Story of Michael Brown, Darren Wilson gives us another chance to pick sides

Can we become more polarized?

Monday evening I sat for hours in front of the television, listening and watching the events in Ferguson, about a two-hour drive from our hometown. I saw pro-police and anti-police, pros and cons, those for peace and those for violence, none of whom had all the facts needed to make a judgment on whether or not Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson should be charged with murder in the death of teen Michael Brown.

I listened to the talking heads on Fox and MSNBC and saw evidence that even the national media has become polarized.

Take a look around us. Democrat vs. Republican. Oil and coal interests vs. environmentalists. Immigration. Abortion. Gun control. There is more to the list.

As a whole, we have drawn lines in the sand. No compromise. No surrender. Eyes and ears and hearts closed.

You can’t watch what’s going on in Ferguson and not hurt for our country, our America. Are black people and other people of color mistreated in America? You bet. Always have been. Did Darren Wilson murder Michael Brown. Maybe. Maybe not.

Some people see a police officer who shot a black man who moments earlier robbed a convenience store and was shot in a police cruiser trying to grab the officer’s gun.

Other people see yet another black man – unarmed, shot six times and left dead in the street for 4 1/2 hours—gunned down by the oppressive system.

As I scanned the many news channels on Dish Network Monday night, I landed on Fox just in time to see Bishop Geoffrey Dudley, the youngest of 11 children, author and senior pastor at New Life in Christ Interdenominational Church near St. Louis. He spent 21 ½ years serving our country as a chaplain in the Air Force. He is black.

Of all the people I have heard trying to explain what’s going on in Ferguson, he summed it up best, saying “emotions are not always based on fact.”

Schools and malls closed Monday in St. Louis. Crowds gathering, some of them determined to become obstructionists and violent. Our governor and church leaders asking for peace. South Florissant blocked. American flags waving upside down.

The family of Michael Brown asked for 4 ½ minutes of silence following announcement of the grand jury’s decision “to remember why we lift our voices. We are not here to be violent. We are here in memory of our son. We are here for protection of all children. We are here to support justice and equality for all people.”

Emotion. Polarization. These days the two can’t seem to be separated and are fanned by social media and mistrust. Most people made up their mind about Michael Brown and Darren Wilson long before the evidence was released Monday night, and nothing is going to change it.

Ever since our founding fathers put our system together, we have needed to trust it. It is the greatest system in the world. Not flawless, not always right, not always seeing it the way we see it.

Monday night at 8:15 p.m. America saw a story, a story that once again polarizes a country that seems more concerned with “our” agendas than the truth or compromise or common good.

Murder or a cop doing his duty?

The system says critical evidence points to a cop doing his duty, but as we all know, it will not be the end of this story, another story and another issue that polarizes America.