X Community Notes fact checks Cori Bush’s race-baiting post blaming Michael Brown’s death on ‘racism and white supremacy’

Progressive “Squad” member Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), was fact-checked on X, formerly known as Twitter after falsely claiming that racism and white supremacy led to the death of Michael Brown.

Bush tweeted on Wednesday, "Today is the 9th anniversary of Mike Brown’s killing. He would be alive today if the institutions of racism and white supremacy were eradicated. He should be alive today. We will never forget. We will continue to fight for justice and accountability." Bush began her political career through activism after Brown's death.



X Community Notes fact-checked the defund the police advocate’s tweet writing “The US DOJ concluded, based on the available evidence, that officer Darren Wilson acted lawfully and that the evidence and witness statements do not corroborate allegations of any wrongdoing in this case.”

The note included a link to the Department of Justice’s report regarding the 2014 incident in Ferguson, Missouri, during which Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson. The shooting triggered countrywide backlash and riots in Ferguson as activists claimed Brown’s death was a result of police brutality. Activists chanted "Hands up, don’t shoot" referencing debunked witnesses who alleged that Brown’s hands were up when he was shot.

In 2015, an investigation by then-President Barack Obama's DOJ revealed that Officer Wilson had acted in self-defense and cleared him of wrongdoing. Then-Attorney General Eric Holder’s DOJ wrote in the report, "Although there are several individuals who have stated that Brown held his hands up in an unambiguous sign of surrender prior to Wilson shooting him dead, their accounts do not support a prosecution of Wilson."

"As detailed throughout this report, some of those accounts are inaccurate because they are inconsistent with the physical and forensic evidence; some of those accounts are materially inconsistent with that witness's own prior statements with no explanation, credible or otherwise, as to why those accounts changed over time."

The investigation revealed that Brown had robbed a convenience store, assaulted the responding police officer, and attempted to take his firearm before he was killed by the officer.