Because the grand jury looking into the shooting of Ferguson teen Michael Brown is 75 percent white, many on the left are already claiming that the investigation into Officer Darren Wilson’s conduct in the fatal incident will not achieve “justice” for the deceased black 18-year-old.
A grand jury has already been convened to consider whether or not to indict Wilson. On Wednesday, the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s office leaked to the press that the panel is 75 percent white.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the group is made up of 9 white people and three blacks. The paper also reported that the gender break down is as follows: one black man, two black women, six with men, and three white women.
The paper notes that this grand jury roughly reflects “the racial breakdown of St. Louis County’s population, which is about 24 percent black and about 68 percent white.”
But because there are so many whites on it, some on the left are already ginning up the claim that this grand jury cannot possibly be fair in its assessment of the incident.
When Huffington Post reported the racial make up of the grand jury, it warned that “race has already played a major role in this case, as it has garnered international attention and sparked conversation about racial discrimination and inequality prompting demonstrators to protest nationwide.”
In a Friday interview, CNN’s Jake Tapper seemed to imply that the racial makeup of the grand jury will bias the ultimate decision in favor of officer Wilson.
CBS News followed suit with a Friday report that essentially warned that if the grand jury does not vote to indict officer Wilson, the racial makeup of the panel will bring incredulity in the community and maybe even renewed rioting.
Liberal Salon.com said that the grand jury is “pretty skewed” in favor of the white police officer because of the racial makeup of the panel.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch called the grand jury racially diverse, but Salon deemed it “barely so.”
The Washington Post said that the racial balance of the grand jury is a “clue” that the white officer will be absolved of the shooting.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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