The deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in Staten Island led to weeks of protests across the country and a revived discussion on race in America. Unfortunately, some folks are more interested in throwing gasoline on the fire and finding reasons why Michael Brown deserved what happened to him, leading to a truly awful Facebook hoax.
A video that has been making the rounds on Facebook claims to show Michael Brown beating up a homeless man. In only two weeks’ time, the video has been viewed over 17.5 million times and spread quickly through Facebook.
In a note accompanying the video–which has recently been distributed by a Facebook user in Canada–the late Missouri teenager is referred to as “the fellow that all of the riots are about.” The note adds that, “Videos don’t lie. You will not see this in the media. Pass this around so the truth can be known. It needs to be seen!”
This online call to action has been remarkably successful based on the 2:05 clip’s increasing Facebook view and share numbers. In a tip sent to TSG, a reader included a Facebook link and the claim that Brown’s victim was a homeless man. “Traditional media won’t touch this because it destroys the ‘gentle giant’ myth that his parents and other Lefties have put out there,” the reader declared.
The truth, according to The Smoking Gun, is that the man in the video is not Michael Brown. The original video is titled “Only n Woodland City”, referring to the Woodland City Apartment complex in Dallas, Texas. Michael Brown lived in St. Louis, and when the video was shot, he was 16-years old and several states away.
In a year that has already been difficult for Michael Brown’s family, this hoax is cruel, and it is likely that the people sharing the video on Facebook will never know or care if it is real. The original Facebook user who posted the video has since disappeared from Facebook, but sadly, the spread of misinformation continues.
Source: The Smoking Gun