Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson Shot Michael Brown; Calm Prevails in Ferguson Protest
BERMAN: We now know the name of the police officer who shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Darren Wilson. Last night, in the town of Ferguson, there was an unusual calm. Well, unusual for this week at least there this as the Missouri State Highway Patrol took charge of security and their captain, Ron Johnson, walked together with the protesters.</s>PEREIRA: Let's remind you what it looked like, though, for the last few days. Police in riot gear, SWAT, armored cars patrolling the streets, plastic pellets, tear gas. Some say it looked more like pictures from the civil rights area than 2013. Let's bring in Mo Ivory, host of the "Mo Ivory Show" on radio; and CNN commentator, L.Z. Granderson. L.Z., I want to start with you, because I think an hour ago, we probably would have been having a very different conversation, but in light of the news that we have found out, the name of the officer involved in the shooting, which is something many people have been pushing for for a long time in terms of transparency, but then this information about a so-called strong arm robbery. How does this change things for you? Do you feel differently now? What questions do you have going forward?</s>GRANDERSON: Well, it doesn't change anything for me because the piece that I wrote Monday asking about how many unarmed black people need to be killed hasn't really been changed. The thing for me from the very beginning is the fact that there's been a long history of distrust of African-American men, and that usually leads to violence and some sort of statement about the person who gunned them down fearing for their lives, and so from my perspective, it really hasn't changed a great deal. From all the witnesses that have come forward, what we know or what we've been told by witnesses anyway is that Michael allegedly had his hands up when he was repeatedly shot by the officer. Nothing that came out today changes that. And until we get the autopsy report, I don't think we have any facts that would change that. So my fear, obviously, is that this new information will have people turn away from the real issue, which is whether or not excessive force was used and led to the death of Michael Brown, not whether or not Michael Brown took some cigarettes -- took cigars out of a store.</s>BERMAN: I hear what you are saying, L.Z. And I'll guess I'll ask you, Mo, does it change the discussion though if you are talking about the death of an unarmed civilian or the death of a suspect? How does that change the discussion? Because if he was a suspect in this strong-arm robbery, does that change the discussion, Mo? Would that have changed the environment in Ferguson over the last five days?</s>MO IVORY, ATTORNEY & HOST, THE MO IVORY SHOW: No, I don't believe it would have. But I want to say it has already changed the discussion. We found out this information and the discussion has already changed. What they will do now, which is what always happens, is the victim becomes the person that gets put on trial. Every single time a black man is killed, unarmed at the hands of the police, they become the person that gets put on trial, and it's already happening right now. Oh, well, Michael Brown is a felon. Michael Brown robbed a store. Oh, Michael Brown -- we're already hearing it. Twitter is going crazy. My phone has been blowing up. Of course, it's going to change the conversation. It already has. Just like L.Z. said, it's not change the fact that he was gunned down while his hands were up. Whether or not there was a burglary, whether they want to characterize it as a robbery, it does not change that fact. Because what it could have been, if he was a suspect, if it is true that the police officer had reasonable suspicion, then he could have simply arrested them. He could have put them in the back of the police car. He could have taken them to the Ferguson Police Department. They would be living. He would be living right now.</s>PEREIRA: I want to get more questions into L.Z. Because I want us to look forward. This is the issue. I'm worried we're going to forget to look at the end game. The end game is figuring out how we can make things better on the ground in Ferguson and around the country and police and African-Americans and other minority groups. L.Z., where do we start?</s>GRANDERSON: I think we start with the transparency that we've been pushing for, for a better part of a week now. The reason why people are automatically assuming that whatever details come out from the police at this point is some sort of elaborate scheme to make a cover up is because things have not been transparent. There's so many questions still out there right now. If the young man with Michael Brown was allegedly part of the robbery, why hasn't he been arrested? Why hasn't he been arrested? I think transparency for Ferguson and, going forward, other police stations, is what we need.</s>IVORY: L.Z., not only that, why hasn't he been even been questioned by the Ferguson police?</s>BERMAN: These are terrific questions, questions I think should be put to the police as they face reporters. I believe that's going to happen next hour. We'll stay on that. L.Z. Granderson, Mo Ivory, thanks so much for being with us. We will continue to follow this story on CNN. Plus, we have the latest on the crisis in Iraq. President Obama saying there will be more air strikes going on there. Up next, we'll speak with a man who essentially ran that country for more than a year after the invasion of 2003. Ambassador Paul Bremer, he says the U.S. should be doing more now. We'll hear his argument next.