Posted on 08/27/2014 2:15:14 AM PDT by servo1969
The international spotlight has recently been shining on Ferguson, Mo., after an 18-year-old black man was fatally shot by a white police officer. There was massive national and international media coverage, much of it engendered by the tantalizing thought that here was a clear-cut case of racism leading to police brutality and indicative of the evil inherent in American society. Violent demonstrations and riots ensued, with massive property damage and many outside agitators descending on the town, supposedly to guarantee justice as defined by mob mentality.
Perhaps it would be useful to examine the tragedy with the facts on the table rather than through the lenses of hypersensitized emotions stimulated by those attempting to exploit the situation.
Michael Brown was 6-foot-4 and 290 pounds. He had marijuana in his system and was purportedly involved in a strong-arm robbery prior to the shooting. He and a companion were walking in the middle of the street and obstructing traffic and therefore were admonished by a police officer to move to the sidewalk. Brown, who may have been pharmacologically impaired, became belligerent, and the ensuing struggle produced facial trauma and an orbital fracture of the police officer's face. The officer, who may have been dazed by a blow to the cranium severe enough to produce a fracture, attempted to apprehend the assailant, and shots were fired, six of which struck the suspect, resulting in a fatality.
Regardless of one's position on the political spectrum, we can all agree that this was a horrible tragedy and needless discarding of a precious life. How could this have been avoided? Two obvious answers: The officer could have ignored his duty and backed off when it became apparent that his instructions would not be followed, thereby avoiding a confrontation, or Brown could have complied with the officer's instructions, according to his civic duties.
If police officers generally adopted the first solution, chaos would reign supreme in all of our streets. If the populace generally adopted the second solution, there would be even fewer incidents of police violence. Last year, 100 black males were killed by police in the United States. In the same year, 5,000 blacks were killed by other blacks, the vast majority being males. Could it be that we are erroneously being manipulated into making this incident a racial issue, when, in fact, it is a component of a much larger social issue?
Why are there so many young black men in the streets of America with defiant attitudes that frequently lead to incarceration or death? Could it be that a large number of them grow up without a father figure to teach them how to relate to authority and the meaning of personal responsibility? This is not to say that mothers cannot convey these important social lessons, as mine did. But in too many cases, these young unwed mothers have never themselves been exposed to personal responsibility and self-esteem, and the vicious cycle continues. As a society, we must concentrate on ways to break this tragic cycle that has produced a higher poverty rate in black communities across America with the increasing frustrations that underscore potentially explosive, tinderbox situations, as we have seen in Ferguson.
Once we get the most powerful economic engine the world has ever seen back on track with sensible economic policies, we should devote some of the tax revenues generated to child-care facilities that would allow many of those unwed mothers to get their General Education Development or higher degree and become self-supporting. There are also a number of programs across the nation that offer free classes that teach social and job skills, which would give many of the young men some different options.
We must concentrate on these kinds of programs because we cannot afford to lose large segments of our society to despair and underachievement in an increasingly competitive world. We have a social crisis brewing if we continue down the path we are on now, but we have the power to change our downward course with true compassion that allows people to rise and escape dependency.
I agree with Dr. Carson’s logical thinking. However, I wished he had addressed the important role of a father in the home. Too many black children and white children for that matter are being raised today without two parents in the home to provide guidance and direction. This breakdown of the family structure IMHO has been the biggest reason for the deterioration of our society. And one of the biggest reason for this is that our government rewards such behavior with welfare programs.
Is this what you mean?
Why are there so many young black men in the streets of America with defiant attitudes that frequently lead to incarceration or death? Could it be that a large number of them grow up without a father figure to teach them how to relate to authority and the meaning of personal responsibility? This is not to say that mothers cannot convey these important social lessons...
Or you talkin' bout something else?
“How could this have been avoided?”
Brown could have not robbed and assaulted in the first place, not contributing to a community need for patrolling cops, and not had a reason to avoid arrest by further assault.
It’s all Brown’s fault. First actor: no crime => no avalanche of consequences.
What you and the good Doctor are seeing and commenting upon has been the goal of big government builders. Destroying the family unit is extremely effective in that. I think we can declare their success.
Carson demonstrates a bewildering political naivete when it comes to these so called racial incidents. He accepts the manufactured narratives and responds to them in a fashion which demostrates he doesn’t understand that they’re created for political purposes. And for that reason alone any talk of his candidacy for anything should be discarded.
All this inflamatory reporting of confrontations between black youths and authority is ruthlessly designed to keeping the black segment of Obama’s political support riled up so that any thought of instituting a richly deserved impeachment proceeding goes nowhere. Is something Carson doesn’t seem to get,he like million of other blacks are being lied to.
It seems to be something Carson does not grasp. Not recognizing why this “racial divide” is being perpetuated has nothing to do with such lofty counter arguments being offered by the political opposition on “equality” or “justice”. Those discussions are viewed with glee and laughed at by the democrats because it diverts focus from the real reason why the those in power are using this political device known as division. It’s to keep them unquestioningly in power.
Actually Dr Carson did address this farther down in the article
I the 6th paragraph he wrote:
Why are there so many young black men in the streets of America with defiant attitudes that frequently lead to incarceration or death? Could it be that a large number of them grow up without a father figure to teach them how to relate to authority and the meaning of personal responsibility? This is not to say that mothers cannot convey these important social lessons, as mine did. But in too many cases, these young unwed mothers have never themselves been exposed to personal responsibility and self-esteem, and the vicious cycle continues. As a society, we must concentrate on ways to break this tragic cycle that has produced a higher poverty rate in black communities across America with the increasing frustrations that underscore potentially explosive, tinderbox situations, as we have seen in Ferguson.
One Punch Homicide And A Police Officer’s Safety
Published on Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Tags:Major Van Harl|Police Training|Self Defense
By Major Van Harl USAF Ret
Darren Wilson
St. Louis Policeman Darren Wilson suffered an “orbital blowout fracture to the eye socket” most likely from a punch to the head.
AmmoLand Gun News
Wisconsin —(Ammoland.com)- While in grade school I suffered two concussions in the same calendar year.
Both were head strikes I sustained on the school playground and both times I wound up in the hospital. I overheard a doctor tell my parents that one more concussion could kill me. This as a child, scared the hell out of me.
Apparently the doctor suggested that I not play contact sports in my K thru 12 school years. I was not apprised of this. I did wonder why when my friends went out for football in junior and senior high school, that the game was never discussed in my home. I remember being punched in the face and hit in the head four times while in high school. Three of those times they put me to the ground and kept hitting me in the head.
It would appear that when people mean to do you physical harm everyone understands that striking the head is an outstanding target of opportunity.
There is a documentary entitled One Punch Homicide (onepunchhomicde.com) that deals with the killing of a person after striking them only once in the head. I am sure you have all seen a TV show or movie where the good-guy needs to stop someone, but they do not want to use deadly force. So, they punch the victim in the head with the intent of knocking them out for a little while.
The lucky victim allegedly only has to wake up with a splitting headache, but can be thankful he did not wake up to a bullet in his brain.
In real life it does not always work that way. In One Punch Homicide you will see person after person who suffered only one strike to the head and they are now dead. That single hit delivered to one human’s head, by another human’s actions, is why little Tommy is going home in a box.
I have been in Law Enforcement for over thirty five years and I have had the discussion with my wife many times about my fear of being hit in the head, incapacitated and disadvantaged at the hands of my assailant.
One of my favorite TV shows is NCIS. Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs is always hitting Agent DiNozzo in the back of the head when DiNozzo screws up. It is funny and it is a long standing part of the shows story line, but then it is not funny, because people see it and believe it is OK to strike a person in the head, if only in a fun-kind-of-way.
A head strike is a head strike.
I am an Army-trained infantry officer and I truly hate wearing helmets. I was always the first one to take my helmet off and the last one to put it on, but I never refuse to wear a helmet. I have done the research on the lives saved in combat since the helmet was introduced into mass usage in WWI.
When there are complaints in the press about the militarization of the American police because the “cops” show up in helmets and flak vests, always remember the ingrained knowledge of everyone (criminal or not) that the head is a prime target of opportunity.
Modern “cops” are trained to leave the head and shoulder area of a suspect that they have come in physical contact with, alone. Attacking a person’s head in the law enforcement world is considered using deadly force. Now if the bad guy is attacking you with intent to do (your body) bodily harm, then the “cops” are trained to supersede the restriction of impact force to the head and shoulders.
Someone coming at you with a knife (deadly force) that is a very good reason to strike them in their head with your police issued baton; you are however trying to stop them not kill them. When that police officer killed that man in Ferguson, MO I told my wife very early on, as we watched the violence play out on TV, that I believed the officer had been struck in the head.
The “cop” used deadly (firearms) force as a last resort, because he was losing control due to the pain, impairment of vision and belief he would be rendered unconscious, after he received brutal head strikes.
Again back to my fear as an old “cop” lying on the ground coming in and out of consciousness from a head strike, as the bad guys (they never come alone) take my duty weapon and used it on me.
Think twice before you slap someone in the face. It is not just a little slap. It is a strike to one of the most venerable parts of the human body. One punch can kill, and go on to ruin many lives.
The officer has the right to survive the day, and go home to their family. Potentially being knocked out by street thugs and dying in your own pool of blood is a very good reason to fight evil with anything you have at your disposal.
Major Van Harl USAF Ret.
vanharl@aol.com
About Major Van Harl USAF Ret.:Major Van E. Harl USAF Ret., a career Police Officer in the U.S. Air Force was born in Burlington, Iowa, USA, in 1955. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Infantry School. A retired Colorado Ranger and currently is an Auxiliary Police Officer with the Cudahy PD in Milwaukee County, WI. His efforts now are directed at church campus safely and security training. He believes “evil hates organization.” vanharl@aol.com
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