We are all Asia McClain 12.10.2014
Have you tuned into the evening news? Have you opened the Yahoo! browser in the past three months and seen any indication of a headline surrounding the debate on the murder of Michael Brown? And if so, did you open it and familiarize yourself about a case so deeply affecting people of various races today?
If not, why?
I don’t know who you are and you have no information about who I am other than a profile snippet about the author of this piece, but it is safe to say that most law-abiding citizens not closely affected or familiar with the Ferguson protests don’t have any significant clue as to why the decline to indict officer, Darren Wilson has resulted in such a fury.
First, familiarize and educate yourself.
After reading dozens of news reports and watching multiple videos surrounding details about the peaceful protests, unnecessary looting, officers using tear gas, decisions being made, and statements being said, I still question how I could know so little about this case, yet want to understand this feeling of wanting to be involved.
Our generation early and late, are so swayed by the media in both good and bad ways that many might assume kids these days are just picketing, yelling and holding signs for the sake of an Instagram photo or Facebook check-in. While some may “do it for the Vine” or act similarly to this young lady who can’t seem to answer why the Ferguson protest is a race issue, it becomes a larger generalization for many of those who want to try to understand why unarmed black teens are constantly the victims of white police brutality.
Yet, we’re so set in our ways. We turn on the evening news, we hear yet another case of protesters gone awry and of police officers just simply doing their job. But do you feel that guilt? If these officers are doing their job by protecting the public from going haywire, don’t we owe it to ourselves to question what’s going through their minds? These officers are playing for the team of officer Darren Wilson. They’re trying to keep the public safe but who are we to trust their motives just because we are told to? And who are these same officers to trust just because they’re told to do their jobs? They’re not Darren Wilson.
I recently started streaming season 1 of the popular mini podcast series, Serial. If you have not had a chance to visit this piece of audio art, you must. I say this because I felt completely empty and confused at the end of the first audio episode.
No, I wasn’t confused about the content, but rather the manner in which the characters acted in this 1999 Baltimore murder. To summarize the series in a nutshell, Sarah Koenig, producer of WBEZ’s This American Life, explores the details of a criminal case in which a teenage boy by the name of Adnan Syed is (or could be) wrongfully accused of murdering Hae, his ex-girlfriend. A friend of Syed, Asia McClain was a character that stuck with me. She was the first and only (unofficial) witness to later be asked to testify for Syed’s alibi, by confirming she had seen him in a library during the time of the murder. Yet, later denies her claims which becomes troublesome for Koenig. After much time and deliberation, and one significant interview conversation, McClain reaches out to Koenig with some thought:
“I’ve been thinking a lot about Adnan…all this time I thought the courts proved it was Adnan that killed her [his ex-girlfriend]. I thought he was where he deserved to be. Now I’m not so sure. Hae was our friend too and it sucks not really feeling like you know who killed your friend… If he didn’t kill Hae, we owe it to him to try to make that clear and if he did kill her, then we need to put this to rest. I just hope that Adnan isn’t just some sick bastard trying to manipulate his way out of jail,” says McClain.
I bring this snippet to our attention because we can all learn something from McClain. She thought the courts had significant proof. Just like a majority of us thought enough evidence was provided to not indict Officer Wilson. She thought Adnan was where he deserved to be, in jail, just like some of us may have expected a white officer to be let free. Yet McClain now isn’t so sure Adnan killed his ex-girlfriend, just like now we’re not so sure if we should be taking what we’re told to believe about the issues surrounding Ferguson so lightly. We are all Asia McClain.
What I’ve learned from just the first episode of this podcast is, as “law-abiding citizens” we need to constantly question why we listen to the law in the first place. Why are we expected to accept and move on with our lives when we’re told a court decision that was the “right one” is the only way to go? Does this mean we are good people? Even if we stay silent?
In response to McClain’s confusion surrounding Adnan Syed’s ill-directed conviction, Koenig says, “Believe me, I am on exactly the same page”. And in this case, we should all be on exactly the same page.
If you’re still on the fence about starting the Serial Podcast, click here.
If you’re interested to see if Adnan Syed has a chance to get out of prison, click here.
And if you’re interested in a timeline piece tracking the Ferguson Missouri case, click here.
