Many of my friends are lawyers, and what’s clear from conversations over the years is the ease with which prosecutors can get indictments from a grand jury even if he scribbles the request on a Kleenex. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch did not want one (Vox published a piece explaining the challenges that Michael Brown’s family faced). In his press conference he made it clear that the idea of even sorting through conflicting testimony was as onerous as social and traditional media doing their jobs. That’s what trials are for. Brown’s family won’t get one, unless they pursue federal civil rights charges. The president of the United Sates, looking as wan and tired as he did when he addressed the problem in August, made it clear after the platitudinous evocations of The Enormous Progress America Has Made since the sixties that he wanted lessons to be learned (“there will inevitably be some negative reaction,” said this wizard with words). McCullouch’s report, boasting the imprimatur of thoroughness, still didn’t answer the question why Darren Wilson fired twelve shots into a kid who stole cigarillos. When it comes to our history of racial violence don’t answer the question “why.” Facts are supposed to answer it. But power and authority use facts to prepare us for the lessons to be learned and our opportunities for growth.
Humanizing The Vacuum 