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Should Michael Brown's Step father be prosecuted?

Should Michael Brown's Step Father be prosecuted

  • Yes, he openly called a crowd to commit arson - and they did

    Votes: 27 67.5%

  • No, free speech

    Votes: 8 20.0%

  • Only if it proven people who heard this then did commit arson

    Votes: 1 2.5%

  • I'm undecided

    Votes: 3 7.5%

  • Leave it up to a grand jury to decide

    Votes: 1 2.5%
  • Total voters
    40
Lutherf said:
He was acting out emotionally. It was pretty much the same thing as when you're 4 year old screams "I want ice cream now!!!"
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4 year-olds don't frenzy other 4 year-olds into riots and violence... really, that is your analogy? No offence but ... :lol:
 
Bodhisattva said:
4 year-olds don't frenzy other 4 year-olds into riots and violence... really, that is your analogy? No offence but ... :lol:
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I'm not about to condone throwing the book at someone who simply has an emotional meltdown. As I said before, the threat of riots had already been considered well before this guys outburst.
 
ernst barkmann said:
they are ....when it involves death, pain, destruction, loss of revenue, slandering, lost of product or service.
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And many of those things occurred in this case... pain, destruction, loss of revenue, slander, loss of product AND service...
 
Lutherf said:
I'm not about to condone throwing the book at someone who simply has an emotional meltdown. As I said before, the threat of riots had already been considered well before this guys outburst.
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I am not saying throw the book at them but he has to at least get a small charge, fine or admittance of doing something wrong. Community service. Please to the public to stop. Something.
 
twixie1 said:
He may have been speaking from grief for his stepson..
People say stuff they don't mean when they are angry.
And if he was prosecuted, this whole sad affair is never going to end..

Until the next time..
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I wonder if you'd be that sympathetic if it were your cake shop that you have been working 15 hours a day on for 20 yrs that had been burned to the ground. Maybe you would be. But I doubt it.

(A local black-owned cake shop was in fact burned.) I can't imagine how life destroying that might be. A small business, eeking out a living, going in at 4 a.m. to start baking cakes, day after day, six days a week. You make a small profit on each cake. You work your butt off for years. Then in one night, some thugs burn it down because they're mad at someone else that you have nothing to do with. Insurance? The story I read didn't mention it. Maybe she couldn't afford insurance. Or maybe it wasn't good insurance. Probably burned down by people who don't work and don't understand the life dreams that are wrapped up in something like that. A black woman owned the business. It can't have been easy. Her heart and soul were probably poured into it, as well as pride in her accomplishment. Just a little cake shop. But it was hers that she'd built from nothing. You don't get vacation time or sick days when you own a small business. A lot of hard work went into it.

In the article I read, the owner didn't mention anger, though. Some people are better than others.
 
Bodhisattva said:
And many of those things occurred in this case... pain, destruction, loss of revenue, slander, loss of product AND service...
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yes i agree, but will the people who suffered these things have the nerve to do something about it?

in the current climate, there will be those who will say its justified,...which is silly.
 
Bodhisattva said:
I am not saying throw the book at them but he has to at least get a small charge, fine or admittance of doing something wrong. Community service. Please to the public to stop. Something.
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Man, there were so many people there already doing something wrong that his antics rank right at the bottom of the barrel. There probably wouldn't have been but 20 people that even heard him if not for the news cameras. Why not blame them for inciting violence? They didn't have to broadcast that crap.
 
ernst barkmann said:
yes i agree, but will the people who suffered these things have the nerve to do something about it?

in the current climate, there will be those who will say its justified,...which is silly.
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Agreed...
 
Lutherf said:
Man, there were so many people there already doing something wrong that his antics rank right at the bottom of the barrel. There probably wouldn't have been but 20 people that even heard him if not for the news cameras. Why not blame them for inciting violence? They didn't have to broadcast that crap.
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Blame the crowds and use the video to ID and arrest as many as possible. With regards to the media? They need to be there for documentation. Them broadcasting is nothing like actually calling for violence. The dad needs to be arrested.
 
NSFW



This is a song which came out shortly after the Rodney King riots and it is indicative of the mindset of the demographic.
 
I saw the video of it.

The guy was out for revenge at any cost. No wonder Michael Brown turned out to be a scumbag with scumbag parents.

I think Stepdad, Holder, the NAACP and Obama should all publically apologise to officer Wilson.

That would be enough.
 
joko104 said:
No, I'm referring to before the riots. It is the media that decides what of 100,000 things to focus on.
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Do you think they should ignore the anger in Ferguson?
 
joko104 said:
In front of a large crowd of protestors, Michael Brown's stepfather on a platform started shouting "BURN IT DOWN! BURN IT DOWN!" to a larger crowd in a situation were arson was not only a possibility, but then in fact did happen.

[video]http://blog.honest.com/5-natural-ways-to-treat-infant-eczema/#[/video]

Should he be prosecuted?
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Not exactly the classiest guy and nobody I'd want as a next door neighbor but a few things:

1. Anyone committing arson KNEW is was a crime regardless of what the step dad said. They are truly the guilty ones.
2. Although calling for rioting is a crime, I tend to give people suffering a recent death of a loved one some leeway when no one was harmed as a direct result of their actions, at least until some time has passed.
3. That naturally leads to this question: Would the rioters have rioted anyway or where they just going to get together and sing cum ba ya but were driven to barbarism by Michael Brown's stepdad? I personally then no.
 
JumpinJack said:
Merely stating the words in public is evidence of incitement to violence. I'm not sure that even violence has to occur. It's the incitement (the speaking of the words in public) that is illegal. But the fact that violence did occur soon afterwords makes that question moot.

Some people don't realize that freedom of speech is not all encompassing. Your freedom to speak ends at the beginning of someone else's rights, and it is illegal to tell people in a public forum to harm other people or property. It is illegal to yell "fire" in a theater, even if not everyone runs for safety, believing there's a fire. It's the words spoken that are illegal.

If I go on tv or other public forum and say ya da ya da ya da, and conclud with saying that people need to rise up and assassinate Obama (which I would never do, obviously), I would be arrested and charged with a crime, whether or not someone tried to act on my words.

So he should be arrested & charged for inciting violence on the property or persons of other people. But he won't be. He'll get a pass.

Imagine if a KKK member were to give an angry speech and tell people to rise up and set fire to black businesses, saying "burn 'em! burn 'em!" That is illegal.
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Oh I agree with everything you said here. I was just wondering if when you asked about evidence were you saying that you hadn't seen the video with him uttering these oh so charming words.
 
Hamster Buddha said:
Do you think they should ignore the anger in Ferguson?
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No, absolutely not. The media should cover it 24/7 as the most vital topic in the world today - and particularly give advance notice of what is going to happen (arson and looting), when and where.

Ferguson is the political, industrial, social and economic center of the United States so what happens there is far more important than what happens in the backwaters like Washington DC or Congress.
 
joko104 said:
No, absolutely not. The media should cover it 24/7 as the most vital topic in the world today - and particularly give advance notice of what is going to happen (arson and looting), when and where.

Ferguson is the political, industrial, social and economic center of the United States so what happens there is far more important than what happens in the backwaters like Washington DC or Congress.
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You lost me when you said Ferguson was the "political, industrial, social and economic center of the United States".
 
I think he definitely should be prosecuted of something. However, the chances of it happening are slim. Musicians aren't held responsible for the actions of their listeners. He won't be either. What he should be found guilty of is inciting violence.
 
A middle ground would he the catch-all disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace - a ticket - and let it quietly fade away. Something done, but not really.
 
Hamster Buddha said:
You lost me when you said Ferguson was the "political, industrial, social and economic center of the United States".
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Satire.

Given all happening in the USA and the world, do you REALLY think the media coverage time given to Ferguson was proportional to everything else?
 
joko104 said:
Satire.

Given all happening in the USA and the world, do you REALLY think the media coverage time given to Ferguson was proportional to everything else?
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It's not like there was a huge catastrophe that demanded their attention elsewhere. You go where news is happening, not the places where things matter. I mean really, which do you think was more important to cover? The latest relationship gossip in LA/stock reports from Wall Street, or cover an area what is the focal point for a hot issue (race relations) in this country?
 
Mr. Invisible said:
Nah. While he may have said "Burn this bitch down" at the end of the day, the people who committed arson are responsible for their actions. You may condemn what he said, but the people who committed arson still had a choice as to whether or not they would go through with the act. They have ears, eyes, and minds of their own.
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Don't you think a jury should decide that?
 
Lutherf said:
No. There is no reason to prosecute the guy.

All across the country they were gearing up for riots well before this guy had his little meltdown so he didn't incite a damned thing and, more importantly, if we start prosecuting people for saying stupid stuff we'll need LOTS more judges and courtrooms.
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That is true, however the step-father of the target, Brown, of the riot gave permission to the on-the-egde crowd to burn the city.

I can't believe it had no effect at all.
 
Lutherf said:
He was acting out emotionally. It was pretty much the same thing as when you're 4 year old screams "I want ice cream now!!!"
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That is an excuse. Why would you think he didn't chose his words carefully?
 
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