The Shooting of Michael Brown

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 8:59pm

Anonymous is getting involved...

Updated On: 8/13/14 at 08:59 PM

[~~tiny3~~]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 9:34pm

I think you're missing a T.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 9:37pm

Yeah, this is getting ugly. The police there are arresting journalists now. Glad Anonymous is getting involved.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 9:41pm

Indeed they did get arrested. This is absolutely outrageous.

[~~tiny3~~]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 10:00pm

Below: This is what makes race relations in 2014 all the more sad. 100 yrs ago...... Will we never learn?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_St._Louis_Riot

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 10:09pm

I lived in the deep south for 3 years before I moved to St. Louis, and St. Louis is still by far the most segregated and racist place I've lived. It's ingrained in people so deep that many of them don't even realize it.

According to the news, the cops are tear gassing people right now.

[~~tiny3~~]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 10:18pm

I have the feeling, Phyl, that if the police would just go home and go to sleep, and get the hell out of the street , things would calm down considerably. What they're doing NOw, IS JUST INFLAMING THE ENTIRE SITUATION...

Someone needs to get arrested right away.

msnbc is doing some good LIVE reporting right now....

Updated On: 8/13/14 at 10:18 PM

[HorseTears]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 10:35pm

The reporters were released after the LA Times' Matt Pearce called the Ferguson Police Chief. The Police Chief was, apparently, taken by surprise. What a ****ing **** storm.





Oh, and look at this warm welcome:


Two reporters briefly detained near protest in Ferguson, Mo.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 10:46pm

Whoever thought the idea of militarizing the tax-payer funded police departments in this country has opened a pandora's box that puts every brown skinned person and everybody who may want to raise a dissenting voice about ANY issue at risk of death.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 10:51pm

...or..

unlawful arrest,
intimidation,
assault,
battery,
and on and ****ing on...

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 11:17pm

The police in this country are out of control. This is disgusting.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 11:19pm

GIve anybody military toys and they WILL play with them.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 11:20pm

Some work friend of my mother's keeps comnentng with stuff like "I heard the cop was best up pretty bad before Brown was shot" and that tonight the tear gas was in response to someone throwing Molotov Cocktails. All unsubstantiated, of course. My local news literally just said Molotov Cocktails were unconfirmed.

This is a horror show.

[~~tiny3~~]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 11:23pm

So I reread the NY times article on this story from 2 days ago, Aug 11, from which I post the following excerpt, which reports 1 eyewitness. The most important part is this, which STARTED THE WHOLE THING. Why are the police approaching these 2 guys in their police car, anyway? They're just WALKING. A man was executed in cold blood by a "peace officer" because he was WALKING. aND STILL, NO ARREST. Heinous.

NY TIMES excerpt: ... "with MSNBC, Dorian Johnson, a friend of Mr. Brown’s, gave a description of the shooting. He said that he and Mr. Brown had been walking in the street when an officer drove up and told them to get onto the sidewalk. The two stayed in the street after telling the officer that they were close to Mr. Johnson’s house. The officer, who had passed them, then backed up, almost hitting them in doing so. He then tried to open his door, which hit Mr. Brown, and when the door bounced shut, the officer reached out and grabbed Mr. Brown.

“Mike was trying to get away from being choked,” Mr. Johnson told MSNBC. At that point, he said, the officer pulled a gun and fired, striking Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown “did not reach for the officer’s weapon at all,” he said."

Again, I quote from this eyewitness : "Brown had been walking in the street when an officer drove up and told them to get onto the sidewalk."

I am absolutely sure that as a middle aged white woman, I would never be murdered in this manner, even if I argued and resisted arrest.



Updated On: 8/13/14 at 11:23 PM

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 11:46pm

If the facts about this shooting are right then the officer deserves to be in jail but how does rioting and destroying your own neighborhood solve anything? Ridiculous behavior by a lot of those people.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 12:22am

Repressed anger boils up and over in terribly unpredictable ways.

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 12:58am

It's just a shame though that they couldn't maintain a peaceful protest. Watching all those videos of adults raiding stores and destroying other people's property proves nothing and just teaches a younger generation of how it's ok to behave like that.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 1:02am

Meanwhile, TODAY and TONIGHT, reporters are being arrested (as they were in Tehran recently) and the peaceful daytime protest was met with militarized law officers including a tank with a man with a gun on top.

So, yeah, I can't imagine why people would be on edge. I mean, under some unknown rule the militarized cops in riot gear decided a McDonalds needed to close. Because they said so.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 8:33am

The other day a local news site posted mughsots of four of the people who were arrested for looting. Three were from the city of St. Louis (Ferguson is St. Louis County) and one was from Texas.

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 10:35am

@adamgreer

You're right, they are. Talk about giving someone an inch, and them taking a mile. Not only is what they are doing just flat out evil, but most likely they won't be punished for their actions the same way you or I would. And, there is a race problem in this country and it's still sad to see it exist after all these years.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 10:49am

The #1 target of policemen everywhere speaks! Hello!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 10:51am

The Shooing of Miss Marple.

[James885]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 11:28am

I'm a black male in my late twenties. I've never been arrested and aside from the occasional parking ticket, I have never been in trouble with the law. My parents are both solidly middle class and raised both me and my brother to be well-rounded, productive people, And yet from the time I entered middle school, my parents warned me to be wary around police. To not put a toe out line. We were told that some police officers might view us differently than our white friends because we were black. They used to warning to emphasize that we should always be doing the right thing at the right time - not only for the sake of doing the right thing, but also to avoid run ins with the police.

Over ten years later, that lesson has never escaped me, and all these horrifying reports of police brutality serve to drive the point home. It always amazes me whenever some pundit or scholar on the news claims that we're living in a 'post-racial society'.

I don't support or condone all the looting and destruction of property, but I understand the frustrations and anger behind it. From what's been reported, relations between the police and the people of Ferguson have been tense for some time and the shooting of Michael Brown was the straw that broke the camel's back. If the witness statements are even close to the truth, then that officer should lose his job at the very least.


A post yesterday on facebook by one of my friends: "What is the best way to talk to my nine year old son about what is happening with the police and black men in America?". To me, that's the saddest part of all. How do you explain something like this to children, especially children of color? Back when I was nine the internet was barely in existence, so it was easier for parents to insulate their children from these events. Not so today, when little kids have cell phones and iPads that give them access to a myriad of outlets that replay these awful images over and over.

These acts of brutality have to stop. I'm not sure what the solution is. Like Phyllis said, racial tensions are still so deep rooted in some towns and communities and it makes moving forward that much more difficult.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 11:35am

Last night, Ferguson was filled with more protests…more teargas, rubber bullets, and the violent arrest of at least two journalists and one St. Louis city Alderman. As I write this, Alderman Antonio French is still being held in a Ferguson jail.

I woke up this morning pondering one of my favorite quotes…

“Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart
until, in our own despair, against our will,
comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.”
? Aeschylus

Shall we?

I am a St. Louisan.

I grew up here… left for college as soon as my ass could… and then I moved back in my 30’s to be close to my family.

St. Louis is my home… all of it…the good, the bad, and the ugly.

This past Saturday, 18 year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer. Ferguson is a suburb of St. Louis city, just north of where I live. Michael Brown was unarmed. Witnesses report that he had his hands up and told the police that he did not have a gun…and then he was shot dead.

What has followed the killing of Michael Brown is a public demonstration of oppression – racism, abuse of power, denial of the right to assemble, and denial of freedom of the press, all wrapped up in one horrific happening.

I’m disgusted… alarmed, fearful, and angry.

But I am not surprised.

This level of disdain and disrespect aimed at certain communities within the metro area ain’t breaking news for folk who live here. This is business as usual.

This is our America.

Where people of color are harassed for walking down neighborhood streets… Where far too many of those charged to protect and serve call us animals, pull us over for the crime of driving while black, use teargas against peaceful demonstrators, and muster in our neighborhoods prepared to shoot first and then play the odds that no one will bother with questions later.

It is important to note that St. Louis County and Ferguson authorities are well aware that the whole world is watching.

They know that national and international journalists are on the ground covering this story.

Yet, here we are… watching unarmed residents confronted by teargas, tanks, rubber bullets… tools used by a ragtag wanna-be army of police officers against the very population whose tax dollars pay their salary.

A lot of people are asking… if this is what the police do when the whole world is watching, what do they do when they think no one is watching?

The answer? They do whatever the hell they want to do.

After watching what has followed the shooting of Michael Brown, it isn’t hard to believe that a police officer approached two teens walking home without cause… it isn’t a stretch to believe that the shooting that followed was an overreaction, because it appears that hyper-aggressive overreactions are par for the course in Ferguson.

The takes us back to this being business as usual… to a history of unchecked authority, escalating harassment, and a total lack of accountability.

People are angry. We’ve been angry. We expect the killing of Michael Brown to go unanswered by a system unfamiliar with justice. Folk are condition to anticipate another sorta-investigation…another sensational trial (if there is a trial), complete with a strategic change of location to anywhere but North County and an artfully selected jury that will then hand down yet another free pass that sends the message to hunt at will.

After the events of the last five days, how the hell is anyone supposed to trust St. Louis County officials to find justice for Michael Brown?

Right now, I doubt they even know the definition of the word.

Blink.

My condolences go out to the family of Michael Brown. May they find comfort in his memory, and may he rest in peace. AngryBlackBitch: Meanwhile, in Missouri

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 2:37pm

@ Liza's Headband

I never said I was a target for police. Yes, I admit that on the previous thread I got a little hot headed. However, I was trying to prove a point, and (I don't mean this in a "patting myself on the back" way) what's going on in the aftermath of the Brown shooting is proving my point. There is a race problem when it comes to civilians and the police.