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April 25, 2015

August 9, 2014: Michael Brown Shooting

Background

  • August 9th, 2014, Michael Brown, an 18 year old black teenager was shot and killed in Ferguson, Missouri by a white police officer named Darren Wilson

  • On the morning of his death, Michael Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson were caught on Surveillance video stealing cigarillos. 

  • Witnesses state that Brown had his hands up, “A gesture of surrender”, found with no weapons.

  • In November 2014, St Louis County grand jury and US justice department, comprised of nine white and three black, failed to bring charges against Darren Wilson

  • Shortly after failing to indict officer Wilson, waves of activism and protests ensued at the Ferguson police department, towards police officers, and eventually setting property and cars on fire.  Police officers used tear gas, rubber bullets, and smoke to break up protesters

  • Justice Department investigated Ferguson’s criminal justice system and found that the city had engaged in many constitutional violations, requiring a whole new approach to policing.  Thomas Jackson, the police chief, stepped down shortly after the report

 

 

http://breakingbrown.com/2014/08/ferguson-police-defend-decision-to-leave-michael-browns-body-in-the-street-for-4-hours/
          

Death and Injury

  • Michael Brown was was still shot 12 times and his body was left for four hours in a pool of his own blood.

 
Psychological Impact

  • Brown's shooting createed a very strong immediate psychological impact not only on the immediate family, but also in the community, and society as a whole

  • A traumatic incident such as this brings immediate terror and distrust towards another human being, rendering the person and everyone that experienced it in a state of helplessness

  • Families and communities are left with sentiments of rage, fear, distress, and identity disruption, which could lead to PTSD and depressive symptoms.

  • Brown’s death also immediately brought to surface issues of race and racism found in this  country.  Due to his social identity and the racial tensions that exist between the police force and black population in Ferguson, an immediate reaction of a disaster such as Brown’s unjust death brought about intense anger that lead to protests towards the police department and essentially Blacks all over the country protesting the dehumanization of their social identity.   

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