This will be my final take on the subject. After this, I'm done even thinking about Michael Brown or Ferguson, Missouri.

Firstly, there is an awful lot of stereotyping and hate speech going on in this thread. I realize that the majority is targeted towards a certain individual on these boards and not as a generalized opinion on the entire African American race, but it's hate speech all the same, and we should all be above that.

Secondly, and I mean this with every fiber of my being: Michael Brown did not deserve to die. He was a hoodlum and a bully, but none of that warrants a death sentence.

That being said, however, we all make choices in life, and those choices have consequences. Michael Brown decided to get into a physical altercation with a police officer, and he was killed. Will we ever know the full story? Probably not, but we do know this. An officer's number one priority is his own safety. Because if he can't guarantee his own safety, how can he protect the public that he serves? Officer Wilson felt he was in mortal danger, and he did what he was trained to do. It is unfortunate and tragic that a young man had to lose his life over something so stupid, so inconsequential. But Michael Brown made a choice, and it came with the ultimate consequence.

I won't even waste any time on the people rioting and looting over the verdict, because they could give a rats ass whether the officer was found guilty or not. As soon as Michael Brown was killed, they wanted Officer Wilson's head on a platter, evidence be damned. Let them destroy each other for all I care.