× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

Could something like Ferguson happen in Virginia? Probably, sadly, yes.

Michael Brown isn’t the first unarmed young black man to be shot by a police officer, and he won’t be the last. Some people seem to think Brown had it coming, because he might have been involved in a convenience-store robbery. Well, the courts are the proper venue to decide guilt — and they usually don’t sentence first-time offenders to summary execution. But you can find coverage of many other incidents involving young men who were guilty of absolutely nothing.

Still can’t work up any empathy for a young black male? How about a young white female? Virginia recently reached a $212,500 settlement with Elizabeth Daly, the U.Va. student who was attacked by plainclothes ABC agents after she bought a case of bottled water. (They thought it was beer.) The ABC itself concedes one agent drew his gun and another tried to smash her car’s window with a flashlight. You can imagine how that situation could have turned tragic in an instant.