The Ferguson Effect

Alton Sterling 

For those following the "police-involved" shooting of Alton Sterling, here are the court records of his arrest history. Facts are facts: he has a long history of violence and was arrested twice for carrying an illegal weapon.

Court records for Alton Sterling:

09/09/96: Aggravated battery
10/31/97: Second-degree battery
01/06/98: Simple battery
05/04/00: Public intimidation
09/20/00: Carnal knowledge of a juvenile
09/04/01: Domestic violence
03/17/06: Simple criminal damage to property, simple robbery, simple theft, drug possession, misrepresentation during booking, simple battery, aggravated battery
07/11/05: Receiving stolen things
09/12/05: Burglary of inhabited dwelling place
03/17/06: Simple criminal damage to property, simple robbery, simple theft, drug possession, misrepresentation during booking, simple battery, aggravated battery
04/12/06: Aggravated battery, simple criminal damage to property, disturbing the peace, unauthorized entry
04/04/08: Domestic abuse battery
06/03/09: Resisting an officer, drug possession, receiving stolen property, possession of stolen firearm, illegal carrying of a weapon, CD sound reproduction without consent.
10/12/09: Illegal carrying of weapon, marijuana possession
08/13/15: Failure to register as a sex offender
04/08/16: Failure to register as a sex offender
06/14/16: Ecstasy and marijuana possession

Alton Sterling was a man the Baton Rouge Police Department knew to be a violent, repeat offender who had a gun, resisted arrest and died as a result. A tragedy in any terms and a product of the anger of the "black" community and antisocial culture.   Do they have anything to be angry about? Yes. Are they going about solving that problem in an intelligent, reasonable manner?  No.

Our "black" Americans made great progress under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King who was a disciple of Mahatma Ghandi of India. Ghandi led a mass of millions of oppressed Indians to relative freedom and we say "relative" as remnants of the caste system continue, but Ghandi's philosophy of peaceful resistance so thoughtful people can prevail appears to have died with Ghandi and King.

There is an informal caste system in America and other western cultures. If you are born black you have a more difficult time reaching the top, but no more than being born poor and white.  The line of demarcation is how you speak. 

It is natural that rich, intelligent and educated people like to be with their own kind just as children prefer to play with children more than adults. The key is in behaviors. You need to learn the language and ways of the group you aspire to join. That is the key.

This came to a boil in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of Saint Louis where Michael Brown attacked a police officer, tried to take his service pistol, failed, but continued the attack and got killed as a result.  Black witnesses claimed Michael surrendered with his hands up in a gesture that has become the mantra of the movement "Black lives matter," so warped proponents are offended by the response, "All lives matter!"

Said witnesses recanted Michael Brown's surrender gesture and admitted that he did attack the officer with a head-down, head-butting attack, which explained the lethal bullet in the top of his head, but the gesture remains the signature of the insane movement that continues taking lives in our streets!  When will truth prevail? 

Apparently the insanity will proceed as none of our elected ruling class dare to step up and declare the lie for what it is.

When you are not looking at a TV screen and hear a voice speaking your language in your dialect you will be surprised to see a "black" person or an oriental, for example, but most Americans are pleased to see someone who has made the effort to be one of us; to show that America works. We have benefited from our mix of cultures, but at a price we are still paying and now painfully from the Ferguson effect.

Adrian Vance