“Hands up. Don’t shoot” is a Black Lives Matter slogan – born Aug. 9, 2014 – and still used today, to bring up police brutality and racial injustice.
But what actually happened in Ferguson, Mich., six years ago? It was the day that Michael Brown – an unarmed black man – was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson. After that event, Americans heard a media narrative bent on stoking racial tension, rather than honest reporting of the facts.
Officer Wilson was responding to a reported robbery of a local convenience store when he spotted two men – Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson – who resembled the suspects. After the officer asked them to stop for questioning, Brown reached into the SUV, punched the officer and attempted to steal his firearm; at which point, Officer Wilson managed to fire a shot through Brown’s hand.
Brown then attempted to flee the scene and a foot chase ensued, which culminated in Brown charging the officer twice and Wilson – under threat – firing fatal shots into the suspect.
This is a case of an unarmed black man being killed by police.
However, it was ruled by the courts that the act of force was justified and Wilson was not charged. The autopsy revealed that the wound patterns were consistent with Wilson’s account of events. Furthermore, not one eyewitness testified that Michael Brown had surrendered before being shot and said, “Hands up. Don’t shoot.” Turns out, unofficial third-hand accounts spread the rumor that Dorian Johnson – the surviving robbery suspect – claimed that the police had shot his friend with his hands up.
But all actual witnesses refuted this account. Both local and federal investigators concluded that Officer Wilson did nothing wrong.
The Black Lives Matter movement was born out of this event. Here we are – six years later – and protestors still chant, “Hands up. Don’t shoot.” The riots that ensued were much like those we are seeing today.
And the media continues to spread falsehoods and omit key facts to further their narrative: that Michael Brown was stopped for no good reason, that he was shot in the back after surrendering, that he was just an unarmed black man, a victim of racial profiling, and of police brutality. Our cities burn because the media have a political motive behind their presentation of cases like Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd: fueling race wars to win Democrat votes.
Here are the facts: 999 Americans were fatally shot by police in 2019; 250 of those were black, 14 of those were unarmed and only 1 wasn’t resisting arrest.
Being unarmed does not mean innocent or harmless. By perpetuating lies, we have made an enemy of the police – and sacrificed the lives and livelihoods of countless minorities and business owners – to push a false narrative of racism. How many people believe that racist cops are slaughtering innocent black men across the country because of Ferguson? How many more are harmed, rather than helped, by this narrative?
What will 2026 look like, if we keep tolerating the media’s lies?
Jeremy Wiggins is a columnist for The Graham Star.