Protest Accurately

If you're going to protest, at least know the facts.  Protesting something that didn't happen makes you look, well, foolish.

Protesters around the country in December 2014 are getting some things wrong.  First of all, there was no racial component to either of the deaths they decry.  None.  Second, the man shot by an officer in Ferguson, Missouri had just robbed a store, tried to take the officer's gun, and was charging the officer when he was shot.  The facts bear this out.  Oh, and he was six foot five and 290 pounds.  His actions led to his getting shot.

The choke-hold on an obese man selling illegal cigarettes in New York was tragic and should never have happened.  But get the facts straight.  In a true choke-hold, the man would not have been able to speak because his larynx would have been crushed.  The man had heart disease and asthma, and died of a heart attack, not from a choke-hold.  Yes, the police over-reacted and used excessive force, but their actions were not racially motivated nor done out of malice.  It was a tragic, and avoidable, accident.