Riot erupting in St. Louis after police shooting of Ferguson youth

[quartermainefan]

What bullshit. So now it's ok to burn down their property because they are not black? Nice. If people talked about black people the way you talk about whitey they would be branded racists.

[marceline]

Honest question: what do you want Obama to say? Because I can't think of anything he could say or do that wouldn't make the situation worse. It's like when you call the cops on your neighbor beating his wife and it just makes him beat her harder. Any support he would show for the people of Ferguson would just ramp up the hatred of the right wing. Look what happened when he commented on Trayvon. Bigots doubled down on their vilification of him.

[Roman]

Well, I'll add this....

I was born in Jewish Hosp. in downtown St. Louis. Lived the first two years of my life in Kinloch, Mo., before my mom and dad bought a house in Ferguson, Mo. Spent 17 years there. Grew up there, played sports there, went to school there. Could tell you all every street. lot, business and bike trail. Loved and still love it today....but the looting is perhaps the STUPIDEST thing I continue to see. Burning down our own things and then telling the world it's for the young man who was killed (which I haven't heard spoken about). Yesterday a pregnant woman was thrown to the ground by a St. Louis County cop here on West Florrisant. Our local news continues to show nothing but the fools and ingrates who stole and burned, but don't want to discuss the young man who was killed.

Last night the St. Louis Galleria was closed down till this morning because of fights breaking out, and a Shoe Carnival was looted around midnight. There are armored vehicles here, police throwing tear gas, and the few making the entire metro area look very bad (so much so this town has reached the news in Ireland).

But what is not reported? All the young people who got out, including black Greek members, to help in the clean-up. Peaceful protest with our pastors in the area and citizens gathering last night for a candlelight vigil for the young man who was shot and killed. Our police here are so corrupted that the Justice Dept. has stepped in, along with the FBI to oversee the case.

12 suspects have been arrested for the looting. It seems to matter to some here where they came from, but for me it doesn't matter if they were from Ferguson or Romulus. It took YEARS to get business owners to build on West Florrisant, and many say they won't be run off, but a few now say they can't afford to stay and be fearful for their property and those who work for them.

My anger is through the roof. And no, no one can make me understand this BS. Just another excuse to act very, VERY ignorant and stupid (like the guy who put up a Craig's List ad saying he has brand new Jordan's for 50 bucks THAT HE HAD JUST STOLE THAT NIGHT. THE MORON PUT IN THE AD HE STOLE THEM!)

The clean-up continues, the local news is slanting it this morning, there are over 400 police officers from around the city and state here, and the rumor of sending in the National Guard if the BS continues. I read all the discussion, and for those who want to bring politics in it's important but not the main thing right now to me. This has been coming for 50 years. My dad sat me down when i was 10 and told me how to act if a Ferguson P.O. harassed me. He ending the talk with "Because if they kill you, I'm killing them, and your mother will be alone. I don't want that and neither do you. So, do what I just said." That's how it was growing up there. I don't think they realize that. hell, they didn't hire their first black or female P.O.s until about ten years ago. The dept. was all white men.

What's really F'ed up is that the news will move on, and the people will rebuild, but I still have this one question...why is it that when a white cop kills a black youth, it's national news, but when we kill each other, it means nothing? i already know the answer, but will still ask the question until I get and answer.

And I'll this...there are many black-owned businesses in Ferguson, and know several of them personally, so whoever says there are no black owned businesses has no idea what they're talking about.

[Roman]

I must agree with this. And for the reason stated.

[alphanguy74]

Agree on all points. I'm no fan of police in general, and at this point I'm certain this cop needs to be brought up on charges and arrested, because to use lethal force on someone who was admittedly unarmed is just totally wrong. That's what rubber bullets, etc. are for. And thanks for the clarification on black owned businesses, this ain't 1955, black people DO own businesses and are entrepeneurs. I understand your anger, and you have every right to be. I did see a couple small stories about the cleanup, but your'e right, it's not put out there as a major story. Just thge headline grabbing violence is put out there at the top of the news. But that shouldn't surprise us, the news has always been about trying to shock Ma and Pa kettle and getting the highest ratings possible. The bigger the freak show, the bigger the ratings.

[marceline]

Well I can tell you what I want Obama to do. I want him to send who and whatever necessary to bring Cliven Bundy to justice. I don't care whether they use the BLM, FBI, ATF or Seal Team Six (my personal preference). In the last month we've had the murders of three unarmed black men: Eric Garner, Michael Brown and John Crawford III, by overzealous cops while Bundy and his band of terrorists are allowed to walk free after a standoff where they pointed automatic weapons at Federal agents. As long as Bundy is allowed to walk around free and breathing while innocent black men are gunned down and then blamed for their own murders then riots are exactly what this country deserves. Until an unarmed black kid can be treated at least as well as a career criminal, deadbeat, rancher/domestic terrorist then it should be "no justice, no peace."

Also the Ferguson police need to tell the name of the cop who committed this murder. If they don't, it will eventually leak anyway and that will be a disaster.

I don't understand this question. When you say it means nothing, what are you referring to? I'm pretty sure that the people in these neighborhood's care very deeply about black-on-black crime. That's why you have programs like the Interrupters or Harlem's Childrens Zone. It's just that like in any war zone people concentrate first on keeping their heads down and getting through the day.

White people kill each other too. Frequently. Most of the time it never makes the news and yet I don't see anybody accusing white people of thinking that those deaths mean nothing.

I think part of the reason you've never gotten a satisfactory answer is because your question is based on a faulty premise. Whenever a cop kills an unarmed person of any race, people should be outraged. (See: Kelly Thomas) These murders make the national news because there's video and audio for the news to broadcast. That doesn't mean that people care more, it means that the media is lazy.

[ReddFoxx]

Gerrymandering does have an effect on racial and social issues, particularly how they are responded to. It's a more aggressive and devastating form of redlining, as it keeps poor African-Americans from developing mainstream political power and leaves them packed into geographic monstrosities that become fiefdoms for the wrong types of politicians. The ultra conservative political wing does not address poor, urban issues and does not focus on spurring economic development in those areas.

With that said, looting doesn't solve any problems, even if the looting does involve stores that are not owned by African-Americans. Sure, some of those store owners give nothing back to the community, but looting does not make that any different.

[marceline]

Looters are opportunists and parasites. They don't care about the reason, they just take advantage of the situation. It doesn't matter whether it's a shooting or a blackout or Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, fixating on the looters is an easy way to dismiss the legitimate issues that need to be confronted.

[Eric83]

K. You are going to need to realize how deep white supremacy runs deep in this country. It is NOT an equal playing field. Somehow when blacks voice that they want their own businesses it's racist but it is no different from Jews, Asians, Arabs, and immigrants from Latin America that come here and build their own communities. But because blacks are "lazy" that's why they're behind. I suppose it has nothing to do with racism and the fact that American media has drug the image of black men and women not only here but worldwide ever since the end of slavery. The term "black on black crime" needs to be shot in the head and buried six feet under. It's been ingrained so deep into the psyche of many Americans that we don't realize how racist that term truly is.

[Eric83]

You're right. I suppose I should be patient and wait for the facts to pan out. I totally forgot about some people's response to Trayvon. They were so angry that he acknowledged that his son could have been shot down. It is really sickening. People only want to address race when it matters to them. If it doesn't all minorities are supposed to shut up and take it otherwise theyre playing the "race card".

[marceline]

Whenever Obama comments on anything, his detractors transfer the hate they have for him to what or whomever he talks about. We saw it with Henry Louis Gates, we saw it with Trayvon and we saw it with Bowe Bergdahl. (Bringing our POW's home used to be considered a good thing...until Obama did it.) The best thing he can do is stay quiet and let the FBI handle it.

[Eric83]

You've seen how aggressive the police have been? They are also trying to keep the media out so they cant any film of them harrassing the protestors. It is so unconstitutional. They are snatching up phones left and right, throwing tear gas at people that are in their yards and telling the protestors they are "animals" and to bring it.

The police chief also said he isn't releasing the name of th e murderer. These pigs make me sick.

T.J. Holmes ‏@tjholmes 7m

#Ferguson police say attorney for #MikeBrown 's family will have to go to court to force them to release officer's name. (via KTVI)

__________________

Luckily Anonymous is on the case.

https://mobile.twitter.com/OpFerguson/tweets

[quartermainefan]

You didn't say you want to see black people have their own business. You said you don't mind seeing black people burn down businesses owned by non-blacks. Some asian guy who owns a deli and works 90 hours a week or whatever, !@#$%^&*] him because he isn't black, burn that store to the ground because he isn't part of the community. That's bullshit, and all your talk of white supremacy and putting quotations around the word lazy doesn't obscure it.

It sounds like the hate may not be on the part of the whites, asians and arabs here.

[Max]

Once again, you are living in your paranoid world, where you automatically look at any criticism of Obama as racist in nature. Of course bringing POW's home is a good thing, but Bergdahl holds rabidly anti-American views, so of course many will be less than enthused over his rescue. People would be just as outraged if a white president did this.

I'm sure that liberal blacks would prefer a Democratic House, but Marceline was suggesting (if not downright saying) that GOP Gerrymandering (and Citizens United) was responsible for these race riots. As I mentioned earlier, if that was the case, then the zenith of the race riot era certainly would not have occurred when the Democrats had large majorities in the House. There must have been thousands who rioted, and I bet that not a single one of them thought to themselves the following: "I am so angry about this killing, but I still would never riot if it were not for the GOP House and Citizens United!"

Even putting aside the gerrymandering that is still performed by Democrats in the states they control (Illinois is the most notorious example), you also seem to be conveniently forgetting that the reason why there are so many racially segregated Congressional Districts is the result of amendments made to the Voting Rights Act. At the time, it wasn't conservatives advocating for these majority-minority districts, but rather civil rights activists, because black communities wanted to be represented by African-Americans in Congress (and blacks would have a much tougher time getting elected in a racially integrated district). So if one wants to get serious about combating gerrymandering, we need to also stop gerrymandering these majority-minority districts, though I would assume quite a few blacks would be upset at that, given that it would greatly diminish the power of the Congressional Black Caucus.

[Eric83]