Ferguson, our sins coming home to roost? by Robert Odle

Ferguson is more than it seems.  It looks like the police may have gone too far.  How does someone walking in the street instead of the sidewalk escalate to the killing of Michael Brown?  Six shots to stop an unarmed person -- really?

So, we can see how people would be upset about this and want an impartial review of the evidence to determine if the policeman should be indicted.  In short, all sides want due process of the law.  Of course, the State Attorney works with the police all the time, so can he really be impartial?  

But there are two things that really catch my attention.  The police remind me of a military invasion.  In the picture above, look at the firepower being directed at one black man.  What kind of mindset results in three military looking cops holding three assault weapons on one man? In another picture of this same scene there are actually four assault weapons pointed at this man. Even if this is the National Guard isn't an excess show of force more or less demonstrating the forceful style that exists in Missouri?

Of course, with the peaceful demonstration against the alleged misconduct, there was also some looting and local violence.  And, there was some claims that Michael Brown might of been a suspect in a local burglary and that he had pot in his system in addition to six bullet wounds.  All of that seems to misdirect us away from the original question, was the policeman protecting himself and/or was he using excessive force/ gun power to kill a relatively harmless person.  The answer is probably somewhere in the middle, in the gray area.

But, here is another question.  Is Ferguson an early look on what it is going to be like as the haves militarize to protect their stuff from the have-nots?  Is this what the streets are going to look like as the number of uneducated, unskilled and many of them fatherless Americans respond to real or apparent miscarriages of justice.  Is there a huge gulf arising between those that have, including those that work for them, and those that don't have?