Monday night, November 24th of 2014, a tension ridden city waited as the jury decided whether or not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of citizen Michael Brown. As it was announced there would be no indictment, and that Brown’s murder was justified by the police department, chaos erupted. There is no other word to describe what happened in Ferguson, Missouri that night. In an article titled Brown Family Blasts Prosecutor; Wilson speaks, ran by Yahoo News, the destruction is elaborated upon, “12 commercial buildings in Ferguson burned down, and firefighters responded to blazes at 8 others, fire officials said. Other businesses were looted, and 12 vehicles were torched.” The destruction was appalling to watch, and even the burning of American flags took place. Social media became alive with rhetoric on both sides, but an overwhelming amount was intended to attack the police department. Eventually the national guard was called in, albeit too late for many of the small businesses destroyed or looted, and a day after the incident they numbered just over 2,000.

Citizens of Ferguson were obviously frustrated about more than one lone court case in order to resort to such an obscene display of destruction. In a section of the country perpetually affected by the issue of race, was all the violence necessary to be heard? And if so, will it lead to any change? It has already begun to ignite a fire that has spread across the country, and has incited mainly young people. Protests have taken place at college campuses ranging from Central Connecticut State University to Boston College. It is incredible that such a great number of youth are nationally involved in current issues, however, do they know the whole story behind the shooting of Michael Brown, or are they protesting only out of anger gained from the media’s portrayal of his death?

From Officer Darren Wilson’s side of the story, he had no other option, and when asked if he could legally shoot Brown by ABC news he responds with "I thought, 'I have to. If I don't, he will kill me if he gets to me.” It seems like a legitimate excuse for a police officer, in defense of his life, to shoot an assaulting citizen. The main cause of unrest in Ferguson was the fact that Brown was a black teenager in an underprivileged neighborhood, and Wilson was a white cop in a region with a history of law enforcement abuse. Take race out of the situation and you have a young man who assaulted a police officer, made a grab for his firearm, and was killed because the officer feared for his life. There were mixed accounts by witnesses, and no certainty that Brown had his hands up. That, however, was not how the Brown family or a majority of the country saw it.

And while a protest was expected, no one predicted rioting would ensue Wilson’s exoneration. St. Louis Police Department Chief Jon Belmar concurs, saying, "It's really unfortunate this evening because we had really planned...and talked about the fact that we were really hoping for peaceful protests and I mean that," The department of police in Ferguson struggled to quell the anger and lawlessness as it unfolded. It is particularly disturbing that the crowd resorted to such obscene violence, and when American flags were burned it drew extreme distaste from many, many people. Even if the citizens of Ferguson were frustrated with law enforcement they didn’t have to resort burning a flag that millions of Americans died to defend, far away in war, only to keep some freedom that we know maintain. A peaceful protest could’ve taken place, and had a more credible and intelligent effect upon the country. Take for example the civil rights movement, which put an emphasis upon peaceful protest and accomplished a great deal more than reforming a police department to better serve the needs of a community.

Herein lies the root of the problem: generalization causes people to overlook the many complexities of incidents such as the shooting of Michael Brown, and only see that a young black boy was shot by a white cop. On one side the boy is portrayed as innocent, unarmed, and helpless. While the cop is portrayed as racist, abusive of his power, and dangerous. Each side may be speckled with truth throughout history, but neither are fully correct in any incident of a relatable shooting. There is no certainty that Michael Brown had his hands up, or that Officer Darrel Wilson wasn’t in defense of his life when he took Browns. The choice to not indict, however, has become widely protested due to the fact that the entire event is over simplified. An unarmed black teenager with his hands up, shot by yet another racist white cop sounds like a very interesting and alarming news article, but is not fully accurate. In order to reform the police department, riots accomplish the opposite of change, they provoke further force. If MLK didn’t need chaotic rioting then neither did the denizens of Ferguson, Missouri. If there is to be a movement to try to push some change in Ferguson, some other methods need to be selected, and the people attempting to do so must understand everything about what they are advocating for.