Riots erupted across the country over the decision not to indict Darren Wilson, the officer who killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. Arguments about whether Brown charged him or fled or whether the shots were in self-defense or unprovoked are, when you pull away all the layers of obfuscation, irrelevant.
The real issue is that young black men are targets wherever they go. They are harassed, stopped, frisked, interrogated, arrested, framed and killed in numbers wholly out of proportion to their representation in the population.
This fact, simple and bold, is where the problem lies. We saw it in the Zimmerman case; we’re seeing it here. Anyone who wants to take an hour or two out and surf the Internet can find scores of other cases.
We need to stop splitting hairs over what are essentially meaningless details and focus on the deeper issues.