--- title: Ferguson: Rand Paul Blames Pols in Michael Brown-Darren Wilson Case description: The failure of the War on Poverty has created a culture of violence and put police in a nearly impossible situation. canonical: https://time.com/3605426/ferguson-michael-brown-darren-wilson-rand-paul/ author: Rand Paul article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-25T18:20:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:40:38.793Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Ferguson: Rand Paul Blames Pols in Michael Brown-Darren Wilson Case og:description: The failure of the War on Poverty has created a culture of violence and put police in a nearly impossible situation. og:url: https://time.com/3605426/ferguson-michael-brown-darren-wilson-rand-paul/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ferguson: Rand Paul Blames Pols in Michael Brown-Darren Wilson Case twitter:description: The failure of the War on Poverty has created a culture of violence and put police in a nearly impossible situation. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Rand Paul: The Politicians Are To Blame in Ferguson > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: 'Am I next?' Ferguson's Protests Through the Eyes of a Teenager [Watch (HLS stream): 'Am I next?' Ferguson's Protests Through the Eyes of a Teenager](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fStAJZ1s.m3u8) (5:27)  _Published 2014-08-16. TIME followed a teenager as residents of Ferguson, Mo. turned out to protest peacefully on Aug. 16_  by [Rand Paul](https://time.com/author/sen-rand-paul/)  ## Rand Paul Nov 25, 2014 6:20 PM UTC  by [Rand Paul](https://time.com/author/sen-rand-paul/)  ## Rand Paul Nov 25, 2014 6:20 PM UTC We are witnessing a tragedy in Ferguson. This city in Missouri has become a focal point for so much. The President and the late Michael Brown’s family have called for peace. I join their calls for peaceful protest, but also reiterate their call to action — “channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change.” In the search for culpability for the tragedy in Ferguson, I mostly blame politicians. Michael Brown’s death and the suffocation of Eric Garner in New York for selling untaxed cigarettes indicate something is wrong with criminal justice in America. The War on Drugs has created a culture of violence and put police in a nearly impossible situation. In Ferguson, the precipitating crime was not drugs, but theft. But the War on Drugs has created a tension in some communities that too often results in tragedy. One need only witness the baby in Georgia, who had a concussive grenade explode in her face during a late-night, no-knock drug raid (in which no drugs were found) to understand the feelings of many minorities — the feeling that they are being unfairly targeted. Three out of four people in jail for drugs are people of color. In the African American community, folks rightly ask why are our sons disproportionately incarcerated, killed, and maimed? African Americans perceive as true that their kids are more likely to be killed. ProPublica examined 33 years of FBI data on police shootings, accounted for the racial make-up of the country, and determined that: “Young black males in recent years were at a far greater risk of being shot dead by police than their white counterparts – 21 times greater.” Can some of the disparity be blamed on a higher rate of crime in the black community? Yes, but there is a gnawing feeling that simply being black in a high-crime area increases your risk for a deadly altercation with police. Does bad behavior account for some of the interactions with law enforcement? Yes, but surely there must be ways that we can work to prevent the violence from escalating. On the other side of the coin, defenders of the War on Drugs say, look at Mexico if you want to see drug violence unchecked by police power. Isn’t there another alternative where we utilize police power to counter violence, but for the most part leave non-violent citizens alone? As I’ve visited our nation’s urban centers and predominantly white, impoverished rural areas, I sense an undercurrent of unease. It’s not just lack of justice, but also a cycle of poverty, to crime, and back to poverty again. There is a sense of helplessness. To be sure, we all hold a certain degree of responsibility for our lives and it’s a mistake to simply blame others for our problems. Reforming criminal justice to make it racially blind is imperative, but that won’t lift up these young men from poverty. In fact, I don’t believe any law will. For too long, we’ve attached some mythic notion to government solutions and yet, 40 years after we began the War on Poverty, poverty still abounds. When you look at statistics for the white community alone, you see that we’ve become two separate worlds in which the successful are educated and wait to have children until they are married, and those in poverty are primarily those without higher education and with children outside of marriage. This message is not a racial one. The link between poverty, lack of education, and children outside of marriage is staggering and cuts across all racial groups. Statistics uniformly show that waiting to have children in marriage and obtaining an education are an invaluable part of escaping poverty. ### See Tension Mount in Ferguson as Protests Begin Anew  Dasha Jones, 19, is arrested for unlawful assembly during a protest ahead of the grand jury decision in the case against Darren Wilson, who shot unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, outside the Ferguson Police Department in Ferguson, Mo. on the evening of Nov. 20, 2014. Barrett Emke  Police detain a demonstrator after he and others blocked a street near a police station in Ferguson, Mo. on Nov. 23, 2014 Jewel Samad—AFP/Getty Images  A member of the National Guard stands along a parked military vehicle in the back of a shopping center in Ferguson, Mo. on Nov. 24, 2014. Adrees Latif—Reuters  Gina Gowdy, of Ferguson, Mo., shouts while marching with protestors along a stretch of road where violent protests occurred following the August shooting of unarmed black teenager by a white police officer, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014, in Ferguson, Mo. David Goldman—AP  Police watch as a protester with an upside-down American flag marches along West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Mo., Nov. 22, 2014 Whitney Curtis—The New York Times/Redux  Police in riot gear observe protesters on the street near the Ferguson Police Station in Ferguson, Mo. on Nov. 23, 2014 Shen Ting—Xinhua Press/Corbis  Demonstrators block a busy intersection while marching through the streets to protest the shooting of Michael Brown, in St. Louis on Nov. 23, 2014 David Goldman—AP  A protester, demanding the criminal indictment of Darren Wilson, shouts slogans while stopping traffic in St. Louis, on Nov. 23, 2014 Adrees Latif—Reuters  Demonstrators shout slogans during a march in St. Louis, on Nov. 23, 2014 Jewel Samad—AFP/Getty Images  A man wearing a mask joins others around a makeshift memorial where 18-year-old Michael Brown who was shot dead by a police officer, in Ferguson, Mo., Nov. 22, 2014 Jewel Samad—AFP/Getty Images  Matt Pearce, a reporter with the Los Angeles Times, holds his head after getting clocked with a rock thrown into the crowd during a protest in the streets in St. Louis on Nov. 23, 2014. David Goldman—AP  Protesters march through neighborhoods in St. Louis on Nov. 23, 2014 Alexey Furman—Demotix/Corbis  Demonstrators pray around a memorial at the spot where Michael Brown was shot to death on in Ferguson, Mo. on Nov. 22, 2014 Scott Olson—Getty Images  Police guard the Ferguson police station as demonstrators protest the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Nov. 20, 2014 Scott Olson—Getty Images  A demonstrator protesting the shooting death of Michael Brown blows cigar smoke in Ferguson, Mo. on Nov. 22, 2014 Justin Sullivan—Getty Images I have no intention to scold, but escaping the poverty and crime trap will require more than just criminal justice reform. Escaping the poverty trap will require all of us to relearn that not only are we our brother’s keeper, we are our own keeper. While a hand-up can be part of the plan, if the plan doesn’t include the self-discovery of education, work, and the self-esteem that comes with work, the cycle of poverty will continue. I will continue to fight to end the racial disparities in drug sentencing. I will continue to fight lengthy, mandatory sentences that prevent judges from using discretion. I will continue to fight to restore voting rights for non-violent felons who’ve served their sentences. But my hope is that out of tragedy, a preacher or teacher will arise — one who motivates and inspires all of us to discover traits, ambitions, and moral codes that have slowly eroded and left us empty with despair. I will continue the fight to reform our nation’s criminal justice system, but in the meantime, the call should go out for a charismatic leader, not a politician, to preach a gospel of hope and prosperity. I have said often America is in need of a revival. Part of that is spiritual. Part of that is in civics, in our leaders, in our institutions. We must look at policies, ideas, and attitudes that have failed us and we must demand better. Real solutions will include a revival of spirit, purpose, and action. I, for one, pledge to be part of those solutions. _Read next:_ [_Ferguson Is the Wrong Tragedy to Wake America Up_](http://time.com/3594636/ferguson-is-the-wrong-tragedy-to-wake-america-up/?xid=time%5Freadnext) ## Transcript [ NOISE ]. [ MUSIC ] This where we going out here man, it's crazy out here though. Man he shouldn't. He shouldn't have, he didn't deserve to die. I mean he didn't deserve that many shots though. Like you can shoot something in their leg to stop them from running. You can somebody in they leg to stop them from running but you ain't gotta shoot then down bro. Why you gotta shoot him in the head? He ain't even got no gun on him. That's crazy. I feel like they should keep protesting till it's over with. And if it ain't, and if he don't get justice then, that's just what's gonna happen man, we gonna be out here every day until something happen. Come on now let's keep walking. I saw Trayvon Martin, I saw George Zimmer get away with it. Now, now, now its another case now if these police get away with it now I'm telling you man this aint Florida this is St. Louis Missouri. Come on brother. [ MUSIC ] Quit talking bout my R bird. He was so young man. Man, he was gonna go to college like, what if that was me man. If 14 I'm just now going to school and stuff. Like, what if that was me gonna go to college. Like and then the only person in my family, and then I die right before the day the school starts [ MUSIC ] What is that all about, what's that? He was 18, he was too young to die.. What is that though? I dunno what that is, that's them. Lemme ask you something, if it don't make a point then why do it? They put this on here, i'm trying to scrape it off so I can write on it. But that's what i'm saying, why put it on that? When you can go get a piece of paper and put it on that. Mike Mike made a statement in time, you know what i'm saying? And we've got to keep his memory alive by not defacing property. And this is what they want y'all to do. This is defacing property. Look at this, this don't een say nothing no more. When the rain comes it can be washed away. But this right here, will never be washed away. All of these people out here will never be washed away. But I bet if you get out there in the middle of the street they gonna see you because your age. Its all about its just like fighting with your with your mind fight with a pen or a paper or a marker you know what I'm saying make it bigger. In every way, so they could see it. All right. [ MUSIC ] No peace. No peace. Don't shoot. Hands up >> Don't shoot . >> Hands up >> Don't shoot . >> Hands up Don't shoot. Hands. Don't shoot, hands up. Don't shoot, hands. Don't shoot, hands up. This is how we all gotta unite bird, all of us african american. To the night, this what it lead us to me. Everybody holding hands everybody showing love. Everybody saying here to support, that's what going on right now. This what we gotta do to get respect, like. And what's so crazy about it that, ain't nobody hear us until we do ****, until we do stuff like this. Like from the riot, everybody breaking stuff. Didn't nobody trip off of that until everybody started breaking. Though, it was all on BET, CNN. Everyone wasn't worrying about the Michael brown death. You got bigger and better, bigger and other things to worry about than people breaking into these stores. I understand what they did was wrong, but you gotta realize if the law gonna sit there and shoot this man like that, we wouldn't go through none of this. The stores wouldn't have gotten broken into. Broke into, footlocker wouldn't get broke into, this wouldn't get burnt down, if it weren't for them. And this is where we go. 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