Justice was not served in the Michael Brown case when a Missouri county grand jury ruled to exonerate Darren Wilson, a white police officer, for the Aug. 9 shooting and killing of Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man, in Ferguson. Instead, it was locked up without a fair trial.
That”™s how Cordelia McKinney, a University of Bridgeport junior studying business, said she felt when she heard the Nov. 24 announcement that Wilson was not indicted for his actions.
Earlier that morning, McKinney said she read about a 16-year-old black male in Florida who was sentenced to 23 years in jail for killing a retired police dog. As she compared the two cases, she said she felt a mixture of sadness, pain and righteous indignation.
“My immediate reaction was to think the life of an animal is clearly more valuable than the life of a black man in America,” said McKinney. “I was very sad and it really hurt my heart. I felt like I had known this young man personally at that moment.”
McKinney, who grew up fatherless, was raised by her mother and grandmother as a devout Christian. She has cousins and nephews in New York and Florida who are Michael Brown”™s age and also African-American. She said they may not necessarily look like the stereotypical “good young man” because they wear Jordan sneakers and sweats, and what personally shook her was the idea that Michael Brown could have been one of her own family members.
McKinney, who is an active member of the University of Bridgeport”™s Civil Rights Activist Club, said her organization has been raising awareness of the Michael Brown shooting since the beginning of the school year. On one occasion the club members rallied support and marched around campus with their mouths taped shut and signs that read “Don”™t shoot.” The club plans to collaborate with the campus Black Student Association and to host a talk on empowering African-Americans and educating them about police brutality and racial profiling.
She said the Ferguson case has brought the black community together, especially in pockets of the country that have been deeply divided among one another. She said now is the time to speak up about the issues and empower young people to take education seriously.
“This is the perfect time to start becoming entrepreneurs in the black community and seek opportunities to use education as a way out,” McKinney said. “We can educate ourselves and become the change we want to see. We can study and become the police officer who is just and learn how to run the government and make fair laws. I”™ve seen the looting and rioting, and people are destroying our communities and I think it”™s absolutely ridiculous.”
McKinney said once she earns her business degree, she wants to start a nonprofit geared toward educating and empowering young girls who face racial, economic and social inequities. She said she grew up experiencing the challenges of a young black girl and wants to provide ways to nurture and educate those like her not to let society hold them back.
“In my generation, I feel like when people hit middle school, that”™s the moment you realize you have potential or you decide you”™re just going to live at home for the rest of your life,” McKinney said. “The mindset we form so early on is what affects the mindset we have now. So we have to catch them when they”™re at that critical age between 12 and 14.”
In the wake of the Brown case, President Barack Obama announced a funding package to equip local police forces with 50,000 body cameras nationwide. The Bridgeport Police Department does not have dashboard cameras in its 63 patrol cars, but Police Chief Joe Gaudett said it is worth discussing with the police union, according to OnlyinBridgeport.com.
The East Haven Police Department, which is facing a federal investigation into racial profiling, including federal criminal charges against four officers, has installed dashboard cameras in 16 cars for $115,000.
Well said, Cordelia. It’s refreshing to hear from an informed youth, with a clear incite and opinion on current social issues, who also has a solution. Your education has served you well and gives me a sense of continuity. I feel hope for the future because a social inequity suffered and tackled, by my generation, will not just be camouflaged and morphed into another form, but the torch will be carried forward into a change.
If reported correctly Cordelia McKinney’s comments are mostly a bunch of confused nonsense. The Grand Jury did not “exonerate” ??? Wilson. It found insufficient evidence to indict. Six eye witnesses, all black, and all the forensic evidence confirmed Wilson’s statement that Brown fought with him over the officer’s gun then charged him. Witnesses and forensics agree that Brown did not put his hands up in surrender. So the “hands up, don’t shoot” is a phony rallying cry. Brown had just brazenly stolen from a convenience store, caught on security tape, and had marjuana in his body.
Whether you are black or white, when a cop orders you to do something, do it. If Brown had done as ordered, he might be alive today. The stats show there is no epidemic of cops killing blacks. Ninety percent of blacks are killed by other blacks.
I get the sense more and more whites are losing patience with being blamed for black discontent. And blacks will never do well if they keep blaming others. Whites are not responsible for the 72% illegitimacy rate of blacks, which leads to lawlessness and poverty. Whites are not responsible for blacks attitude that rowing well in school