Nor is it about the female singer of Black-Eyed Peas.
Not even the Duchess of York.
This is about a small suburb in Missouri, USA, that I had no idea existed - until an unarmed young black man was brutally and fatally shot by a white policeman.
His body was left on the ground for a few hours, as the authorities were deciding what to do with his body, and how to explain his unwarranted and cold-blooded execution.
The young, black victim was a huge boy, possibly not wealthy, not particularly good-looking, but he showed promise academically. Michael Brown had graduated from high school and was headed for college. His killing aggravated the people of Ferguson who went berserk and started rioting.
Interestingly, this was not unlike the Tottenham riots in London, which were sparked by the police killing of a young bi-racial man, Mark Duggan, whom the police later accused of being an armed drug dealer.
Drug dealer or not, Duggan was found to be unarmed, when the police fired their bullets into him. However, amidst all the confusion, the police attempted to make it sound like the man had a gun and had fired at them.
From Wikipedia:
After the shooting, the media widely reported that a bullet was found embedded in a police radio, implying that Duggan fired on the police. Friends and relatives of Duggan said that he was unarmed. The police later revealed that initial ballistics tests on the bullet recovered from the police radio indicate that it was a "very distinct" police issue hollow-point bullet.
The IPCC later stated that a loaded Bruni BBM blank-firing pistol, converted to fire live ammunition, was recovered from the scene. It was wrapped in a sock and there was no evidence that it had been fired.
On 13 August, the Independent Police Complaints Commission admitted that Duggan did not open fire, stating, "It seems possible that we may have verbally led journalists to [wrongly] believe that shots were exchanged". The bullet that had lodged in an officer's radio is believed to have been an overpenetration, having passed through Duggan's body.
Why am I not surprised that the police always justify their shameful actions by vilifying the victims?
The police in Ferguson are attempting to do just that.
They began by releasing CCTV footage that shows a large, black man (allegedly the victim), stealing cigars from a convenience store.
Now I find it inconceivable that a young man with plans to go to college would want to steal. What more, cigars!! If he stole stationery, I could understand. Mind you, not condone, but understand.
If he stole clothes or money, there might be some logic to the story. Even cigarettes might be explained.
But cigars?
If Michael Brown was indeed the belligerent-looking man who shoved the store-keeper aside as he angrily walked out, it appears that there may have been a story behind it.
What transpires, however, is that the policeman, Darren Wilson, had no idea what Michael Brown was guilty of, if indeed, he had shot him for a criminal offence.
It is more likely, that Darren Wilson had shot Michael Brown because Wilson was on a power trip over which Brown - being educated - was unimpressed.
The interesting thing is that eye witnesses have come forward to say that Michael Brown had raised his hands in surrender and said, "Don't shoot."
An autopsy corroborates this claim, as all the bullets were fired into his front, meaning he was facing his killer when he was shot.
Despite surrendering, he still got gunned down by the inhumane policeman.
In America, being black is a very high risk factor that could easily lead to fatality.
But as Malaysians, we are in no position to moralise. Malaysian police are just as trigger-happy.
We also come from a nation that has a very high rate of death in custody.
The MACC killed Teoh Beng Hock and then accused him of committing suicide. I have yet to encounter anyone who believes that.
And as of 2010, there were 1805 deaths in custody.
The death of Teoh Beng Hock was an aberration and most likely a mistake by the MACC. Because in most instances, the deaths are those of Indian men.
These Indian men share the same demographics with men who are killed all over the world by "law enforcement", be it in the USA or UK: they are poor, non-professional and dark-skinned.
I am sick of the injustice.
I am sick of people behaving like human life does not matter.
I am sick of nations claiming to be first-world and developed, but displaying all the symptoms of a third-world country.
If America has any shred of decency, it should bring the filthy, disgraceful cop to justice.
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