Media critic Bernie Goldberg said Tuesday that the press refuses to acknowledge that Michael Brown was a "bad guy" who brought about his own demise in Ferguson, Missouri.
Instead, journalists are trying to turn the 18-year-old's shooting death in August into a civil-rights story, Goldberg said. Brown was killed by police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9.
"Ferguson, Missouri, is not Selma, Alabama, 2014 is not 1965, and Michael Brown is not Emmett Till or Medgar Evers or any other black person who was shot by a white bigot," Goldberg said Tuesday on
Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor."
"Michael Brown that day stole stuff from a little convenience store and then roughed up the owner, who was half his size," Goldberg said. "Michael Brown then thought he would get away . . . with roughing up a cop. He brought about his own demise."
Goldberg said it's a tragedy when any 18-year-old is killed, "but Michael Brown was the bad guy in this case, and please, America, let's not turn this kid into some kind of civil-rights martyr, because that he is not."
Goldberg said he is aware of the mistrust black people have of white people with power, especially police, and acknowledged that as a young reporter he saw some bad white police officers up close.
"But this officer Wilson was not one of them, according to the grand jury," Goldberg said. "The bad person in this case was Michael Brown, and that's something you will not hear from most reporters because it's politically not correct.
Goldberg said the media say they want an honest discussion about race, but really want a politically correct discussion about race.
Singer Pharrell voiced similar sentiments in an
Ebony interview conducted before the grand jury's decision was released on Monday.
In that interview, Pharrell said Brown "looked very bullyish" when confronting the store owner.
"That in itself I had a problem with," he said. "Not with the kid, but with whatever happened in his life for him to arrive at a place where that behavior is OK. Why aren't we talking about that?"
Pharrell in the interview also said he thought Wilson should have to serve time because he used excessive force.
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