On the five-year anniversary of Michael Brown’s death, Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren exchanged truth for narrative by unequivocally referring to the incident as murder. Though there is no proof whatsoever for their claims, they persisted. While some called the candidates out for their attempts to mislead, other partisans purposely refused to do so.

Brown’s death at the hands of Officer Darren Wilson only served to amplify Black Lives Matter activism, which had already been established years earlier. Specifically, the use of “Hands up, don’t shoot!” as a slogan came directly from the August 2014 encounter. Though the background of that very phrase has been debunked following the investigation, it is still used by some activists. In the years since Brown’s death, Democrats have relied heavily on the incident when discussing law enforcement procedures within the black community. This behavior is meant to embolden. The only problem is, all evidence, either eyewitness or physical, shows that Wilson was justified in shooting Michael Brown.