Ever since news broke late Monday evening revealing that a grand jury in St. Louis County, MO had decided not to charge Darren Wilson — the officer who shot an unarmed Michael Brown, protests have grown rampant. Riots have taken to the streets of Ferguson and news networks have had coverage on an endless cycle.
Media outlets are eating it up, choosing to slant the story one way or the other, depending on how they interpret the evidence. Social media has blown up too. You can’t spend a minute on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr or any other website or app without seeing someone say something.
It is truly a hot-button topic.
Former NBA point guard and current basketball analyst Greg Anthony took to Twitter to seek out civilized discourse regarding the issues that the Ferguson situation has brought to light for our society.
In aftermath of grand jury decision in #Ferguson would love to hear ur thoughts! Can we have an honest discussion on where we go from here
— Greg Anthony (@GregAnthony50) November 25, 2014
Former NFL wide receiver was skeptical.
@GregAnthony50 Honest discussion…of substance…on TWITTER? Good luck bruh!
— Desmond Howard (@DesmondHoward) November 25, 2014
Here are just a few of the MANY responses that Anthony received, some of which he re-tweeted himself.
@GregAnthony50 White kids can rob, drink, tag, use drugs, it’s chalked up to kids being kids. Black kids don’t have the luxury of mistakes.
— Dan (@dsmith0525) November 25, 2014
@trade_w_duce @GregAnthony50 pic.twitter.com/xhgOOPOnVV
— Michael Baranda (@baranda61) November 25, 2014
@GregAnthony50 1st body cameras for police, I thought dash cameras were in all cars at least. Also community interaction
— TheCareerCoach (@TheRealXavierP) November 25, 2014
@GregAnthony50 destroying the businesses who had nothing to do with the decision is not the answer. How many people are now jobless today?
— Gregory Hoodin (@cincygreghoodin) November 25, 2014
@GregAnthony50 be part of the system not against it. Vote, run for office, teach. With education only will we move forward
— Michael Rafferty (@cpntr22) November 25, 2014
@GregAnthony50 7 shots seems excessive to me, but I’m holding my tongue until I’ve looked at all the evidence
— Tim Wente (@Tim_TBro) November 25, 2014
Why riots happen especially in the black community ? 2Pac Gave The GREATEST Answer: http://t.co/HVR1y6rlOh #Ferguson @GregAnthony50
— Asher (@asher232435) November 25, 2014
After fielding hours of responses, Anthony replied to Howard’s doubt with a positive update.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised! “@DesmondHoward: @GregAnthony50 Honest discussion…of substance…on TWITTER? Good luck bruh!”
— Greg Anthony (@GregAnthony50) November 25, 2014
Such discourse, in a civil manner as exhibited by many of those who replied to Anthony’s invitation, may be what is needed for a civilization that is clearly still struggling to overcome many of the racial stigmas that have plagued it for the past few hundred years.
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Michael Brumagin writes the Tweet of the Day for SheridanHoops.com and is also a correspondent for BleacherReport.com. Follow @mbrumagin
This is such a disgrace: http://imgur.com/gallery/eXaWAMN
Using the life of a young police officer, doing his job, as an excuse for social justice, is just wrong.
Greg Anthony is one of the more reasonable people associated with the NBA. He, for one, is respectful of the Grand Jury evidence. Unfortunately, few others are open minded. The blood trail, alone, proved this was all a wild goose chase, once again started by the now infamous Al Sharpton, who has a Zero batting average.
The constant use of term “unarmed black teenager” proves the media bias. Instead, it has now been established that Brown was a 6’4″, 290 lb felon, who had just committed armed robbery and tried to shoot Officer Wilson with his gun.
He was described on the police call as appearing as age 21-25, without mention of being armed or unarmed. That is all that counts.