
President Barack Obama talks with Attorney General Eric Holder to discuss the situation in Ferguson, Missouri, in Chilmark, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, August 14, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Was Michael Brown murdered? Not according to the Obama Department of Justice decisively saying no, Recently, however, both Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Kamala Harris claimed Brown was murdered.
Sen. Warren Tweeted:
5 years ago Michael Brown was murdered by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael was unarmed yet he was shot 6 times. I stand with activists and organizers who continue the fight for justice for Michael. We must confront systemic racism and police violence head-on.
Sen. Harris Tweeted:
Michael Brown’s murder forever changed Ferguson and America. His tragic death sparked a desperately needed conversation and a nationwide movement. We must fight for stronger accountability and racial equity in our justice system.
Obama’s DOJ:
(There was) “no credible evidence that [Officer Darren] Wilson willfully shot Brown as he was attempting to surrender or was otherwise not posing a threat … the officer “did not act with the requisite criminal intent” necessary to prosecute him.
PolitiFact.org Aug. 14 “fact check:”
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., tweeted, “Michael Brown’s murder forever changed Ferguson and America.” . . . Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., tweeted, “5 years ago Michael Brown was murdered by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.” . . .
Notable & Quotable (WSJ):
After these tweets came out, PolitiFact heard from numerous readers who asked us to check whether Harris and Warren were correct in calling Brown’s death a “murder.”
There is no question that [Officer Darren] Wilson killed Brown. . . . In discussing the case with legal experts, however, we found broad consensus that “murder” was the wrong word to use—a legal point likely familiar to Harris, a longtime prosecutor, and Warren, a law professor. . . .
That said, experts who have studied police-related deaths and race relations said that focusing too much on the linguistics in controversial cases comes with its own set of problems.
Truth-O-Meter Won’t Challenge Liberal Liars
“I don’t know if the legalistic distinction intensifies the anger, but it does feel like an attempt to shift the debate from a discussion about the killing of black and brown people by police,” said Jean Brown, who teaches journalism at Texas Christian University. . . . Because the significance of Harris’ and Warrens’ [sic] use of the word is open to some dispute, we won’t be rating their tweets on the Truth-O-Meter.
Read more here.
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