Michael Brown was an 18 year old who, high on marijuana, and fresh from robbing a convenience store during which he roughed up the manager/owner, got into an altercation with a police officer which resulted in his being shot and killed.
We await the grand jury findings on the circumstances of that shooting. But information leaked out suggests that the officer\’s account – i.e. Brown physically attacked the officer in the police car, presumably to take his gun – is supported by the autopsy and a number of witnesses….while the claim that Brown was shot while running away, then turning around and putting up his hands in surrender, is not.
In any event, this is a police matter in a Missouri town. What does it have to do with the United Nations?
Nothing that\’s what.
But since the UN has very little to do these days – not much going on in Syria, Iraq, Somalia, The Ukraine, Gaza, or any of those other nice peaceful places – it was happy to have Brown\’s parents (who were not at the scene of the incident and know absolutely nothing but hearsay) come to Switzerland and testify about it.
And what did they tell the UN?
Excerpted from Josh Levs\’ article at cnn.com:
Theparents of Michael Brown, a Missouri teen killed by police, testifiedbefore a U.N. committee Tuesday because they want the world to know”what\’s going on in Ferguson.”
LesleyMcSpadden and Michael Brown Sr. spoke to the United Nations CommitteeAgainst Torture — which also works against cruel or degradingtreatment or punishment by government authorities.
“Weneed the world to know what\’s going on in Ferguson and we needjustice,” McSpadden told CNN in Geneva, Switzerland.
Whiletheir testimony to the committee took place behind closed doors, thedelegation that organized their trip said the couple would read froma statement submitted by the Brown family and organizations calledHandsUpUnited, the Organization for Black Struggle, and MissouriansOrganizing for Reform and Empowerment.
Thedocument says Brown\’s killing and force used by police officersduring protests that followed the killing “represent violationsof the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman orDegrading Treatment or Punishment.”
“Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”? Based on what?
And even if it were all of those things – which, of course it is not – how would one incident in one place within a country stack up with what is happening in entire countries around the world, some (but far from all) of which I mentioned earlier?
I would say the United Nations has immeasurably more relevant, more important things to deal with. But apparently I would be wrong about that – which is another indication (as if you needed another one) of just how far this joke or an organization has sunk.
The Michael Brown incident has become such an absurd farce that it is hard to believe anyone takes it seriously. But, incredibly, some people do.
I pity every one of them.
