Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson indicated this week that they are “pursuing” an investigation into whether comments made by Michael Brown’s stepfather Louis Head (shown here in the white cap) should be charged for his inciting a riot for his response to the news that there would be no indictment of Officer Darren White. While I certainly do not condone the language, I have long been a critic of such “violent speech” prosecutions and I believe that such charges would violate his free speech rights and ignore the mitigating factor of a family member in a highly emotional position that night. Warning: profane words are contained in the story below and the videotape.
After the news of the grand jury decision, Head started to scream “Burn this motherfucker down! Burn this bitch down!” Looting and arson broke out soon after the decision of the grand jury.
In addition to police chief, Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder told Fox News that it sounds like Head was trying to incite a riot.
After the grand jury’s decision was announced, 12 commercial buildings in Ferguson were destroyed by fire and there were well over 100 arrests at St. Louis-area.
I do not believe that Head’s comments would satisfy the standard established by the Supreme Court in 1969 in Brandenburg v. Ohio as advocating imminent violence. Violent speech is protected under the Constitution absent such a threat of imminent violence. I have previously written about the dangerous line of criminalizing speech. I currently have a case going before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on this issue in United States v. Al-Timimi.
Adding to the constitutional concerns raised by the threatened prosecution of Head is that fact that he was a grieving family member expressing widely shared anger at the news of the decision. He had just jumped up to hold his wife who was sobbing after the news. I doubt anyone seriously believes that it was Head who triggered the rioting, looting, and arson. Those crimes occurred at the time of the incident and were widely anticipated by law enforcement personnel. Head has apologized for his outburst and said that he was wrong to call for violence.
Source: CBS
Well, if they charge him, which he clearly deserves, and don’t charge all the white idiots who were egging this crap on, wouldn’t that be racist???
BTW, one of America’s brightest new poets, and one of my Internet friends, and with some goading from me, has written about the Michael Brown episode! Here are some excerpts:
The full poem, uh er, saga is at the link:
https://charlestanz.wordpress.com/
Mr. Tanz never disappoints! I find his poetry intriguing, to say the least. He is a master of bathos.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Squeeky – my friend Tom from Ferguson and I have decided that the “Pot” Michael Brown was smoking had decidedly PCP qualities no matter what the findings were on the toxicology report. That was a St. Louis report after all.
And Jim, I didn’t indicate that I thought the nutty preacher should be silenced. That is also nonsensical.
Jim, shut who down? The preacher? Your comment doesn’t make any sense. I’m OK with the stepfather yelling “burn this bitch down!”?? Jim, how did you get that from my comment? Since JT also indicates he doesn’t want to see the stepfather prosecuted, does he also think its OK? Sheesh Jim, you can do better than this mostly nonsensical comment.
Inga – He incited a riot he should go to jail. That is my opinion and I am entitled to it no matter whose blog I am on. Those are Conflageration words and very criminal under the circumstances. No one is being realistic here. It’s as if the town is supposed to forgive the McSpaddens and Heads murder and mahem for a son that didn’t even live with them but his Grandmother.
Inga – “That should be stepfather, not father in law and no he shouldn’t be prosecuted.”
On another thread about a minister preaching hateful speech about gays that resulted in nothing other than him looking like an idiot you want to shut him down.
But, yelling “Burn this down” and it results in rioting, you are ok with.
Here’s your hypocrite sign, wear it proudly.
People, why are you arguing with the likes of rafflaw? Nothing you can say or prove will change a mind that refuses to believe what is right in front of them. I truly believe these types of people are happy the incident happened and route for the worst.
God that’s awful
rafflaw…you are missing my point entirely. At least I tried to apply a lift all boats concept. I give up.
Not until the MURDERING ‘Cop-Sucker’ is prosecuted!!!
aridog,
Here is just one article discussing the unbalanced police shootings of blacks and latinos as compared to whites. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/24/1324132/-How-Often-are-Unarmed-Black-Men-Shot-Down-By-Police?detail=email
With the failure to indict the cop who choked Eric Garner to death in New York, more Americans are recognizing he fact that police can kill with impunity and there is a dual justice system in our country. People white and black, latino and asian alike, are out in the streets for good a good cause. Hopefully the protests remain peaceful and effect change, or else one day with more of these police killings of unarmed black Americans, the street protests across the US may resemble Ferguson. I certainly hope it doesn’t come to that. I’m glad the President is speaking out about unequal justice and the AG is doing something about it.
Inga – all the President and AG have done is throw gasoline on the fire.
Nice post Aridog. People forget that there is always a boiling point of contention around most every aspect of society these days. It helps keep the media in the spotlight. If things were fine, what would they do? I don’t think every human being has to carry the grief of injustice chip on their shoulder in every interpersonal encounter. That unfortunate situation in discussion collapsed into its own stage at some point, and wiser decisions could have been made. I have seen just a little humility and respect able to knock down many an increasingly hostile situation. Escalating tensions serve no one well. Prosecute the person in question here?? No. Is he part of the race to the bottom, yes.
rafflaw said …
And this undervaluing of black men’s lives by the police and the justice system is not getting any better.
And is the under valuing of black lives by other black predators getting any better? This is an issue to be sure, but it isn’t black deaths at the hands of white, or black cops, that is a vast bulk of the deaths. I think aiming at one and not including the other is counter productive. The ultimate matter to improve is the value of life, period.
Said as a life time Detroiter, where have had the issue upon us pressed down and running over. We managed to reduce the problem over time, long before this recent resurgence of race bating and police hating. After two mayors that were less than great, the last one is serving 28 years in the federal penitentiary, judged by his local peers no less, the city has struggled to survive. Most of the boats here were left to go in to bankruptcy. Those black mayors, both who made race their primary issue, did not lift all boats, they lifted only their own boat….and the last one got caught. Race had nothing to do with their selfish greed and dismissal of their own people in general.
Part of the problem with the last criminal mayor was the influence of money from whatever sources that you have mentioned previously. Pay for play was the rule.
happypappies,
You haven’t been reading the right information sources since the refusal to indict. Secondly, the prosecutor rigged the process, to get the result that he wanted. Check into how many times the prosecutor used this method of giving “everything” to the grand jury, prior to this instance. Check into the real distance from the car that the officer finished off Mr. Brown.
No one should be encouraged to act like animals, but when they are cut down in the street and left to lie there like animals, what do you expect? The gang mentality that you are complaining about is the same mentality of the police forces that allow these murders and the prosecutors like this one who aid and abet the murders. And talk about bullies, the officers who perpetrate these killings are the best examples of bullies.
The land of opportunity is much easier to navigate when you are white. And yes, Society owes then an equal chance and equal treatment by the police and the justice system.
Rafflaw – when I lived in St. Louis County in the 1970s I lived in a low middle class blue collar neighborhood. The Blacks moved in during subsidized housing and we had neighborhood warfare until things settled down, and they did settle down between the residents. What you have refused to understand or see in the St Louis area that Beldar, Myself and BarkinDog has repeatedly told you is there is an element there in the Government and in the Police Department that goes above and beyond Race. You ignored in your comment the murder and burning of the young black male who did have a job and did graduate from high school. How is that from the wrong source. It happened. So did the robbery and family fight of the McSpaddens so they could keep the Granny’s T Shirts. Why is that a wrong source. You should look up the elder Head’s record and set me straight about his actions and how he was such a good role model for his Step Son.
To get back to the Police Department. At the risk of being redundant. I have been arrested and held in SLC because people lied about things I did in a white neighborhood called Woodson Terrace. I have had my door broken into in a mixed neighborhood called St Anne by police later saying it was a “medical emergency” so they could falsify a condemned list for my home because I had 4 little dogs. You see them I champion them. I was repeatedly pulled over in Ferguson and harassed there and why? idk maybe it was the color of my skin. I am white and my husband is in a wheelchair. idk. Professor Turley is constantly writing about these Officers who do these atrocious things and they do it to everyone regardless of color. They like to do it to women. That is for sure. Especially if they are helpless. I agree with you that St Louis County is Corrupt. It has been since the 60s. I remember when they harassed us as children because they were perverts. We thought it was normal. I understand you have a cause and I applaud you for it, but don’t be blind and think that it is just black people because then you will miss the forest through the trees. Please, before this happened everyone was getting along and then Obama and Holder came and started playing the race card. It was insidious. And now we have an entire conflagaration of a race war on our hands. That money will be mis mangaged and go to the wrong places in Ferguson I am sure and not to rebuild the businesses that burned down. Fraud is rampant there now.
My sources live in Ferguson. I have relatives and friends there that are not prejudiced. I am not prejudiced no matter what you might think of me. But I am not going to give someone a break either because of the color of their skin.
He should not be charged unless the cop who killed Michael Brown is also charged with inciting the riots. It’s the unequal application of legal redress that exposes the basic injustice in the American “Justice System” People who commit the injustices (like the cops and prosecutors are not charged but the people who complain of the injustice are) Nice touch
Janet Mackie – you cannot charge Wilson with inciting a riot because it requires a positive act towards rioting. However you could charge Holder and Obama along with Sharpton.
The prosecutor’s office for Ferguson is not in Ferguson. It is in Clayton. Clayton is the town where the County Government for Saint Louis County is located. The County Seat so to speak. Ferguson has a local prosecutor for city ordinances but that is not what one of the commentor above named JMMR meant. I went to Clayton and Ferguson and also the City of St. Louis. The City is a different county jurisdiction than Saint Louis County. The federal U.S. Attorney (prosecutor for fed crimes) is in a federal bldg in downtown City of St. Louis as is the Federal Courthouse named after Thomas Eagleton. So folks, one must get one’s ducks in a row before talking about Ferguson. Which has been a problem in the media and even in the articles on this blog.
Some commentor dog above mentioned Burn Baby Burn. My research shows that was some event back in Watts or some such event years back and is the torch word to tell rioters to go set fires. Burn The Bitch Down is an incitement to do arson. It is a tad bit more direct than the language and nuances laid out by Al Sharpton. So you could probably prosecute the step dad (not a step father as JT thinks) for inciting a riot and the arson of twenty shops. I learned on another website that step dad has a felony record and did five years in the Missouri State Pen. I am not talking pen and ink here but state penitentiary. So, the felon knew that words could get him in trouble. Those who have been on parole or in the joint usually know such things and its not like some 12 year old kid.
You Americans are going to hell in the handbasket while you quibble over how to stop the arsonists and how important it is to have the prongs of the First Amendment recognized. It seems to this outsider that the prong has gone up the wrong way. Some of you will see it to the bitter end and most of you dont see it. This comment may take awhile to get to the blog since I have to fax it to the states from my new spot in China. Email wont fly out of China. Fax does. So I fax to a pal in the States and he emails. I had a good time in Hong Kong watching the protesters there. Kinda like Ferguson if you know what I mean jelly bean so the U.S. is not that far behind China. Convergence is some such word that I heard describe this pattern and I heard that here on this blog.
Did anyone who actually heard the stepfather’s rant commit an arson? Or did the in-person listeners interpret the speech as a meaningless rant? The speech was widely reported by the media (of course eager to relate a ratings-boosting outrageous event), but I doubt if the real rioters were listening to Fox/CNN/MSNBC at the time. This is more like the conundrum of whether a tree falling in the forest makes a noise. If nobody acts on a rant, can that rant be considered as an incitement to riot? Unless there is actual “incitement” I do not see a rational case to charge the stepfather.
If there were an incitement, was that caused by the speech heard in real time or later by the speech reported by alleged news media? If so, who is responsible for the incitement?
Justice is what Michael Brown needed and he was left in the street for over 4 hours. Then a grand jury was rigged to not indict and we are talking about the step father’s speech? And this undervaluing of black men’s lives by the police and the justice system is not getting any better. Disgusting.
When black people’s lives are systemically undervalued by other black people, how is that a white on black issue? Undervaluing life is simply that. In Detroit we have black police officers, when in uniform, are not the guys you want to challenge or assault. How is that different than Ferguson? It is the uniform that should be respected, not your disposition toward the race or demeanor of the person wearing it. The local uniformed police officer represents you who live in that community. Where did this idea that you can disregard their directions or assault them with impunity come from? Especially from a racial standpoint by a population that kills far more of their own than are killed by police…and the ordinary families in those communities are as disturbed by the fact as I am.
I am likely biased because I’ve lived mostly in communities where I am the minority, both here and in Asia. I managed to get along by respecting the authorities in those places and the populations they protect….humility being the first response to any contact, police or civilian.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/801727/gunmen-attack-residence-of-lawyer-defending-blasphemy-accused/
I personally think the step-father should be charged for inciting a riot. Considering the continued cries for justice by the family, justice is what he needs.
Not sure if this is still a current statute but it does seem relevant.
According to 18 USCS § 2102 “to incite a riot”, or “to organize, promote, encourage, participate in, or carry on a riot”, includes, but is not limited to, urging or instigating other persons to riot, but shall not be deemed to mean the mere oral or written (1) advocacy of ideas or (2) expression of belief, not involving advocacy of any act or acts of violence or assertion of the rightness of, or the right to commit, any such act or acts.”
I do believe that the step father is complicit in inciting a riot.
He could have said several things that might have changed the tenor of the crowd.
For example: “We are sad and angry at this decision. We have been dealt a huge injustice. But there is no reason to riot and burn down businesses of people who have not done us any harm. Let’s all seek justice. We will not let this pass. But we should not destroy our own community in the process.” BTW: Brown et al didn’t even LIVE in Ferguson.
OR….he could chant like a demented cheerleader “Burn this b!tch down”
He chose the last one and the results are what they are. Would they have rioted anyway if he had chosen the first path. Probably. However, his second choice was just throwing fuel on an already burning fire.