All We Want is Justice for Michael Brown

The Basic Facts:

• Officer Darren Wilson, a white police officer of Ferguson, MO, had pulled over black teenager Michael Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson on August 9th, 2014
• After an unknown altercation, Darren Wilson fired twelve shots towards Brown, seven of them hitting him and killing him
• On November 24th, the Grand Jury chose not to indict Darren Wilson. This means that:
• Darren Wilson will not be charged
• He can walk away free
• He got away with murdering an unarmed teenager because of 'fear'

That's the basic facts everyone agrees on when it comes to the Ferguson case. However, what the citizens of the city, along with the Grand Jury had to do is figure out what exactly happened that afternoon.

The Debate

The main source of debate is whether or not Michael had attacked Officer Wilson or not. According to Wilson's testimony, Brown had attacked him after he stopped him for walking in the middle of the road, getting a hold of the officer's gun. Wilson did not know about the supposed robbery happening at first; he pulled Brown and Johnson over for jaywalking. Wilson described a violent encounter, but his medical exam photos tell a different story.

The lack of violent injuries just don't match up with his story. You'd expect more bruising, perhaps more lacerations, but there is only one major bruise, and even then, it doesn't match his testimony. If he was in the driver's seat of the police car when Brown supposedly 'attacked' him, it would've been near impossible for Brown to strike the right side of his face from the driver's window.

According to witnesses, amongst those who testified, Brown had definitely run away from Wilson after being shot. Whether or not a violent encounter had occurred is up for debate, because two stories are currently circulating:

• Darren Wilson was attacked by Michael Brown and shot him in self defense
• Michael Brown was attacked by Wilson, who went after Brown

Even if Brown had attacked Wilson, the gun is a last resort; Wilson should've used mace or a taser to stun him before arresting him. Of course, he claimed in his testimony he couldn't reach his mace and that he wasn't comfortable carrying a taser, so he went for the gun, that he proceeded to use twelve times; twice in the car, ten outside of the car. Seven of these hit Brown.

Completely unnecessary. How he didn't at the least get charged with excessive force is beyond me.

To put it bluntly:

An unarmed black teenager was shot seven times by a white police officer, who got away with it. No justice was served.

Darren Wilson walks free, possibly a millionaire due to tax-exempt donations plus a six figure number for being interviewed by ABC.

Michael Brown is painted as a criminal and is demonized across the country.

This is the nation we live in.

Liberty and justice for all? No, only for the white man.

May Nolan Burch Rest in Peace

Nolan Burch, a college freshman at West Virginia University and a Canisius graduate, had passed away in what was described as a 'catastrophic medical emergency' Wednesday. He had pledged to join the university's Kappa Sigma fraternity; however, during his initiation, he was found unconscious around 11:50 PM Wednesday night when campus police were notified.

It was said that he was extremely excited about pledging to join the fraternity, and was prepared to do anything during his pledging; this included a " text to 120 fraternity brothers about what the weather would be like that day" at 5 AM every morning.

However, the party culture of college, and especially fraternities and sororities, had proven to be dangerous for the freshman. He was obviously caught up with the fraternity culture of the university, and was enthusiastic to become a fraternity brother. His death was most likely caused by heavy drinking, probably a part of his pledge, or due to pressure from his brothers.

It is truly unfortunate; however, we can learn from this. Being able to join a fraternity or sorority can be an amazing experience in college, but it obviously has its dangers. From hazing that still goes on, to intense pledges just to join, to the rampant underage drinking and excessive partying, it can be detrimental as well. Nolan was a great student and was eager to begin college life; unfortunately he had not considered the consequences of some of his actions.

May he rest in peace.

Tell TIME: Feminist Is Not A Bad Word

In a recent survey by TIME Magazine, the magazine asked what words should be 'banned' in 2015; this is an annual tradition for the magazine. The problem? Among slang terms such as 'bae', 'basic', and 'turnt' was an odd word to be included: feminist. The magazine asked "...when did it become a thing that every celebrity had to state their position on whether this word applies to them, like some politician declaring a party?", not considering the importance of such a word.

Since the poll came out, many news outlets and organizations, such as The Huffington Post and Planned Parenthood have come forward criticizing the magazine. Feminist itself is not slang, it is not 'trendy', it is the name of an active movement in order to help women and men have equal rights. A political movement shouldn't be reduced down to a word that should be banned. There's power behind words, having TIME put 'feminist' in this poll just takes away that power.

Since then, TIME has apologized, however:

TIME apologizes for the execution of this poll; the word ‘feminist’ should not have been included in a list of words to ban. While we meant to invite debate about some ways the word was used this year, that nuance was lost, and we regret that its inclusion has become a distraction from the important debate over equality and justice.

It still isn't enough, though. What needs to be realized is that feminism isn't a trend, it's a political movement.

Net Neutrality - Where Obama Stands

This article tells about the recent push by President Obama to the F.C.C in order to enforce tougher rules on net neutrality in order to prevent large companies from setting regulations on their internet services. Without these rules, paywalls may be able to be set up by the companies, where consumers would have to pay for access to certain websites. 
The article, titled Obama Asks F.C.C. to Adopt Tough Net Neutrality Rules, is accurate to what is being described. It's simple; Obama wants the F.C.C. to adopt tougher policies to prevent restricted access to the Internet. In writing this article, Edward Wyatt had supported his argument by providing evidence from numerous sources, such as interviews, debates, and open discussions by both Obama and Tom Wheeler, F.C.C. chairman.
Obama said that "a free and open Internet was as critical to Americans’ lives as electricity and telephone service and should be regulated like those utilities to protect consumers." This is of the utmost importance; denying someone the right to access the Internet, which contains quite possibly more information than any library or encyclopedia, is similar to denying telephone service because someone can't afford extra fees on top of their ISP's bill. One of the main arguments presented is the importance of the Internet. Today, it is one of the most important resources anyone can have. Money shouldn't rule this argument as it has been. 

I do wonder if, perhaps, this is fueled by a corporate greed and a desire for more wealth at the cost of consumers, or maybe those against net neutrality have some sort of reasoning behind restricting Internet access. I also wonder what Wheeler's new policies on net neutrality include. These could've been something for Wyatt to explore more. 

Hopefully, Obama pushing Wheeler may start to get policies on net neutrality in motion.

Democrats Lost, Republicans Take Control

The results are in: Republicans took seven new states, allowing them to gain control of the Senate, and due to that, Congress. The states they took were Montana, South Dakota, Arkansas, West Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado and Iowa.
While this is disappointing, considering the fact that the Republicans have had the strongest majority in Congress since World War II, it wasn't surprising; the race itself was an extremely difficult one for Democrats.

Between issues of money and unwanted support from Obama (which has been the main issue for Democrats to overcome), the race itself had been perhaps doomed from the start for Democrats.

While they definitely had more minority voters and more moderate voters (53% compared to Republican's 44%), it wasn't enough. Most white people (60%) voted Republican, along with 85% of conservatives. Both of these groups are the majority in the United States, so it would be expected they'd win.

As I said in the last post, what Democrats needed was more voters. They feel like that they don't need to vote when these elections are just as crucial as the presidential ones. It's truly disappointing seeing them lose, only to ask why, when it was their own fault they didn't vote.

Democrats May Unfortunately Lose

By looking at the current polls, it is definitely certain that Republicans will maintain their majority in the House of Representatives, along with taking the majority from the Democrats in the Senate. Even though the Democrats had support from people such as Obama and Hillary Clinton, it wasn't enough for the Democrats. In fact, it may have hurt them more than helped; Republicans spent their entire campaign focusing on the fact that Democrats supported Obama, even though most of them didn't want to associate with him.

According to the New York Times, the best way the Democrats can keep control of the Senate is if they win in Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, and New Hampshire, along with the 11 solid Democratic states. Even if they do this, it's most likely not going to happen; Republicans have a 70% chance of gaining control of the Senate.

Current polls show that Democrats could keep control of the Senate, but it is extremely unlikely and an event that I don't think will happen. Perhaps if more Democrats went out and voted during the midterms, the results would be different, but these voters feel as if it isn't necessary. Unfortunately, every election is important and Democrats need to vote more regardless of their confidence in their representatives and senators.

It's unfortunate, but Republicans will most likely regain control of both the Senate and the House.