What do these protesters want, anyways???

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 12/7/14 at 3:33pm

Flyers that are being ignored by the media

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 9:35am

Borstal... thanks for posting that. I have been curious exactly about the desired results of the protesters.

Devils advocate in me looked up some statistics for Ferguson. According to the U.S. Census Bureau as of 2010 67.4 percent of the city's 21,000 residents are black and 29.3 percent white.

One of the protester's positions is to end racial profiling. Statistically speaking...there is a really good chance that with 67.4 percent being black and 29.3 being white that 2 out of 3 times a black person is going to be a participant of a police stop. On the back of the flyer the protester wrote "According to the attorney general's numbers, blacks are stopped by police way more often than their fellow white citizens..."

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 9:50am

Those numbers don't really tell us anything.
Missouri’s tortured history of racism: Why the inferno in Ferguson is no surprise

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 10:08am

Add to that independent prosecutors to present charges against cops to grand juries; really surprised this is not included in the list.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 10:11am

I wish the focus of the media's attention on the protesters would switch from hate-the-cops to what's wrong with prosecutorial misconduct and the misuse of the grand-jury system.

There will always be a few bad cops who go too far, but with honest prosecutors a changes to the grand-jury system, they would be properly punished.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 10:36am

PJ - I agree. In St. Louis County - the prosecutor manipulated the grandjury system to obtain his desired result which is contrary to his job duties!

I cannot even begin to understand how the Garner jury reached their decision.

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 10:42am

Pal Joey,

I honestly think that it should be a combo of the two. I think that between Staten Island, Cleveland and Missouri, people are taking a step back and realizing that there's something wrong with the big picture here. That the general issue of racial profiling is not something that's particular to one state or city but something that is happening all over the place. I know that it's a case of a few bad apples ruining the entire bunch. But, at the same tine, its those same bad apples that are shedding a light on a big and real issue nationwide.

As far as the grand jury is concerned, There were so many things wrong that happened with the grand jury in Missouri that I am not going to list because it would take forever.

A dear friend of mine writes for one of the big NYC papers. She said that she interviewed countless numbers of young people who are protesting here in NYC. She came to the conclusion that after many of them didn't understand why they didn't show the video that was taken in the grand jury that many of them who were protesting clearly didn't know what a grand jury is and what reasons it serves.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 12:04pm

"Devils advocate…"

Racism doesn't need an advocate.

Despite the juvenilia of our media insisting on it, there isn't always "the other side".

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 12:25pm

"I think that between Staten Island, Cleveland and Missouri, people are taking a step back and realizing that there's something wrong with the big picture here."

What's missing here is an honest conversation without all the race baiting.

The Staten Island incident was not race based. There was a black female officer on the scene and she said she didn't feel that the man was in distress.

As far as Ferguson, had it been a black cop or a white victim, we wouldn't even be hearing about it. It's unfortunate that everyone tries to race bait. The fact is that that man had just robbed a convenience store moments before. Had he not been walking in the middle of the street or had he obeyed the officer's request to get on the sidewalk, he would still be alive today.

But it's much easier to just sit in your home and scream racism, isn't it?

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 12:36pm

You're so right about Ferguson- why won't those race baiters realize that punishment for walking in the street has always been death?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 12:42pm

"You're so right about Ferguson- why won't those race baiters realize that punishment for walking in the street has always been death?"

That's extreme, don't you think? It would really help if people like you put situations into perspective. It wasn't about walking in the street. It was about attacking a police officer.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 12:48pm

Allegedly attacking a police officer. According to the officer.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 12:55pm

And forensics. And several eye witnesses.

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 1:40pm

Isn't going into Macy's (or any establishment) causing a disruption not only to the store but also the patrons?

It is not making people more sympathetic to the cause. It is annoying.

The store is in a difficult position to keep quiet because if they bring in security to escort protesters out then Macy's looks like the bad guy for not cooperating with the protesters.

The patrons shopping are crunched for time especially if they are trying to get their shopping done on the weekend and the protesters are impacting their limited time.

I know protesting is never a perfect situation, doesn't have a perfect location, inconvenience is a part of the "make people aware"...until you are the person it is inconveniencing. Then when you open your mouth you are the bad guy for not sympathizing.

OK so they lay down and block an intersection when "Aunt Ruth" is in an ambulance trying to get rushed to the hospital. Now who is jeopardizing a life?

Islander said it best when it was noticed that the protesters do not even understand what the purpose of a Grand Jury does.
If you want to protest - sign up to experience what a Grand Juror does.

Furthermore - when was the last time anyone got a jury notice and DID NOT complain that they had to go? I do not know if there is anyone that I've heard truly was honored and happy to be a part of the system yet plenty complain that they aren't happy with it.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 2:15pm

"It is not making people more sympathetic to the cause."

THIS is what has been repeated since the dawn of social change movements.

People look back on ACT UP with a sense of awe over how much that movement got accomplished. I was part of a nationwide road block demonstration to call attention to the snail's pace at which drugs were (or weren't) becoming available for people who needed them. It was a "No More Business As Usual" action. I was part of a group that blocked a major traffic center. We heard the above phrase SOOOOO many times that day. Including a woman who informed us she had given "millions to AIDS" (whatever that meant) and would now not give another cent.

"Making people sympathetic to the cause" is beside the point. No condition has ever been changed because of sympathy.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 2:20pm

Agreed. It's like the gay people I see on Facebook who are so quick to condemn all the "rioting" in Ferguson, not realizing that most of our rights movement happened because of a ****ing riot where we finally did something about police brutality and unfair treatment. The same thing is happening here, and if someone big concern is that they can't get a damn Christmas present then they should have their priorities examined.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 2:24pm

not realizing that most of our rights movement happened because of a ****ing riot

I know!!!!!!!!

I saw somebody somewhere saying white progressives might back away from "supporting" Ferguson (whatever THAT meant) because a gas station burned down. Nobody wants a gas station burned down. And if your connection to anti-racism work is THAT tenuous and easily attenuated, well, you suck as a white progressive.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 2:28pm

Exactly! Yeah, I'm not saying it's great for things to get destroyed, but if it's gonna shake most white Americans out of their happy fantasies about race in this country, then it's worth it.

ETA: I often wish that people who express those "concerns" would just flat-out say that destruction of property concerns them more than the treatment of black people in America. It would save a lot of time for all involved.

Updated On: 12/8/14 at 02:28 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 2:40pm

It isn't just the American gay movement that got started in a riot--two, actually, if you count the demonstrations after Harvey Milk was killed--it was also the goddamn United States of America that got started in a series of riots by lawless hooligans, especially one on Boston Harbor that involved malicious destruction of property.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 2:40pm

Riots are as American as apple pie.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 3:02pm

Not all instances of police brutality are against non-white people. But we are kidding ourselves if we think race doesn't matter in police encounters and the use of excessive force. Nor is the racial disparity undermined by the fact that, for instance, some black police officers don't get it (or, in some instances, brutalize).




the shooting of Kajieme Powell

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 3:04pm

'It's like the gay people I see on Facebook who are so quick to condemn all the "rioting" in Ferguson'

I must have done a good job curating my gays on FB because I've had none of that.

I'm a Pussy and would never throw a brick or a bottle. But you could be damn sure that I'd turn to Namo and say, 'Throw that brick/bottle!'

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 3:08pm

But you'd empty it first, amIright?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 3:08pm

And I would ask you, "You've never even thrown a bottle of nail polish at a TV screen?"

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 12/8/14 at 3:41pm

And I would ask you, "You've never even thrown a bottle of nail polish at a TV screen?"

LOVE IT Namo!
HA