“Throughout history we find deceptions that have lulled us into thinking they were true. All that is required is a Pied Piper with a fanciful narrative and gullible listeners.”
–Times of San Diego column: What Killed Michael Brown? A Controversial Movie About Truth and Lies
By: Mark Glennon*
Chicago Mayor Elect-Brandon Johnson spoke to a national audience Thursday about crime and law enforcement. He invoked the names of Trayvon Brown, Freddie Gray, Quintonio LeGrier and Michael Brown, and told CBS, “this is really about making sure that people understand the context of the level of frustration when you see that type of brutalization over and over again.”
I will return to the other names Johnson cited, but Michael Brown is most interesting because his 2014 shooting by a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri shook America to the core. It gave rise to the “Hands up, don’t shoot” slogan that became common and played a major role accelerating Black Lives Matter across the nation.
Brown, an innocent 18-year old was shot in the back, understandably provoking that outrage.
Right?
Wrong.
Both a grand jury and an exhaustive review by President Obama’s Justice Department found otherwise based on eye-witness testimony, DNA and other forensic evidence. Michael Brown attacked the cop and tried to grab his gun, justifying the shooting.
Those facts and the broader significance of the Brown incident are told beautifully in the documentary by Chicago native Shelby Steele and his son, Eli, What Killed Michael Brown? The Steeles use Brown’s shooting as a metaphor for the larger forces at work – what truly killed Brown.
It’s that broader significance of Brown’s shooting that is most important in the film. Watch the whole thing here to get Steele’s full answer. Steele is the son of a truck driver and the grandson of a slave. His views grew from his experience working in a poverty program in East St. Louis in the 1960s and ’70s.
“The language – he was ‘executed,’ he was ‘assassinated,’ ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ – it was a stunning example of poetic truth, of the lies that a society can entertain in pursuit of power,” Shelby Steele said. “There are blacks today, right now in Ferguson, as I point out in the film, who still truly believe that Michael Brown was killed out of racial animus,” he said. “In a microcosm, that’s where race relations are today. The truth has no chance. It’s smothered by the politics of victimization.”
And his son, Eli, said this in a Daily Signal interview: “When we use race as a means to power, we’re never really focusing on the problems that are right in front of us. We’re looking over all these problems to where they want us to look at, which is often the black man killed by a white cop.”
What about the other names invoked last week by Mayor-Elect Johnson? Here’s Johnson’s full comment:
You know, I’ll never forget the profound words former President Barack Obama, you know, when he said that if he were to have a son, he would have looked like Trayvon. And then you fast forward to Mike Brown, Freddie Gray, you know, Quintonio LeGrier here in Chicago who was having a mental health crisis, and the only equipment on the scene were guns and he’s dead, and Betty Jones’s neighbor who came to his defense is dead. And so this is really about making sure that people understand the context of the level of frustration when you see that type of brutalization over and over again.
Every one of those are individuals killed by police who were never convicted of wrongdoing, though in some of those cases the evidence was more unclear than in Brown’s case.
- Trayvon Martin was killed in Florida in 2012 by a community watch group member, George Zimmerman, who was acquitted at trial.
- Freddie Gray died in 2015 as the result of injuries sustained in the back of a police vehicle. Six officers were accused. Five were either found not guilty or had charges dropped, though the trial of the sixth ended in a hung jury. Obama’s Department of Justice also declined to prosecute the shooter after its own investigation.
- Quintonio LeGrier and a bystander were shot and killed by a Chicago policeman in 2015. A jury in a civil complaint initially ruled against the policeman but that lawsuit was reversed because the jury also expressly found that the policeman was justified in firing at the the teen to prevent “imminent death or great bodily harm” to himself or his partner. That was in reference to LeGrier approaching the policeman with a baseball bat. The policeman was, however, permanently dismissed.
Racism exists. Blacks too often get treated poorly by cops, sometimes with fatal results. Combating those facts is a noble cause. But that cause isn’t served by inciting racial division using dubious or entirely mythical examples.
And the cause of ending Chicago’s violent crime epidemic sure isn’t served by Johnson’s incendiary answer to a question about crimefighting. That’s what CBS asked about – crimefighting – but Johnson will have you believe everything is about racism.
Eli Steele was spot on: “When we use race as a means to power, we’re never really focusing on the problems that are right in front of us.”
Johnson used race as a means to power and there’s no reason to expect him to stop.
*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
What killed Michael Brown? His inability to follow basic commands and to contain his criminal impulses. He accosted a cop, tried to take his weapon and paid the price for doing so.
End of story!
Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and Quintonio LeGrier all died because of their own actions. To blame their deaths on police or racism is absurd. Now, Johnson is playing the race card as Mayor-elect in Chicago and he is going to make the race problem even worse even after Lori Lightfoot failed to destroy racial progress in Chicago.
Chicago is going to implode by August when temperatures are in the 80’s, 90’s or higher. There will be much more violence, looting and arson and there will be more attrition from the CPD and the city will be much worse off. This is not going to end well.
I’d say Michael Browns actions and poor decisions killed Michael Brown. Think Len Bias……
My Representative, Brad Schneider, used to have town halls via phone which sounds good (I always joined) but would learn the screeners only picked those with likeminded viewpoints. Anyway, sometime in 2020 when things were very contentious, Schneider held one of his town halls and began speaking about the travesty that was Michael Brown. There were other examples to use but he focused on the Michael Brown incident (I followed this case closely as my BIL was in law enforcement in the St. Louis area). I was so bothered by the misrepresentation of this case that I emailed Schneider that… Read more »
Schneider is my rep too, and he is worthless. You are correct, if you are in lockstop with he and his fellow Democrats/progressives, he will not consider your point of view and will ignore any emails. I have emailed him at least 20 times over the last eight years or so and he has only returned one, and I’m sure it was written by a staffer, not Schneider.
Yeah, I’ve emailed several times and always received generic responses. I’m certain they were written by staffers.
Get your Republican neighbors get off their lazy butss and vote in the mid-terms and this guy would be gone in an instant. But no, our side is too dang lazy to lift a finger, my Republican family members included. It’s the IL way.
How to solve the Chicago crime problem by Sheriff Grady Judd and his team: https://youtu.be/X_yVdtF1AWg I absolutely loved this video! This is what Chicago Police and all law enforcement is facing in Chicago. This is just one aspect of the massive crime problems in Chicago with highly organized crews of gangbangers being so overwhelming in repeating their crimes that the courts and police start to think this is normal. From the days of the Roman empire criminals were held accountable. Just look at the thorough detailed way the sheriff and his team are doing their job. Listen to this, its… Read more »
In December 1969, Hampton was drugged,[8][9] shot and killed in his bed during a predawn raid at his Chicago apartment by a tactical unit of the Cook County State’s Attorney‘s Office, who received aid from the Chicago Police Department and the FBI leading up to the attack. Law enforcement sprayed more than 100 gunshots throughout the apartment; the occupants fired once.[10] During the raid, Panther Mark Clark was also killed and several others were seriously wounded. In January 1970, the Cook County Coroner held an inquest; the jury concluded that Hampton’s and Clark’s deaths were justifiable homicides.[11][12][13][14]
What’s your point? Please link these two events that are 45 years apart.
It only takes one shot to justifiably trigger all the return fire necessary to ensure the safety of the police.
The Black Panthers tried to push their Fidel Castro version of communism on other blacks and everyone else and thankfully they lost nationally. Only a few stone cold racist panthers survived to continue their Propaganda on their own people. Bobby Rush is a textbook racist moron who has blamed racism on everything in every inch of his neighborhood. What has he done and how has he delivered? Only in Chicago can you elect a fool who hates the cracker so much that he never did a thing for his neighborhood for almost 25 years, zero, zip. While he was a… Read more »
As a former Chicago/Illinois resident, it will be satisfying watching that city/state disintegrate. Your whole perspective changes when you aren’t trapped in the chaos. The socialists/liberals need to learn the hard way, but most will never learn, they will only blame others. So, if you liberals want someone to blame, you can start with me. You will never again put your hands in my pockets. I won’t pick up your tab. What a shame you can’t force people to stay and submit.
One quibble: Don’t call them liberals any longer. They are illiberal.
Mark the are MARXIST that
s their ideology in order to defeat youre enemy you must first know you`re enemyMark, you would ban me if I called them what they deserved.
I don’t think they learn the hard way…They start to feel unsafe and move elsewhere and infect the new location
Small detail – the shot that finally stopped the crazed and violent Brown was to the top of his head as he wrestled the police officer for his pistol. Even the racist Holder and ‘The Great Divider’ couldn’t refute the evidence. Fortunately it happened in MO where there is a sense of law and order.
You forget to mention that the shot occurred as Brown (6’7”) was trying to grab the gun, as he was inside the vehicle, crawling in through the window.
Racism does exist. It’s mostly perpetrated by liberal whites and blacks like Brandon Johnson, Lori Lightfoot, Kim Foxx, and Chief Judge Tim Evans.
Seems the mayor-elect’s desire to unite was extremely short-lived. It will be a long four years for Chicago.
Wanting to unite was a lie told during the campaign, just like him saying he really wasn’t for defunding the police. BLM Brandon will accelerate the destruction of Chicago.
Thank you, Mark. You are a thoughtful writer. As I read your column my thoughts drifted to David Dorn, the retired STL police commander gunned down while protecting a friend’s pawn shop during the riots. The following week I was in STL and spent time at the place he was murdered. I went to his grave; prayed and wept. Leaders reacted with silence. For me, the most impactful verse in the Bible came from the profit Isaiah who wrote (Isaiah 9:16 KJV) “For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.”… Read more »
Mayor Elect Brandon Johnson also spoke with former President Barack Obama who apparently congratulated BJ on his victory over the weekend. No coincidence then that BJ continues in the successful race -bating tradition of Barack.