I have no idea whether or not Officer Wilson did what was necessary when he shot and killed Michael Brown. I wasn’t there. I haven’t seen the evidence. I don’t know the specifics of the laws in Missouri.

But I do know that there is a serious problem with the system when this statistic is reality:

“If you are a black teenage boy, you have a 21x higher risk of being shot by police than a white teenage boy.”

There are other statistics that are also upsetting and sobering. Conviction rates. Racial makeup of prison populations. Percentage of black men that go to prison. Students of color that are arrested. And on and on.

There is a bias in the American system and it is obvious. We need to find a way to fix this because it is wrong. It really is simply wrong and that isn’t hard to see.

I know that as a white suburban teenager, I got a pass on things that were I a person of color, likely would have resulted in my being arrested. Twice I was questioned by local police for crimes that had occurred near where I was and they thought I looked suspicious. I had nothing to do with them and was able to convince the police of that. I’m not very confident that would have been the case had I been a person of color.

We need to fix the system!

http://www.upworthy.com/the-truth-about-the-ferguson-case-that-some-people-really-cant-accept