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

[quartermainefan]

Your smiling emoticon doesn't obscure it either. You publicly said you do not mind seeing black people burn down businesses belonging to non blacks. Rather than post nonsensical emoticons, kindly explain how that isn't a racially charged statement or any different than if I said I don't mind seeing black businesses burned down strictly because they are owned by black people. It really is simple: you are either for race based attacks or you are against them. I am against them but apparently you are not.

[alphanguy74]

Amen 5 times over to this. That jackass should have been behind bars a long time ago.

[Eric83]

Picture from Ferguson.

[Eric83]

I do not care that business owned by non black people in black communities are being burned down when they are racist towards their patrons, exploit them for money and do not put the money back into the community. And I won't apologize for it. You can try to equate me to some Third Reich white supremacist but it's not the same. And I am not racist fyi. I haven't said anything other than that I don't support the white supremacist media and racists who exploit blacks. I don't know what to tell you.

[Eric83]

Obama's statement. Still scared to publicly address racial issues in fear of upsetting the psycho GOP. He can't run again so I don't know why he's tip toeing around them. Then again he probably didnt even write this.

[alphanguy74]

I hate to inform you of this, but I have grown up around many a racist individual, and they will not even DRIVE THROUGH a black neighborhood, let alone open a business in one. And Roman, who LIVES THERE just told you that there are many black owned businesses in Ferguson, so why are you still chewing on this bone?

[Eric83]

Sweetheart I was speaking in general. And I may have been misinformed by other individuals on other boards who claim to live there so my apologies to Roman!

I still stand by what I said though. Some were looting, some were burning stuff because they're tired of being oppressed, others were against it and cleaning up.

And racists have NEVER opened up shop in black neighborhoods? Please pick up a history book. Latasha Harlins killed by a lady who thought she was a thief. Emmett Till was murdered by a store owner who business relied on black patrons.

ETA:quartermainefan my PM's are open if you'd like to continue our debate. I need to stand by my word and stay out of this thread lol

[Vee]

The photo of these heavily armored dudes and now the no-fly zone is is truly bizarre. Do the St. Louis police think they're ISIS or something?

[marceline]

He's tiptoeing around them because he knows how sick and dangerous they are. These people turned on a POW just because Obama brought him home.

[alphanguy74]

News outlets in St. Louis are saying that gun sales have quadrupled in the last 4 days in all the surrounding suburbs in the metro area. There have beena some groups from Jefferson county (redneck area) that pose with their pickups and guns and a caption that says "Come on, we're ready for ya!"

[marceline]

I would be interesting to actually talk to some of these cops and hear where their heads are at. I suspect the cognitive dissonance is epic.

[alphanguy74]

Another person shot by police overnight:

http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/crime/2014/08/13/north-county-police-shooting-chambers/13989885/

[Juliajms]

I think part of the reason is that it's pretty damn scary to most reasonable people when someone who is supposed to be protecting people, instead guns them down. Not that long ago, a cop shot a mentally disturbed white boy who's father called them in to help, that also made the news. Police officers have the power and authority of the state behind them, so of course we should be holding them to a higher standard.

As to shooting looters on site, we cannot do that. A human life is worth more than a TV. I tend think that the average looter is in a state of temporary insanity. No, I'm not a raging liberal, but I do think people can get caught up in group rage and do things they would not do otherwise.

It's definitely not an equal playing field, but it seems to me that's in big part due to slavery itself. In so many cases where we end up has a lot to do with were we start. When I see an AA doctor or professor, I think what an amazing achievement to go from slavery to being a doctor in maybe 6 generations or so? My family came from Germany 4 generations ago (1880's) and I was the first to go to college. Most of my extended family is still either poor or lower middle class.

Obviously, a huge injustice was done to African Americans and the government should be doing a lot more to help, but I'm not sure exactly what that would be. Maybe more early childhood education. Moving out of poverty is quite difficult for all races because of the effect one generation has on another. If your parents can't give you some kind of boost out of it, you're screwed. AA's face the additional burden of racism, but generational poverty is hard for anyone to escape. I tend to think time is the only way to solve it, but I'd love the government to come up with some program to prove me wrong.

[Max]

Good article, though its title is wrong. Sadly, Sharpton is all too relevant to just about everyone in the Democratic Party. As one of the commenters pointed out, the article ought to instead be titled "Sharpton's Search for Cash."

http://online.wsj.com/articles/political-diary-sharptons-search-for-relevance-1407882733

[marceline]

Anonymous has released the dispatch tapes from the St. Louis cops (not the Ferguson police but St Louis which got called in to "help" after the shooting).

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/anonymous-releases-st-louis-police-dispatch-tapes

They also claim that they have the name of the killer and that they will release it once they have confirmation.

The Ferguson PD must be filled with idiots from top to bottom. They need to put the shooter and his family in protective custody then release all the information they have including the autopsy report. The longer they stonewall, the more likely that the information will be leaked and when that happens the riots we saw earlier will look like kindergarten nap time. Regardless of the legal issues, this is a giant PR fuckup and it's going to result in more bloodshed if they don't stop screwing around.