Is St. Louis County Police Chief purposefully making the Race Relations Progress Harder?

It’s not hard to figure out just who may be pulling for the City of Ferguson to finally find closure in the shooting death of Michael Brown and who may not be just listen closely at those whom a microphone is placed in front of.  Much of what may be said will clue anyone who is scarcely even listening.  From where I am standing, it appears that the majority of the residents of Ferguson, Missouri would like nothing better than the recommendations handed down by the Department of justice be followed as closely as possible and the people of Ferguson finally receive that service and protection that all Americans, regardless of color or economic status deserve but as life would have it, there are still those who seek nothing but destruction and not constructions.  Bad things happen in our lives everyday but those who are righteous shall always find a non-violent way to deal with it and even come away with a lesson to insure that this particular savagery of a nation never happens again without the full force of the authorities and the citizens’ arm in arm, hand in hand.

I say be careful of those wolves in sheep clothing based on an article titled “Ferguson Police: Public info led to arrest of man in shootings of two officers” written by Eliott C. McLaughlin for CNN in which he reports that “a 20-year-old man from the St. Louis area has been arrested in connection with the shooting of two police officers during last week's protests in Ferguson, Missouri, a prosecutor said Sunday.  Jeffrey Williams was arrested late Saturday, and he has been charged with two counts of first-degree assault, a count of firing a weapon from a vehicle and three counts of armed criminal activity, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch said at a news conference in Clayton.  "The demonstrations were pretty much over (when the officers were shot). People were leaving, and that's when this happened," he said, describing Williams as a demonstrator who had taken part in protests on numerous occasions. 

The prosecutor repeatedly thanked the public for the information that led to the arrest. He also said that, because of the public's assistance in the case, police were able to serve a search warrant on Williams' residence where they seized a .40-caliber handgun, "which has been tied to the shell casings that were recovered" at the scene of the shooting.  Williams is being held on a cash-only $300,000 bond, McCulloch said, adding that it's possible Williams could face more charges and that others could be charged in the case.  One element of the case that authorities have yet to sort out is intent, McCulloch said, adding that Williams has acknowledged firing the shots but has said he wasn't aiming at the police officers.  Investigators are not sure they "buy" Williams' claim that he opened fire after a dispute with other individuals, McCulloch said, but he didn't rule it out. "It's possible he was firing at someone else," he said, urging any other witnesses with information to come forward”.  Now just this information alone would be reason for celebration by both law enforcement and the community in which it is designed to serve but leave it to a few who may not be completely onboard the “closure train” and allow their own self-enrichment to take place instead of the community for whom they claim to serve.  I speak of two main characters in this extended drama.

First is this Bishop Derrick Robinson who is reported in the article as “an area organizer, who challenged the idea that Williams was a well-known protester.  "I asked him (Williams) why would he say that he was a protester because it makes us look bad -- because so many things that we've done to rebuild our community. It sets us like five steps back to say that it was a protester who did it, but he admitted to me that he'd never protested," said Robinson, who spoke to Williams on Sunday.  Robinson added: "We won't allow this to distract us from our mission, and from purpose, because we will continue to fight."  Now while this may not seem like much, consider the ammunition those who do not wish good fortunes upon this community could use from this.  Image now they say that the reason Mr. Williams changes his story from being in a protest is only because he was convinced by this bishop to do so.  Those who think less of this community and could care less if it recovers or not would always say that he changed his mind for one reason or another but to blatantly give them a cause to support their assumption makes no earthly sense and was something that anyone with the sincere desire of the recovery of an American city should have never been attempted. The second is none other than the St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar.

Chief Belmar is quoted in this article saying “We could have buried two police officers," Belmar told reporters last week. "I feel very confident that whoever did this ... came there for whatever nefarious reason that it was."  “Belmar believes someone targeted the police, who have faced heated criticism for months, he said.  "These police officers were standing there, and they were shot just because they were police officers," he said.” These statements alone could account for how many of those in uniform may be feeling but actions may never be taken unless leaders such as Chief Belmar continue to speak in a tone that fuels the fire and leaves some officer with the impression that what has happened to cause the spotlight to be shined on Ferguson is okay.  Maybe the Chief should take a cue from a few other leaders who seem to truly have the closure and re connection of a city at heart as also reported in this article.  People like the protesters who “said they had nothing to do with the shooting, saying the demonstrators believe in nonviolence” or the St Louis alderman Antonio French who is reported as saying “As the protest was dying down, someone, somewhere got violent. Now who they were and what group they were affiliated with, we don't know."  "In no way are they representative of the thousands of people ... who have been protesting."  And just in case some do not wish to follow the lead of those consider what is reported being said by the mayor of Ferguson and the City Council in a statement.  "We are actively addressing the issues that have raised concerns of fairness and fair treatment. We support peaceful protesting. However, we will not allow, nor tolerate, the destructive and violent actions of a few to disrupt our unifying efforts."

I cannot convince anyone dead set on keeping the racial fires burning in America from adding fuel to that fire as often as they can but when it comes to Ferguson, there is one point that is written in this article that so many of us tend to forget.  “While the demonstrators' focus was Ferguson, neither of the wounded officers works for that police department.”  So my question is if it surely was a protester why representatives not of that department?  Think about it.