The Media Attempted to Demonize Brown
Instead of admitting that Brown’s death was an unfair tragedy, many news outlets painted him as a violent criminal who deserved to be punished. To begin, the pictures used to portray images of the young man showed him to be an intimidating thug, as opposed to the recent high school grad that he was. The scars on Wilson’s face were also heavily publicized to give the impression that his minor injuries were reason enough to kill Brown. Lastly, media outlets propagated that Brown had stolen a pack of cigarillos the day of his shooting, an act that did not, by any means, call for his death.
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Black Protesters Treated as Terrorists
Protesters, mostly African-Americans, took to the streets for several nights to take a stand against the racist police brutality that ultimately led to the death of Brown, as well as the court’s decision to not indict Wilson. According to an article released by The Huffington Post, a group of at least 70 SWAT officers with “armored vehicles responded to an apparently peaceful protest” and “ordered the crowd to disperse.” In addition, “mostly peaceful protesters in the St. Louis suburb, symbolically holding their hands in the air, were met with tear gas and smoke bombs fired so regularly that several reporters on scene noted it was hard to breathe.” This is in stark contrast to the way authorities dealt with the Pumpkin Fest riots in West Virginia, the University of Minnesota riots in 2014 and the Michigan State riots in 2013. In all these instances, the rioters were predominantly white, damaged property and acted violently. However, neither the riot police nor the National Guard were dispatched, and a state of emergency was not declared.
