Shelby Steele provides the best explanation of how brilliant people can take positions on specific issues (like Michael Brown) that are provably false. It is very similar to having a religious faith and in this case the progressive/woke narrative is their religion. So, since they are certain that they are “directionally accurate” and morally superior, the individual facts are irrelevant. They follow a commitment to the “poetic truth” which is consistent with their morally superior narrative, which must take precedent over the “actual truth”. My version of Shelby’s analysis is that they believe they can live their lives in a John Lennon song. Of course, the fact that humans are significantly flawed (whether by the laws of nature or god) screws up this whole John Lennon / poetic truth ideology. So, you must silence and/or destroy those purveyors of actual truth that keep pointing out the fallacy of your poetic truth in the harsh real world we live in.