Deja Paylor

English 3

December 1, 2015
Period 8
Two Events Same Problem

A black, unarmed teenager is shot and killed by a white officer. A stronghold of black
activists is ordered to be bombed by a white police chief; all except two are killed. Both seem
like simple cases of white-on-black crime, but they have much more in common. In both cases
the whites involved were let off, with no consequences and in both cases police brutality is
evident, but not punished. In both cases unnecessary damage was caused, not only to property
but to a community. The first event happened in Ferguson, the second in our own backyardPhiladelphia.
What happened in Ferguson? On Aug 9, 2014, Michael Brown, an unarmed black
teenager, was shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer. The police officer served
no time. This caused plenty of unrest, which turned into property damage through riots. The
shooting itself caused protests that roiled the area for weeks. The shooting caused so much
trouble because some have said Mr. Brown never moved toward Officer Wilson when he was
shot and killed. Things got worse after the police officer wasnt indicted. The decision not to
indict Mr. Wilson set off a wave of anger among those who had gathered outside the Ferguson
Police Department. As the night wore on, the situation grew more intense. Buildings were set on
fire, and looting was reported in several businesses. Buchanan 2014 This one shooting quickly
turned into much more. It seemed that the aftermath of the shooting death of Michael Brown
was almost as bitter and hollow as his killing itself Plenty of media outlets reported it was
horrible; claiming that there were smoke bombs, tear gas, thrown rocks and random
gunshots.Smith 2014. One event almost destroyed a whole city.
What happened in Philadelphia? On May 13, 1985, the Philadelphia police department
dropped a bomb on the MOVE Organizations house, located at 6221 Osage Ave, killing
everyone in the compound but two. The police chief that ordered the bombing did not receive
any punishment. The police turned 62nd and Osage into a war zone There were nearly 500
police officers gathered at the scene, ludicrously, ferociously well-armed flak jackets, tear gas,
SWAT gear, .50- and .60-caliber machine guns, and an anti-tank machine gun for good measure.
Deluge guns were pointed from fire trucks. The state police had sent a helicopter. The city had
shut off the water and electricity for the entire block.Demby 2015 Yes, admittedly, there was
no good guy in this situation Saltz 2015 However, the police departments choice is obviously
the worse of the two evils. In the span of 90 minutes the police fired 10,000 rounds of
ammunition at the MOVE compound. The police fired so many bullets they eventually had to
ask the police academy to send more. That was just the beginning. It was chaos, and it went on
like that all day gunshots and explosions and well-tended homes nearby being shot up and
blown apart. Then the police dropped the bomb- literally. According to reports the bomb was
just suppose to destroy the MOVE compound, but it did much more- By evening, three rows of
homes were completely on fire, a conflagration so large that the flames could be seen...more than

6 miles away. It was supposedly the worst residential fire in the city's history. By the time the
fire was put out 61 houses had been completely destroyed ,two hundred fifty people were
without homes and eleven people- five of which were children- were dead. One event destroyed
a whole neighborhood. Demby 2015
Two events, same problem. Police brutality going unpunished because of racism. Racism
in policing has become a regular topic in the media. What we regularly hear about - mutual
distrust between the police and black communities, the militarization of local law enforcement
agencies, incidents of police brutality- isnt a new problem but a continuing one. Demby 2015
The tragic difference between the MOVE bombing and the Ferguson shooting is that Ferguson
sparked a national fire, while the MOVE bombing just made simmering embers in Philadelphia.
What happened in 1985 can easily happen now if the fire goes out.