Everyone wants to comment on Michael Brown. Everyone wants to say something. Everyone wants to be hip and cool and speak out for this terrible injustice. Well if I’m going to say something it’s going to be this, the people killed Michael Brown.

The prosecutor for the Grand Jury in this case who wasn’t competent enough to get a man charged for killing someone, got his job from the people. He has been in office since 1991 and has a long history of siding with the police. The Governor of Missouri, who allowed this to stay in the hands of the local prosecutor got his job from the people. Officer Darren Wilson was subject to the same racial biases that the American Civil Liberties Union (https://www.aclu.org/) has been speaking against for years, but there were no Facebook statuses or pictures supporting them in their tireless efforts to combat racial profiling. Then AFTER there’s death, AFTER there’s a trial, AFTER there is another set of parents grieving for their child, people want to speak out and riot when you didn’t do your job in the first place?

Consider this, the African-American turnout rate in Ferguson’s last election was 7 percent. Where were you in November?

Activism isn’t clicking “share”, or typing a post, it’s about ACTION. So how about instead of simply being outraged, instead of “shaking your head”, ask yourself how are YOU going to make a difference so this doesn’t happen in your community?

Join the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to fight against racial profiling. Join the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to seek justice for Mike Brown. Write a letter to your local prosecutor, or pay attention to who holds these offices and VOTE to hold these people accountable. Just don’t mistake your Facebook post as something that makes a difference.

Do us all a favor, and don’t say anything if you don’t plan on doing anything.

Sincerely,

Stephon Moore, political science senior