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Everyone else is talking about it, so here’s a couple random thoughts.

You’ll hear people lament that Michael Brown didn’t deserve to die for his crimes. Deserve? No. But the evidence shows that he took actions that led almost inevitably to his death.

There’s a tendency among males, especially young males, and most markedly among black urban young males, to escalate a confrontation. When that involves the police, that often ends badly for the police. But it almost always ends badly for the young man.

Brown wasn’t killed for stealing cigarillos, or jaywalking. He was killed because he placed a police officer in danger. Just being unarmed doesn’t mean there’s not a  potentially deadly threat. Don’t believe me? Allow me to introduce you to WorldStar HipHop (NSFW).

What the heck took the Guard so long to show up last night? It’s not like everyone didn’t know rioting was going to break out.

From the Conservative Wahoo:

 Those of us sitting in our comfy places watching and tut-tutting probably don’t understand deeply enough the mistrust that exists between a good bit of the black community and police forces.  I’ll wager that if we were to get some of these hooligans to sit down and present them with the evidence, they might even come to the same conclusion as the grand jury–but their reactions would still be the same.  This isn’t necessarily about Brown’s death, it is about perceptions built up over years and simmering rage.  The Ferguson incident simply provides a convenient outlet for these emotions.

Emphasis mine. Concur.

If you want to tell me there is a problem with how the police and the black community in America intersect, I’m all ears. But the Brown case isn’t the mountain to plant your flag on. Why is it that those who seek to incite their community to outrage always seem to chose a losing case? It can’t be that hard to find a case where a shooting was pretty clearly uncalled for. Heck, just ask Radley Balko.  The guy makes a career out of trying to highlight unjustified use of force by the police.

Or take a look at this shooting in NYC.

Could it be that certain instigators don’t wish for justice, but rather thrive on the unrest?