Dorian Johnson, the man who helped ignite one of the most destructive hoaxes in modern American history, was gunned down on Sunday morning just a short walk from where his notorious lie was born. Johnson was the sidekick to Michael Brown on that fateful day in Ferguson, Mo., back in 2014. Johnson stepped into the spotlight with a tale destined to tear the country apart.
His story of Brown throwing up his hands and crying, “Don’t shoot!” reverberated across the media landscape, sparking riots, police assassinations, and lit the fuse for the radical “Defund the Police” movement. Black Lives Matter used the tragedy to promote the narrative of systemic problems in policing, especially in minority neighborhoods, and it also promoted the idea that social programs could better use the billions of dollars governments spend on law enforcement.
Ferguson became the impetus for the notion that police funding, not criminal behavior, was the real problem. This narrative would grow into a full-blown movement, driving a wedge between public safety and leftist ideology.
It was all based on a lie.
Johnson insisted that Wilson struck first, falsely painting Brown as an innocent victim of police brutality. The media swallowed it whole, and America burned. Night after night, violence erupted in cities, with agitators chanting the slogan born from Johnson’s fabrication.
Official investigations — local, federal, and everything in between — told a different story. Multiple witness statements were inconsistent or flat-out false, while law enforcement found that corroborating accounts siding with Wilson were credible. Forensic evidence was undeniable: Brown had assaulted Wilson, lunged for his weapon, and forced the officer to defend his own life. Johnson’s story was pure invention, yet the damage was already done.
Even the Department of Justice under Eric Holder, no friend to law enforcement, had to admit that the facts didn’t back up the narrative. Three autopsies confirmed Brown had attacked Wilson. Prosecutor Robert McCulloch later explained that many witnesses weren’t telling the truth, confirming what was evident to anyone who cared about facts over feelings. But the truth didn’t matter to activists or their media allies.
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The media was so desperate to sell the anti-police narrative that they plastered pictures of a young Michael Brown on screens across the country to tug at heartstrings. At the same time, Johnson’s false claims acted as the spark that set everything ablaze. “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!” became a rallying cry, and the media treated it like gospel, even though it was a proven lie.
Johnson’s lie didn’t just cause short-term damage; it unleashed a chain reaction that reshaped the country for the worse. Communities tore themselves apart, criminals ambushed and murdered officers, and left-wing activists and politicians systematically eroded public trust in law enforcement. They cashed in on the false narrative, making it harder for police to do their jobs in already crime-ridden cities.
Ferguson erupted as the flashpoint, ushering in an era where agitators treated cops as villains instead of protectors. And now, over a decade later, those same communities are drowning in crime, the very chaos that the anti-police agitators now quietly wish a stronger police presence could contain.
The irony is tragic and brutal. At least one shooter gunned Johnson down near the scene of Brown’s death. Police confirmed his killing and detained a suspect, though details remain scarce. Predictably, rumors of police involvement swirled online, but officials quickly knocked them down. The real story is simpler and uglier: Criminals run wild in Ferguson, just as they do in countless other cities where anti-cop rhetoric hollowed out law enforcement.
Johnson’s death stands as a tragic symbol of the mess he helped create. His lie gave him brief notoriety, but it devastated the country, weakening police, emboldening criminals, and leaving communities to beg for the protection they once scorned.
The Ferguson lie that burned America reminds us why truth matters. Johnson's false "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" narrative sparked riots and destroyed communities, yet the mainstream media still won't acknowledge its role in spreading it.
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