20 Aug 2014 More Ferguson Media from Project 21 Members

There are more television appearances to share from members of the National Center’s Project 21 black leadership network talking about the civil unrest and legal proceedings in Ferguson, Missouri.

Project 21 co-chairman Horace Cooper said that too many politicians and protestors and others speaking the loudest about the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson “seem to have prejudged the issue.”  This is not helped by the press, as Horace added “the mainstream media has been very effective in creating a false narrative” about what happened surrounding Brown being shot by a local police officer.

In discussing the continued unrest with host Rick Amato on the 8/19/14 edition of “The Rick Amato Show” on the One America News Network, Horace pointed out that “there’s a reason investigations occur and take time.”  He noted that vitriolic assertions and the aforementioned false narrative created around the situation could lead to increased tensions and renewed violence if the grand jury does not indict the officer or if he is not found guilty if there is an indictment.

Should there be a criminal trial, Horace said, “all of the claims and allegations are going to have to be responded to.”  Assertions by more radical elements that Brown was executed, for example, will likely be quickly dismissed and can only “feed racial resentment.”  Not anticipating or addressing this, Horace said, is a failure on the part of Attorney General Eric Holder, who “ought to know better” in his position as the nation’s top lawyer and due to the fact that he has injected himself into the situation.

Asked about the violence that has become a nightly occurrence in Ferguson, Project 21 member Nadra Enzi said host Ed Berliner calling the rioters “opportunists” was “very kind… they are criminals.”

On the 8/19/14 edition of “Midpoint” on NewsMaxTV, Nadra gave his “wholehearted support” to the police and National Guard in Ferguson trying to keep the situation under control.  He said members of the law enforcement community are protecting everyone there from those rioters — many who are coming to the area from far away — and diminishing “the chance for them to harm more people” directly through violence or through property crimes.

Talking about the reaction to the shooting and the media coverage, Project 21 member Joe Hicks said on Fox11-Los Angeles on 8/19/14 that the story of police officers shooting teenagers might happen more often that people may like, but “it’s fairly unique… it doesn’t happen every day… that’s what policing is all about.”  This uniqueness, however, attracts the media and the reaction feeds itself.

Responding to the anger and demands for a premeditated resolution, Joe said there will be no satisfaction for those who are effectively saying: “I want the kind of justice I demand you give me.”  Instead, Joe explained:

We don’t get the kind of justice we demand, we get the kind of justice that comes as a result of actual facts that are gathered that informs a process.

This is why he fears that the apparent politicization of the case may end up with another situation that disappoints the angriest elements involved in the situation such as what happened during the George Zimmerman trial in Florida in 2013.