Furguson, Missouri

[MrWhitticus]

What does everyone think about the riots going on in Furguson?

And for those who haven't heard, here are some of the news articles that haven't been taken down by the FBI

Basically, after protesters arose over the death of Michael Brown, the police began shooting and gassing them, and are pushing media groups out and taking down any online news stories that they can get their hands on

Spoiler below!

clehmentine said:
Alright, i’m gonna sit down and basically explain the situation in this ask so everyone of my followers knows why i’m so pissed.

Michael Brown, a 17 - 18 year old african american boy was unlawfully shot (8-10 times supposedly) by police in St Louis, Missouri on saturday, august 9th, 2014. He was unarmed, and had done nothing to attract suspicion other than the fact that he was black. His body was left in the street for 4 hours. (EDIT: i’ve discovered that the Brown family wishes for any and all photos of Michael lying in the streets to be removed. please respect this and do so)

There are several claims from witnesses (see: Dorian Johnson’s account and video [HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING UP ON HIS ACCOUNT, ITS VERY SPECIFIC] — Brown’s friend who experienced the situation first hand, La’Toya Cash and Phillip Walker— Ferguson residents nearby the incident), that fall together in generally close claims. However, the only one who’s claim seems out of place is the police officer’s who shot Brown. Who, by the way, is put off on paid administrative leave AND who’s name remained under anonymity for his safety (However, attorney Benjamin Crump is looking for a way to force release his name). He claims that Brown began to wrestle the officer for his gun and tried attacking him after he told Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson (22) to “get the f*ck on the sidewalk”.

According to Johnson, after a minor confrontation on the officer’s part where he grabbed Brown by the neck and then by the shirt, the officer pulled his gun on Brown and shot him at point blank range on the right side of his body. Brown and Johnson were able to get away briefly and started running. However, Brown was shot in the back, supposedly disabling him from getting very far. He turned around with his arms in the air and said “I don’t have a gun, stop shooting!” By this point, Brown and the officer were face to face as the cop shot him several times in the face and chest until he was finally dead. Johnson ran to his apartment and by the sound of his account, seemingly had some sort of panic attack. Later he emerged from his home to see Brown still laying in the streets. People were gathered with their cellphones, screaming at the police.

According to msnbc, the police refuse to interview Johnson at all, despite his amazing courage to come forward. They didn’t wanna hear it. They only listened to the cop’s account of it all and were vague with the media on what they thought happened. They’ve also refused to commit to a timeline in releasing autopsy results and other investigation information.

Numerous rumors are sweeping around such as Brown stealing candy from a QuickTrip, the store he emerged from calling the cops on him, Brown reaching for a gun, Brown attacking the cop first, ect. But these have all been debunked. (I know a lot of these have been debunked, but im having a hard time finding sources. if anyone could help out and link some legit ones id be SO grateful)

The event in and of itself was terrible, but now it has escalated beyond belief. Around 100 or more people, mostly black, went to the police station to protest peacefully. Things quickly turned bad as martial law got involved and authorities were bringing in K9s, tanks, heavy artillery, ect. The heavy police presence only made things worse as riots began to break out and looting and vandalism started. [ x ] [ x ] [ x ]

Now, as of very recently, the media has been banned from Ferguson. There is also a No-Fly zone above Ferguson for the reason of “ TO PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES ” as said on the Federal Aviation Commission’s website. Cop cars are lined up on the borders to prevent people from entering/leaving. Media outlets are being threatened with arrest. It completely violates our amendments and everything.

It’s becoming increasingly scary and difficult to find out whats going on over there. I’m afraid this is all the information I have, though. If anybody else knows anything about the situation, please feel free to add on or correct any mistakes i’ve made as i’m no expert on writing these things.

Sign a petition for pretection against racism in America
Discuss

[Nice]

if a white person would be killed, I'm betting the outrage would be 80% lower, just another tragic murder but what can you do...

A black person gets killed though, you get an uproar.

I think it's silly and stupid just like the Zimmerman case (who the murderer wasnt even white but latino)

[i3670]

What's pretection?

[Kman]

if a white person would be killed, I'm betting the outrage would be 80% lower, just another tragic murder but what can you do...

A black person gets killed though, you get an uproar.

I think it's silly and stupid just like the Zimmerman case (who the murderer wasnt even white but latino)

oh my god dogfood youre generally a cool guy but please shut up

you aren't taking into account the systems of power at play here or the history the police force in america has of police brutality against black people or how incredible disgusting and inhumane the circumstances of this particular case is not to mention the fact that its a BLATANT ACT OF RACISM so yes it fucking matters that he was black

please

stop

[Nice]

oh my god dogfood youre generally a cool guy but please shut up

you aren't taking into account the systems of power at play here or the history the police force in america has of police brutality against black people

look at suburban areas, the poor "ghetto" places where there's gangs like the bloods or the crips, it's all black people there so ofcourse a black person is going to be attacked by the police

Is the police in America comitting brutality? Yes, most likely
Is it brutality against black people? Yup
Why against black people? Because most of the suburban areas are populated by the blacks and thus whatever crime that happens it also just happens to be done by a black

Watch a documentary about the gangs in America and tell me if you see any white person among those "hood gangstas" and just to be clear I'm not saying they are comitting crimes because of their colour.

and no i wont shut up because im waiting for my pizza to come and im hungry as hell and cranky

[MrWhitticus]

if a white person would be killed, I'm betting the outrage would be 80% lower, just another tragic murder but what can you do...

A black person gets killed though, you get an uproar.

I think it's silly and stupid just like the Zimmerman case (who the murderer wasnt even white but latino)

oh my god dogfood youre generally a cool guy but please shut up

you aren't taking into account the systems of power at play here or the history the police force in america has of police brutality against black people or how incredible disgusting and inhumane the circumstances of this particular case is not to mention the fact that its a BLATANT ACT OF RACISM so yes it fucking matters that he was black

please

stop

"blatant act of racism"
Yet, you only have two differing sides of the story to go with and no actual certainty in regards to the case.
Kman, please, stop. You don't know what actually happened. There has been no conclusive evidence that the kid either was shot just randomly, or if he actually did try and attack the police officer. Of course, the police could have reacted better, but fucking rioting just because a kid was shot and they think it was unjust whilst in reality they weren't there, and there is -no- conclusive evidence is moronic.
Yes, America has a history with this shit. So does England. Guess what, we rioted too when something simillar happened - and was that reaction warranted? No.
England had a history of discrimination against lower class citizens and black citizens, yet, rioting, and looting, was not an appropriate reaction. It never is.
The black community aren't fucking peacefully protesting. This is not helping their case. This is just using the situation as justification for shitty human behaviour. Has it been coming? Sure! Does that make it okay? No!
So, please, Kman, shut up, because you know as much about this as anyone else does - which is fuck all about the truth of what happened.
Wait for a conclusion from the investigation into this before saying this is just blatant racism. Because seriously, right fucking now we have no idea.

I agree with both Robo and Kman's points of views but I just have to point out tht the 'rioting' that Robosprog is saying the protesters have been doing was literally sitting out the front of a police station on their knees with their hands in the air, after which the military police brought in heavy artillery and threatened to maim or kill the protesters.

There have also been many eyewitness accounts and surveillance files released which show that Michael Brown was, in fact, not attacking the policeman at all, and the attack was "brought on" when Brown accidentally knocked the door of the police car as the officer that killed him got out, "harming" the officers leg. The officer then pulled him through the window, shot him in the waist at point blank and allowed him to run some time before shooting him in the chest several times.

As for the racism side of it, I doubt any police officer would drive up to anyone, black or otherwise, yell at them to "get on the fucking sidewalk" and kill them for no reason unless they had been brought up in a society that taught them that a specific group of people were 'dangerous.' Brown had no reason to be assaulted and nothing of this nature has ever surface which happened to a white person, let alone been covered up by the fucking military.

So yes, this is a racial issue.

[Nice]

So yes, this is a racial issue.

Or he just felt like killing someone because thats how America is

There's school shootings and murders happening for no reason except the killer being completely insane in the brain before blowing his own head off

[Kman]

"blatant act of racism"
Yet, you only have two differing sides of the story to go with and no actual certainty in regards to the case.
Kman, please, stop. You don't know what actually happened. There has been no conclusive evidence that the kid either was shot just randomly, or if he actually did try and attack the police officer. Of course, the police could have reacted better, but fucking rioting just because a kid was shot and they think it was unjust whilst in reality they weren't there, and there is -no- conclusive evidence is moronic.

there were more than a dozen eyewitnesses that claimed that he never attacked the officer and never attempted to grab the officers gun as he claimed, and that when the officer drew his weapon he got down on his knees with his hands up begging him not to shoot, which he responded with by shooting him in the head, 4 times in the chest, and then 5 times a minute later. that is what multiple people that were on the scene, many of which had no relation to brown reported. the only account that stated anything otherwise was the cop that shot an unarmed black 18 year old 10 times. actually, after anonymous leaked the police radio tracks after the event happened they figured out that the cop that shot him never even reported that there was a death or a shooting until about 30 minutes later when one of the local news stations sent a message to the police asking if the reports that someone had been shot dead were true, at which point after being prompted by an officer he reported on what happened. there's no way we can go back in time to this specific moment to see what really happened and get the complete truth but i want you to use your critical thinking skills to decide who you should believe here

Yes, America has a history with this shit. So does England. Guess what, we rioted too when something simillar happened - and was that reaction warranted? No.
England had a history of discrimination against lower class citizens and black citizens, yet, rioting, and looting, was not an appropriate reaction. It never is.
The black community aren't fucking peacefully protesting. This is not helping their case. This is just using the situation as justification for shitty human behaviour. Has it been coming? Sure! Does that make it okay? No!

all the protests started out peaceful and were for the first few days until the ferguson police reacted by bringing in tanks, snipers, fully armed riot police, rubber bullets and tear gas and sound canons. they haven't just been firing at protesters either, the reason theres so little news coverage of this is because its a literal warzone and theyre trying to keep as quiet as possible by firing and detaining reports. they only escalated into riots after a few days after event after they started bringing in literal military weaponry howwwww in any way can you interpret that as the "black community acting poorly"

if you want i can link you the staggering statistics regarding racism proceeding this event in ferguson (or even police brutality in relation to race itself) or any countless firsthand reports from people coming within the town itself or any of the eyewitness accounts regarding browns death itself because believe me, ive been following this story closely and the lack of knowledge you have regarding it compared to the clear sense of authority you seem to have in discussing it is honestly fucking disgusting

[MrWhitticus]

So yes, this is a racial issue.

Or he just felt like killing someone because thats how America is

There's school shootings and murders happening for no reason except the killer being completely insane in the brain before blowing his own head off

Because black people are considered criminals because they're hoodlums and carry guns and steal and "need to be taught their place" whilst white people are criminals because they have mental issues and they're "poor little flowers who deserve help."

[Kman]

So yes, this is a racial issue.

Or he just felt like killing someone because thats how America is

There's school shootings and murders happening for no reason except the killer being completely insane in the brain before blowing his own head off

except the police in america have a long long history of shooting unarmed black men without any rhyme or reason to the extent that its literally impossible to just think its just them "targeting random people now" and its clearly a trend thats traceable back to a lot of white police men being horribly racist and using their power to act out on it