Michael Brown's parents address U.N. 'We need the world to know'

[WNYresident]

Michael Brown's parents address U.N.: 'We need the world to know'

(CNN) -- The parents of Michael Brown, a Missouri teen killed by police, testified before a U.N. committee Tuesday because they want the world to know "what's going on in Ferguson."

Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr. spoke to the United Nations Committee Against Torture -- which also works against cruel or degrading treatment or punishment by government authorities.

"We need the world to know what's going on in Ferguson and we need justice," McSpadden told CNN in Geneva, Switzerland.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/11/us/fer...html?hpt=hp_t1


Is this a bit overboard? Their child was in a retail store pushing the guy around. What gives? I'm not saying the guy should have been shot because I wasn't there. No one here knows exactly what happened that night.

If you are caught stealing in the middle east don't they just cut your hand off?

[NY The Vampire State]

Addressing the UN?.... Really? Whats the UN going to do?

[nogods]

There is a race based problem with law enforcement that needs to be addressed. And Michael Brown may have been a victim of that problem.

But he is the wrong poster boy for that crusade.

It would be like using Jeffrey Dahmer as a poster boy for a crusade against prison violence.

The Brown family should pursue their legal remedies for an injustice their son might have suffered, but trying to use him as a martyr is foolish.

[Dan Roman]

They should have invited the true victim here, the store clerk, to ask him what he felt when the "gentle giant" pushed him around.

[NY The Vampire State]

There is a race based problem with law enforcement that needs to be addressed.

Blacks are 14% of the total US population but make up almost half of the total prison population. Sounds like pretty good odds to me.

[Save Us]

The UN...? Seriously?

[nogods]

Blacks are 14% of the total US population but make up almost half of the total prison population. Sounds like pretty good odds to me.

Exactly. The results of prejudice in our law enforcement and judicial system is well documented by the statistics you have cited. Nice to see you recognize the problem. More ignorant people would try to argue that the results somehow justify continuation of the prejudice and bigotry that creates the results. It's refreshing to learn you are not that ignorant.

[NY The Vampire State]

Exactly. The results of prejudice in our law enforcement and judicial system is well documented by the statistics you have cited. Nice to see you recognize the problem. More ignorant people would try to argue that the results somehow justify continuation of the prejudice and bigotry that creates the results. It's refreshing to learn you are that ignorant.

So the courts put that many innocent people in jail?

[nogods]

So the courts put that many innocent people in jail?

Ah..your problem is that you are math challenged. It isn't the number of blacks going to jail that cause the disparity, it is the number of whites NOT going to jail.

Got anymore softballs to throw you want hit out of the park?

White Americans are more likely than black Americans to have used most kinds of illegal drugs, including cocaine, marijuana and LSD. Yet blacks are far more likely to go to prison for drug offenses.

Higher percentages of whites have also tried hallucinogens, marijuana, pain relievers like OxyContin, and stimulants like methamphetamine, according to the survey. Crack is more popular among blacks than whites, but not by much.

Still, blacks are arrested for drug possession more than three times as often as whites, according to a 2009 report from the advocacy group Human Rights Watch.

Of the 225,242 people who were serving time in state prisons for drug offenses in 2011, blacks made up 45 percent and whites comprised just 30 percent, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Jamie Fellner, author of the Human Rights Watch report, offered an explanation for this discrepancy.

"The race issue isn't just that the judge is going, 'Oh, black man, I'm gonna sentence you higher,'" she said. "The police go into low-income minority neighborhoods and that's where they make most of their drug arrests. If they arrest you, now you have a 'prior,' so if you plead or get arrested again, you're gonna have a higher sentence. There's a kind of cumulative effect."

[NY The Vampire State]

No my math is just fine. 14% of 300 million is nowhere proportional to 50% of 2.5 million. So do you want to tell me 36% percent of blacks are innocent? We have the highest prison population in the world, we don't need more people in prison. Don't be ridiculous.

[nogods]

No, your math is not "fine"

Let's try pictures - more your speed:

[NY The Vampire State]

Whats the probable cause to stop all these people for marijuana? Ive never seen anyone running down the street with a bag of weed in their hands begging for the cops to grab them. Most likely the marijuana charge stems as a result from another crime. Post up some robbery, muder and rape stats. Weed is a red herring example. Basically blacks are more likely to do something stupid while in possession, resulting in their arrest.

[nogods]

Basically blacks are more likely to do something stupid while in possession, resulting in their arrest.

Some people have to wear a white sheet for the rest of us to know that they are bigots. Others just have to open their mouth and spew something ignorant.

[FisherRd]

Poor black people. Racist cops, judges, and lawyers make them drop out of school and have all those babies as teens.

White guilt is almost destructive towards blacks as the alarming dropout rates. Heaven forbid people acknowledge problems with blacks.

[Save Us]

The MOST destructive thing a person can do is adopt the psyche of Victim.