Justin King (The Anti-Media)

September 3, 2014

Jefferson City, Missouri – As a sign of how unlikely any impartial review of the Mike Brown shooting is, it turns out that one of the men behind the fundraiser for the cop that killed Brown is State Representative Jeff Roorda. Thumbnail credit: photobucket

Roorda, an ex-cop, is listed as one of the corporate officers on the nonprofit records of Shield of Hope, the organization that has reportedly raised over $200,000 to give to the officer who killed Mike Brown while he was unarmed. Further demonstrating Roorda’s apparent commitment to covering up police killings is the fact that he sponsored a bill in the state’s House that would have prohibited disclosing the names of officers who shot someone unless they were criminally charged, thereby removing any possibility for public oversight.

About 10% of Ferguson Police Department’s officers are currently being sued for misconduct unrelated to Brown’s killing. In all of these cases, the officers were cleared of any wrongdoing. None were criminally charged. When police investigate their colleagues, there are rarely any criminal charges. The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigates its own shootings; every single one of the last 150 shootings (even those of unarmed people) was deemed justified. The bill that was sponsored by a major supporter of the cop that killed Brown would have prevented anyone from ever investigating the officer or even knowing who he was.

Roorda’s plan would have granted officers a license to kill at whim. An officer could kill an unarmed person, be cleared by their fellow officers, go back on the street, kill again, be cleared a second time, and the press would never be able to identify the officer or discover the pattern.

For a State politician to act as a corporate officer in an organization that would raise funds for the killer of an unarmed man before any facts are determined shows exactly how far the thin blue line stretches into Missouri’s government. Roorda’s support is a clear signal that justice will not be achieved for Mike Brown. What law enforcement agency in the state would actively oppose a person that votes on their funding? Any state investigation into the killing will be nothing more than a show to appease the public.

Roorda is currently running for state Senate, where he will likely attempt to increase Missouri law enforcement’s stranglehold over the rights of the people. He can be reached via Twitter or his Facebook page.

It is reminiscent of the institutional cronyism and corruption that occurred in the Deep South during the Civil Rights Era. If the cop, the District Attorney, and the state Representative all look out for each other while pursuing tyrannical control over the people of their state, there is nowhere for the people to turn. The only place an oppressed people with no hope of government intervention will find relief is rioting in the streets.

If the people of Missouri continue to elect “representatives” that would remove safeguards against tyranny, they are asking to have their children killed in the street by officers that will not be held accountable for their actions.

Incidentally, the fundraiser has been stopped due to the fact that it may be illegal for the charity money to be used for the cop’s legal defense.