could also have had an impact. Additionally, when we consider that Obama won the 2008 election with an overwhelmingly dominant 192 electoral vote lead over his opponent John McCain (with almost 10 million more votes than the Arizona Senator), and the 2012 election by 126 electoral votes (with almost 5 million more votes than Mitt Romney), one must ask how Americans could be so inescapably racist that they single-handedly fuel the collapse of nationwide race relations, while simultaneously voting for the United States’ first African American president on two occasions by large margins.
The truth, as always, is more complicated than “Republican bad, Democrat good.” In reality, Obama’s undeniable popularity is not a valid proxy for his role in the explosion of the racial tensions we continue to witness today. Three distinct moments during his presidency demonstrate Obama’s abandonment of his 2008 vision for a “post-racial America” in favor of the ideological profit that can be achieved by fanning the flames of race.
Trayvon Martin
In 2012, Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman was <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/04/11/150449405/zimmerman-arrested-on-murder-charge-in-martin-case">charged</a> with second-degree murder, and on July 13th 2013, he was found <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324879504578603562762064502">not guilty</a>. According to the only eyewitness account who saw the end of the confrontation, Martin was on top of Zimmerman, punching him as Zimmerman screamed for help. According to autopsy reports, Martin was shot at close range, leading to widespread and contentious debates regarding the subjects of self-defense and “stand your ground” laws.
Setting aside the unknown details of the case, eyewitness testimony suggests that Martin was assaulting Zimmerman, and that Zimmerman defended himself, fatally shooting Martin. That doesn’t absolve Zimmerman of responsibility for his part in the lead-up to the confrontation, but it does counter the narrative promoted to this day that Martin was “killed for a packet of Skittles.”
<div id="attachment_138640" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-138640" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-138640" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Barack-Obama-Trayvon-Martin.jpg" alt="US President Barack Obama speaks about race in the context of the not guilty ruling of George Zimmerman in the killing of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin in February 2012, as he appears at the start of the Daily Press Briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, July 19, 2013. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB " width="800" height="489" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Barack-Obama-Trayvon-Martin.jpg 859w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Barack-Obama-Trayvon-Martin-300x183.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Barack-Obama-Trayvon-Martin-768x469.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images</div>
After Zimmerman’s acquittal, Obama had the opportunity to articulate the admittedly difficult but crucially important level of objectivity required to analyze individual cases which touch upon broader and deeper issues of racially motivated violence. Instead, Obama’s response was not only weak, it promoted continued distrust in the justice system, using racial tensions as a surrogate for substantive evidence of bias in this particular case.
Speaking from the White House, Obama <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/19/remarks-president-trayvon-martin">proclaimed</a> that “The African-American community is also knowledgeable that there is a history of racial disparities in the application of our criminal laws — everything from the death penalty to enforcement of our drug laws. And that ends up having an impact in terms of how people interpret the case.” Obama failed to provide evidence that this was in any way relevant to Zimmerman’s acquittal.
In addition, Obama deliberately used Martin’s death to narcissistically draw a <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/barack-obama-race-relations-213493">shallow connection</a> between himself and the 17 year-old based on their shared skin color. “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” Obama’s hypothetical son’s likeliness to Martin is irrelevant when it comes to matters of innocence, guilt, or the alleged details of this case. The intentional dilution down to nothing but race, with the rejection of any notion of responsibility or context, results in the racist conclusion that guilt and innocence can be assigned by skin color alone. Such logic, which only divides by race, can never result in progress.
Michael Brown
After Barack Obama’s election in 2008, there was a hopeful spike in positivity regarding the state of race relations in the United States, with a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/2017/01/10/how-america-changed-during-barack-obamas-presidency/">44%</a> difference between all adults saying race relations are “generally good” and those saying “generally bad.” That difference dropped to 3% in August of 2014, coinciding with the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9th.
On August 12th, Obama released a <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/08/12/president-obama-issues-statement-death-michael-brown">statement</a>, describing Michael Brown’s death as “heartbreaking,” sending “deepest condolences” to Brown’s family and his community. While Obama was always hugely careful with his language, one line provided understated yet significant impact. “I know the events of the past few days have prompted strong passions, but as details unfold, I urge everyone in Ferguson, Missouri, and across the country, to remember this young man through reflection and understanding.”
<div id="attachment_138647" style="width: 949px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-138647" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-138647" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Ferguson-Riot-939x576.jpg" alt="Demonstrators celebrate as a business burns after it was set on fire during rioting following the grand jury announcement in the Michael Brown case on November 24, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. Ferguson has been struggling to return to normal after Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was killed by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer, on August 9. His death has sparked months of sometimes violent protests in Ferguson. A grand jury today declined to indict officer Wilson. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)" width="939" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Ferguson-Riot-939x576.jpg 939w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Ferguson-Riot-300x184.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Ferguson-Riot-768x471.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Ferguson-Riot.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px" />Scott Olson/Getty Images</div>
The details which later unfolded showed that the entire narrative of Michael Brown’s shooting was false, with Brown being shot after committing a strong-arm robbery, assaulting a police officer, and attempting to steal his weapon, before finally rushing at Officer Wilson. When <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/obama-ferguson-reaction-doj-115839">questioned</a> in 2015 on his Department of Justice’s decision not to charge the officer, Obama’s tone was recognizable. Careful, non-committal, and evasive, stating “You can’t just charge him anyway because what happened was tragic.” In 2014, following the announcement that a grand jury found “no probable cause” to charge Officer Wilson, Obama <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/11/24/366442184/obama-to-discuss-ferguson-jury-decision">stated</a> that &#8220;There are Americans who agree with it, and there are Americans who are deeply disappointed — even angry. It&#8217;s an understandable reaction.&#8221;
By arguing that anger is justified regardless of the existence of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/03/16/lesson-learned-from-the-shooting-of-michael-brown/">clear evidence</a> that Brown’s shooting was an act of self defense, Obama crossed a dangerous line, demonstrating a dismissive attitude towards the reality that law enforcement officers are often compelled to defend themselves against acts of violence. Obama achieved this by masterfully blurring the reaction to Michael Brown’s death with the reaction to the concerning results of a federal investigation into accusations of racism within the Ferguson police department, <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/obama-ferguson-reaction-doj-115839">stating</a> that “Ferguson residents had valid complaints about the police force.” This same conflation is seen today, with violent riots justified by the mere existence of supposedly “valid concerns.”
This deliberate tactic is highly effective, and continues to cause further societal damage. Protesting valid accusations of racism within a police department is entirely justifiable, but destructive riots fueled by false narratives are not. Obama had the chance to make that principal distinction, and cease the promulgation of the “hands up, don’t shoot” lie. By failing to do so, that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/haworth-biden-kamala-ignore-obama-biden-administrations-own-findings">same false slogan</a> is chanted at Black Lives Matter protests, and repeated by his contemporaries for political effect, to this day.
<div id="attachment_138645" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-138645" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-138645" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Hands-Up-Dont-Shoot-Protest-993x576.jpg" alt="Chanting, &quot;Hands up, don't shoot!&quot; more than one thousand demonstrators gather on the steps of the National Portrait Gallery the day after the Ferguson grand jury decision to not indict officer Darren Wilson in the Michael Brown case November 25, 2014 in Washington, DC. A St. Louis County grand jury decided to not indict Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown in August that sparked riots in Ferguson, Missouri, resulting in violence there Monday night. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)" width="800" height="464" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Hands-Up-Dont-Shoot-Protest-993x576.jpg 993w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Hands-Up-Dont-Shoot-Protest-300x174.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Hands-Up-Dont-Shoot-Protest-768x446.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Hands-Up-Dont-Shoot-Protest.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</div>
Dallas Massacre of Police Officers
With racial tensions reaching staggering levels after the deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling in 2016, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/09/us/dallas-police-shooting.html">Micah Johnson</a> “gunned down police officers in downtown Dallas,” having “specifically set out to kill as many white officers as he could.” Five officers were killed, and nine were injured. The attacks occurred days after the police killings of Sterling and Castile.
The country’s largest police union criticized President Obama for his initial response to the shootings, <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/police-union-criticizes-obama-shooting-response-calls-for-hate-crime-investigation-154938936.html">stating</a> “We’d like to see the president make one speech that speaks to everybody instead of one speech that speaks to black people as they grieve and one speech that speaks to police officers as they grieve.”
Perhaps, given this request, it was Obama’s intention to speak to everybody during his <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/president-obamas-dallas-speech-cheap-politics/">3,600</a> word speech at the Dallas police memorial service which commemorated the five officers who were murdered by Johnson. Unfortunately, <a href="https://time.com/4403543/president-obama-dallas-shooting-memorial-service-speech-transcript/">Obama missed the mark</a>, and chose to divide rather than unify by using the memorial as a political platform to call for gun control, to reference the victims of police killings (thereby raising the justification presented by the man who committed the massacre), and to make presumptive (and often statistically unsupported) claims of systemic racial bias in law enforcement.
<div id="attachment_138651" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-138651" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-138651" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Barack-Obama-Dallas-Memorial-899x576.jpg" alt="U.S. President Barack Obama delivers a speech during a memorial service for the victims of the Dallas police shooting at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas, USA on July 12, 2016. (Photo by Bilgin S. Sasmaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)" width="800" height="513" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Barack-Obama-Dallas-Memorial-899x576.jpg 899w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Barack-Obama-Dallas-Memorial-300x192.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Barack-Obama-Dallas-Memorial-768x492.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Barack-Obama-Dallas-Memorial.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Bilgin S. Sasmaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images</div>
There is nothing unifying about the dilution of a memorial, and certainly not in a manner which Obama would never attempt in reverse. Would he be applauded for commemorating the lives of specific police officers killed by black men during a memorial for a black person killed by a police officer? Probably not.
The point is not that you shouldn’t be able to mourn for multiple groups of people. We absolutely should be able to unify over shared grief for the loss of members of our communities. The point is that Obama was deliberately selective with the targets of his so-called “unification” strategy, and demonstrated an utter shamelessness while using the memorial service for murdered police officers to subtly criticize the law enforcement community as subconsciously — and therefore irrefutably — bigoted.
***
Through the damning limitations of binary thought, we are too often driven to conclude that “our president” is a hero while “their president” is a villain. In reality, the truth lies in the deep chasm which separates the two unobtainable titles. Under Donald Trump, race relations have undoubtedly worsened, with Trump and his rhetoric playing a role. However, it’s an act of ignorance or naivety to argue that Obama did not also play a part by laying the foundation of racial divisiveness he twisted for his own gain.
He’s not a hero. He’s not a villain. He’s a politician.
More from Ian Haworth: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-decline-why-we-must-question-mental-fitness">Biden’s Decline: Why We Must Question Mental Fitness</a>

Obama visits Chicago to tout immigration action, cites Ferguson controversy

HAWORTH: Moments In Obama’s Presidency That Fueled Racial Tensions

Barack Obama

“Hands up, don’t shoot!” This infamous slogan rose to prominence during the protests which broke out after Michael Brown was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. The phrase, which is still repeated at Black Lives Matter protests to this day, is a reference to a debunked <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/eyewitness-michael-brown-fatal-shooting-missouri">claim</a> by Dorian Johnson that Michael Brown was executed by Officer Darren Wilson despite surrendering and holding his hands in the air.
Since then, the initial claims about Brown supposedly being “murdered” while surrendering have been fully dismantled on multiple occasions, most notably by Barack Obama’s Department of Justice. The Obama Justice Department, headed by Attorney General Eric Holder, found in its exhaustive investigation of the case that witness accounts and forensic evidence overwhelmingly indicated that Brown did not hold up his hands and surrender. The decision not to press charges against Officer Darren Wilson is telling, given Obama’s open embrace of the Black Lives Matter movement for political gain.
As detailed in its famous <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1681212/doj-report-on-shooting-of-michael-brown.pdf">final report</a>, Obama-Biden administration ultimately concluded that all the available evidence painted an entirely different story than the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/03/16/lesson-learned-from-the-shooting-of-michael-brown/">racially charged narrative</a> that sparked the Ferguson protests and riots. The administration found that evidence indicated that Brown assaulted Officer Wilson, attempted to steal his firearm, and then charged at him. Here’s the legal analysis offered in the investigation based on all of the witness accounts and forensic evidence:
<blockquote>…Wilson’s account of Brown’s actions, if true, would establish that the shootings were not objectively unreasonable under the relevant Constitutional standards governing an officer’s use of deadly force. Multiple credible witnesses corroborate virtually every material aspect of Wilson’s account and are consistent with the physical evidence. Even if the evidence established that Wilson’s actions were unreasonable, the government would also have to prove that Wilson acted willfully, i.e. that he acted with a specific intent to violate the law. As discussed above, Wilson’s stated intent for shooting Brown was in response to a perceived deadly threat. The only possible basis for prosecuting Wilson under Section 242 would therefore be if the government could prove that his account is not true – i.e., that Brown never punched and grabbed Wilson at the SUV, never struggled with Wilson over the gun, and thereafter clearly surrendered in a way that no reasonable officer could have failed to perceive. Not only do eyewitnesses and physical evidence corroborate Wilson’s account, but there is no credible evidence to disprove Wilson’s perception that Brown posed a threat to Wilson as Brown advanced toward him. Accordingly, seeking his indictment is not permitted by Department of Justice policy or the governing law. </blockquote>
With an utter disregard for the conclusions of their own Justice Department, Democratic politicians still stand on the false soapbox of “hands up, don’t shoot” by shamelessly painting Brown as an innocent martyr. Among those still doing so are presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his newly announced running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), both of whom posted nearly identical statements on Aug. 9, the sixth-year anniversary of the tragic incident.
“It&#8217;s been six years since Michael Brown&#8217;s life was taken in Ferguson — reigniting a movement,” Biden tweeted. “We must continue the work of tackling systemic racism and reforming policing.”
“Six years ago Michael Brown was killed at the hands of police, sparking a nationwide movement and a desperately needed conversation that we are still having to this day,” Harris wrote on the same day. “We cannot give up fighting against police brutality.”
Former presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) also posted a statement listing out various famous police-involved shooting victims.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
It&#39;s been six years since Michael Brown&#39;s life was taken in Ferguson — reigniting a movement. We must continue the work of tackling systemic racism and reforming policing.
&mdash; Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1292505925685633025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Six years ago Michael Brown was killed at the hands of police, sparking a nationwide movement and a desperately needed conversation that we are still having to this day. We cannot give up fighting against police brutality.
&mdash; Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) <a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1292474475238379520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Stephon Clark, Atatiana Jefferson, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and too many others should still be alive today.
&mdash; Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) <a href="https://twitter.com/ewarren/status/1292544693822201856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
In order to avoid the obvious “fact-checkability” of the original Michael Brown story, politicians on the Left rely on their effective strategy of conflating disparate instances along racial lines and dismissing any subsequent criticism of inevitable inaccuracies by simply arguing that it doesn’t matter whether specific examples happened or not. After all, they are indicative of a “deeper truth.” The same logic is applied in order to ignore race hoaxes or false accusations of sexual assault. “This case might not be true, but it points to a deeper truth.”
Such flawed logic allows Warren, who prides herself on possessing some level of intellectual honesty, to assign one standard level of victimhood across multiple cases based upon race alone. The fact that the Obama-Biden administration determined that Brown was likely killed after rushing an officer he had assaulted after trying to steal his weapon is irrelevant. To the opportunistic Left, driven by their obsession with shallow identity politics and their desire to capitalize on racial division, truth plays second fiddle to skin color.
There are two important points which we must acknowledge. The first is that individual acts of police brutality do occur, and racism can play a role. But thorough investigations must precede such charges, not the other way around. The second is that many politicians on the Left see the issue of racism and police brutality as a reliable political lever and are therefore motivated to slander the character of the entire law enforcement community and ignore evidence of valid police action in order to pander to elements of their voting base.
Despite attempts to paint the issue of police brutality as deeply partisan, the reality is quite the opposite. For example, when evidence suggested that the police acted improperly when George Floyd was killed, the outrage spanned the political spectrum. However, such unity is far from politically advantageous, and so division must be intentionally sown in order to provide the opportunity for ideological profit. Such cynicism is what drives politicians to carefully conflate valid and invalid uses of police force under one broad banner of “police brutality.”
When their blatant falsehoods are identified, they hide behind their “deeper truth,” claiming that critics are guilty of denying that the issue of police brutality even exists. Eventually, they hope, the lie will become true because no voices will remain to question it.
So what can be done? In order to achieve our common goal of fighting police brutality, we must do three things. The first is to recognize that this must be a bipartisan effort. The second is to reject the use of identity politics to invalidate truth and understand that the assignment of innocence or guilt based solely on skin color is not only racist, but the very antithesis of justice. Finally, we must be tireless in our efforts to prevent the further promotion of the false slogans like “Hands up, don’t shoot!” If we grow silent, then truth will forever be corrupted by falsehood in the ceaseless quest for political power.
More from Ian Haworth: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/haworth-trump-2020-five-things-he-must-do-to-win">Trump 2020: Five Things He Must Do To Win</a>

Joe Biden

HAWORTH: Biden, Kamala Ignore Obama-Biden Administration’s Own Findings On Brown To Push Agenda

Kamala Harris

On Monday, sports journalist Jason Whitlock, who is one of the few sports journalists who does not follow the herd of those subscribing to political correctness, slammed San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich for promoting the false “hands up, don’t shoot” narrative about Michael Brown.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Why did San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich spend three minutes Sunday promoting a Michael Brown narrative debunked by a black president, a black attorney general and colorblind facts? <a href="https://t.co/fY1VWiUW7C">https://t.co/fY1VWiUW7C</a>
&mdash; Jason Whitlock (@WhitlockJason) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhitlockJason/status/1292890905616293890?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Writing at <a href="https://www.outkick.com/gregg-popovich-lies-about-michael-brown-intentionally-promotes-racial-animus/">Outkick the Coverage</a>, Whitlock stated bluntly, “Popovich is not dumb. He’s intentionally promoting racial animus.”
Whitlock began by noting that initially he had believed the “hands up, don’t shoot” narrative, but later he changed his mind, after interviewing Twitter activist Shaun King, realizing King was a “race hoax, Talcum X,” and hearing the “Department of Justice, under the guidance of President Barack Obama and attorney general Eric Holder,” acknowledge that Brown didn’t have his hands up, Brown reached inside officer Darren Wilson’s patrol car and fought for control of Wilson’s gun and Wilson shot Brown while Brown was running toward Wilson.
Whitlock wrote, “I know no longer pretend Michael Brown was an innocent victim of police brutality. The facts do not support that bogus narrative. These facts were made public more than four years ago.”
“So why did San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich spend three minutes Sunday <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2903815-gregg-popovich-talks-racial-injustice-on-anniversary-of-michael-browns-death">promoting</a> a Michael Brown narrative debunked by a black president, a black attorney general and colorblind facts?” Whitlock asked, adding, “Has someone or some organization asked Popovich to irresponsibly spew racial conspiracy theories? Racial unrest and violence have rocked this country for two months. Why would Popovich agitate an already tense situation with lies?”
Popovich claimed Brown “received six shots in the back that killed him,” adding, “And it’s just another example of an overall culture, not every policeman, so don’t take it out of context, but an overall culture that sort of presumes guilt, or feels danger because it’s a young black man.”
Whitlock noted, “Brown was not shot in the back. According to forensic evidence, all six bullets entered Brown from the front as he charged toward Wilson. Darren Wilson felt danger because Brown reached inside a police car and attempted to grab Wilson’s gun.”
&#8220;Why are Popovich and other angry white liberals constantly pushing black people to hold onto the wrongs of the past?” Whitlock asked. “Is any other group repeatedly asked to do this by outside forces? Has Popovich ever climbed on his high horse and ranted about the crimes committed against Jewish people or Japanese people or Italians?”
“Popovich’s actions create the impression that he wants black people angry, emotional and looking in the rearview mirror,” he continued. “You can’t see what’s in front of you when you’re obsessed with what’s behind you.”
Whitlock wrote succinctly, “Popovich is not dumb. He’s intentionally promoting racial animus.”
“The pervasive police hostility has elevated violent crime in poor black communities,” Whitlock noted. “Murder rates are climbing in Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles and other major cities. Police can’t protect our most vulnerable citizens because their communities are seething with an irrational level of anger toward law enforcement that has been promoted by Popovich, Steve Kerr and their comrades in the media.”
He concluded, “A reporter inside the Orlando bubble should ask Gregg Popovich why he lied about Michael Brown’s encounter with Darren Wilson. I don’t believe it was an accident. The smartest coach in basketball isn’t that stupid.”

Jason Whitlock

Jason Whitlock Slams Popovich Citing ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ Narrative: ‘He’s Intentionally Promoting Racial Animus’

Gregg Popovich

Racism

Presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden portrayed Michael Brown as the victim of a police shooting on Sunday — the sixth anniversary of Brown&#8217;s death in Ferguson, Missouri — despite the fact that the Obama-Biden Department of Justice <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2019/08/harris-warren-wrong-about-brown-shooting/">determined</a> that officer Darren Wilson had acted out of &#8220;self-defense.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s been six years since Michael Brown&#8217;s life was taken in Ferguson — reigniting a movement,&#8221; Biden tweeted. &#8220;We must continue the work of tackling systemic racism and reforming policing.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
It&#39;s been six years since Michael Brown&#39;s life was taken in Ferguson — reigniting a movement. We must continue the work of tackling systemic racism and reforming policing.
&mdash; Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1292505925685633025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/doj_report_on_shooting_of_michael_brown_1.pdf">report</a> from the Obama-Biden DOJ stated:
<blockquote>As detailed throughout this report, the evidence does not establish that the shots fired by Wilson were objectively unreasonable under federal law. The physical evidence establishes that 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 exception of the two 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 these 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.</blockquote>
The report states that &#8220;several witnesses stated that Brown appeared to pose a physical threat to Wilson as he moved toward Wilson&#8221; and that those witnesses were &#8220;corroborated by blood evidence in the roadway.&#8221;
The report states that there was &#8220;no credible evidence&#8221; to refute Wilson&#8217;s account of what happened:
<blockquote>Multiple credible witnesses corroborate virtually every material aspect of Wilson’s account and are consistent with the physical evidence. Even if the evidence established that Wilson’s actions were unreasonable, the government would also have to prove that Wilson acted willfully, i.e. that he acted with a specific intent to violate the law. As discussed above, Wilson’s stated intent for shooting Brown was in response to a perceived deadly threat. The only possible basis for prosecuting Wilson under Section 242 would therefore be if the government could prove that his account is not true – i.e., that Brown never punched and grabbed Wilson at the SUV, never struggled with Wilson over the gun, and thereafter clearly surrendered in a way that no reasonable officer could have failed to perceive. Not only do eyewitnesses and physical evidence corroborate Wilson’s account, but there is no credible evidence to disprove Wilson’s perception that Brown posed a threat to Wilson as Brown advanced toward him.</blockquote>
The report repeatedly states that throughout the different stages of the incident, as it progressed, the &#8220;evidence establishes that the shots fired by Wilson&#8221; were &#8220;in self-defense and thus were not objectively unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment.&#8221;
Wilson was recently subjected to a second investigation by St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell, who announced last month that he would not charge Wilson.
“This is one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do as an elected official,” Bell <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/st-louis-county-prosecutor-reopened-michael-brown-shooting-case-but-wont-charge-darren-wilson/article_8e537a12-4dd0-51d8-a325-11ba7dddd20e.html">said</a>. “Although this case represents one of the most significant moments in St. Louis’ history, the question to this office is a simple one: Could we prove beyond a reasonable doubt that when Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown he committed murder or manslaughter under Missouri law? After an independent and in-depth review of the evidence, we cannot prove that he did.”

Presidential Candidate Joe Biden Delivers Remarks In Pennsylvania

Biden Seems To Suggest Michael Brown Was Victim On Anniversary Of Death. Obama-Biden DOJ Said Officer Acted In ‘Self-Defense’

St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell announced on Thursday that he will not be bringing charges against former Ferguson Police Department officer Darren Wilson, who fatally shot Michael Brown, 18, back in 2014.
During a Thursday press conference, Bell announced the news by prefacing it as &#8220;one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do,&#8221; noting that his “heart breaks” for the Browns.
“The question for this office was a simple one: Could we prove beyond a reasonable doubt that when Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown he committed murder or manslaughter under Missouri law?&#8221; Bell posed. &#8220;After an independent and in-depth review of the evidence, we cannot prove that he did.&#8221;
According to <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/07/30/no-charges-for-darren-wilson-in-michael-browns-death-prosecutor/?utm_source=NYPTwitter&amp;utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_medium=SocialFlow">The Associated Press</a>, activists and Brown&#8217;s family were hoping Bell, &#8220;the county’s first Black prosecutor, would reopen the case after he took office in January 2019.&#8221;
Bell said his office conducted &#8220;a five-month review of witness statements, forensic reports and other evidence,&#8221; the AP noted, adding that his investigation &#8220;does not exonerate Darren Wilson.”
“I know this is not the result they were looking for and that their pain will continue forever,” Bell stated.
<div id="attachment_133790" style="width: 668px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-133790" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-133790 size-full" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/GettyImages-1220782315.jpg" alt="St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell" width="658" height="487" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/GettyImages-1220782315.jpg 658w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/GettyImages-1220782315-300x222.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 658px) 100vw, 658px" />St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell, Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images</div>
Jim Towey, Wilson&#8217;s attorney, noted that Bell’s review &#8220;had the same conclusion&#8221; as Bell’s predecessor, a grand jury, and the U.S. Department of Justice: &#8220;There was no crime.&#8221;
“I am just hoping that everybody gets to have some closure, particularly the Brown family,” Towey said, according to the AP.
As highlighted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/whitmer-marches-with-demonstrators-chanting-hands-up-dont-shoot">The Daily Wire</a>, the chant “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!” was popularized following Brown&#8217;s death, though it was found to be an inaccurate representation of the incident. The Obama Justice Department, in deciding not to prosecute Wilson, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/doj_report_on_shooting_of_michael_brown_1.pdf">stated</a>:
<blockquote>Although there are several individuals who have stated that Brown held his hands up in an unambiguous sign of surrender prior to Wilson shooting him dead, their accounts do not support a prosecution of Wilson. As detailed throughout this report, some of those accounts are inaccurate because they are inconsistent with the physical and forensic evidence; some of those accounts are materially inconsistent with that witness’s own prior statements with no explanation, credible for otherwise, as to why those accounts changed over time. Certain other witnesses who originally stated Brown had his hands up in surrender recanted their original accounts, admitting that they did not witness the shooting or parts of it, despite what they initially reported either to federal or local law enforcement or to the media.</blockquote>
Moreover, The Washington Post has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/washington-post-shreds-democrats-claim-mike-brown-james-barrett">fact-checked</a> prominent Democratic politicians who have claimed Brown was &#8220;murdered.&#8221;
“[Sen. Kamala] Harris and [Sen. Elizabeth] Warren have ignored the findings of the Justice Department to accuse Wilson of murder, even though the Justice Department found no credible evidence to support that claim,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/13/harris-warren-ignore-doj-report-claim-that-michael-brown-was-murdered/">said</a> Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler. “Instead, the Justice Department found that the popular narrative was wrong, according to witnesses deemed to be credible, some of whom testified reluctantly because of fear of reprisal. The department produced a comprehensive report to determine what happened, making the senators’ dismissal of it even more galling. Harris and Warren both earn Four Pinocchios.”
Bell, the AP noted, &#8220;faced no restrictions in re-examining Brown’s death for potential murder charges. Wilson was never charged and tried, so double jeopardy was not an issue. There is no statute of limitations on filing murder charges.&#8221;

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