Realistically, what would be the situation for cops who want no part of what's happening?
it seems like this would be really hard to answer considering how extreme the actions of the Ferguson PD have been
but the first thing that occurs to me is they could join the protestors? or just stay home?
See that's what my first thought was too, but it's saddening to think what the repercussions for making any sort of stand would be for the few that hopefully do.
Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
edited August 2014
One of thee worst things about all this is the language being used. Police are "responding" to "rioters" and "violent protests" and it's all very distressing, y'all
I've actually heard some of the Cliven Bundy supporter militias have said they are going to Ferguson to help the citizens/protestors
whatever that means
I hope they do it peacefully. The worst thing would be for the protestors to fire back, that will give the cops the excuse they want to just open right up on them.
The absolute worst fucking thing that could happen right now is a bunch of people showing up on the protesters' side with guns spouting that inflammatory anarchistic shit. Go away militias.
You know, by the point that they used tear gas on a state senator you'd think maybe the Ferguson PD might try to deescalate their response, but nope!
I'm really hoping that particular point will result in significant official action being taken against the Ferguson police department by the time this situation is resolved.
It would obviously be a lot better to not need a state senator to be attacked before any higher power comes down on the police, but this is a world that thinks it's better to slap on the wrist and forget than to actually do something when an outrage like this happens.
Goddammit I was making up an OP. What the hell, here it is.
Here's what we know.
Ferguson, MO, is a suburb of St. Louis, with a population of around 21,000 people, almost 2/3rds black, a racial remnant of white flight. A largely poor town, the median household income is $37,500, just over the poverty level. Despite the majority of the population being black, the town has a white mayor, a white city council, and of the 53 police officers, only 3 are black.
(source)
On Saturday, the ninth of August, Michael Brown, an 18 year old, unarmed, black male, was walking in the street around 2:15 PM, going home with a friend named Dorian Johnson. A police officer showed up, ordered the two individuals onto the sidewalk, and now Michael Brown is dead, having been shot several times, and left dead in the street for upwards of four hours.
How that happened is less clear.
According to the officer, after he ordered the two onto the sidewalk, he tried to exit his vehicle, Brown pushed him back into the car, a struggle for the officer's gun ensued, a shot was fired inside the vehicle, and then Brown ran for it. The officer opened fire, killing Brown.
According to Johnson, and other witnesses at the scene, the officer pulled up so close to Brown and Johnson that when the officer tried to exit the vehicle, the door struck Brown and Johnson, and bounced back onto the officer. The officer then reached out the vehicle, grabbing Brown by the throat. Brown tried to pull away, the officer threatened to shoot, and then did, killing Brown.
(source)
Since then, the town has descended into chaos, the culmination of decades of racism, white flight, poverty, and the militarization of police, making it incredibly hard to figure out what, exactly, is happening. The police refuse to name the officer who killed Brown, citing death threats. The town itself is struggling to get information out, as the ever-popular group of fucksticks known as Anonymous have been attacking the government's internet services and are trying their hardest to doxx everyone involved. Coupled with the obvious increase in national interest, the government's internet services, including email, are basically done.
What we know for sure is that there are widespread protests throughout town. Some of them have turned violent, but how many is hard to say. The police have been extremely heavy handed, but how heavy handed is much, much easier to figure out. They have tried to order away the media, citing safety concerns. They have been using tear gas on protestors. Tonight there are reports across Twitter of flashbangs, and use of high-tech noise devices designed to disperse crowds. Earlier today the police raided a McDonalds, arresting two reporters. The reporters, working for the Huffington Post and Washington Posts, released this story of the arrest:
The reporters were released without charge a short time later.
So, in short, it is a horrible mess, even just on the surface. But underneath, for those folks who don't live in America or have been too horrified to read a lot about this, it is far, far worse.
In Ohio, police killed 22-year old John Crawford for walking around a Wal-Mart with the empty BB-gun he was about to buy. The police department chief said, "The officers gave verbal commands to the subject to drop the weapon. The subject … was shot after failing to comply with the officers’ commands. The quick response of officers was instrumental in containing this situation and minimizing the risk to customers.” I will point out again, that the risk was from a BB-gun. An air-rifle.
Crawford was black.
Then we move to Aurora, Colorado, the town you may know best as where 12 people were murdered, and 70 more injured, during a screening of the Dark Knight Rises. In Aurora, an 18 year old was opening carrying around a shotgun, claiming to be on a quest to make people "more comfortable" around guns. After several people called 911, the police arrived, and demanded ID, a demand that was refused. Despite the obvious public unease, and open refusal to cooperate with police, the young man was given a citation for misdemeanor obstruction.
This young man was white.
Coupled with the increased militarization of the police force, centuries of narratives about "violent black men" and the subtle way that any grouping of black people angry at their mistreatment has become a "riot", it is incredibly hard to pick out the signal from the noise here. That Brown lay in the street for so long after being killed has been a point of hard, hard anger from many black people, stirring up pain from when lynching victims were left to hang for hours, a warning to other black people, and an attraction to white people. You'll note that the story above from the two reporters arrested involved police continuing a long, national tradtion issuing inherently contradictory orders to generate cause to arrest otherwise innocent people, particularly in cases involving minorities.
Because of this, I have tried to include sources where I can, it'd be nice if everyone tried the same, please.
naw, man, I'll be fine, I wasn't trying to imply I'm actually in the shit, believe me
it's just this whole thing is a little surreal, in addition to being aggravating and sad
I know that feel. There's a town 20 minutes away with a police force who have pulled over friends of mine, 3 times in the same day. We try to stay the heck out of there, as the police are terrible, and you just hear the worst from there.
0
MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
It would surprise me if absolutely nobody lost their job as a result of this. It would also surprise me if a significant number of people lost their jobs as a result of this.
“We was just talking. He said he was at the video games playing videos and he went over there by the toy section where the toy guns were. And the next thing I know, he said ‘It’s not real,’ and the police start shooting and they said ‘Get on the ground,’ but he was already on the ground because they had shot him,”
It would surprise me if absolutely nobody lost their job as a result of this. It would also surprise me if a significant number of people lost their jobs as a result of this.
the name of the game is token punishments until media attention has mostly dissipated
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That armored convoy thing is owned by a police force of fifty-three.
FIFTY-THREE.
Before I started really looking up links for that summary, I was sure it had to be in the hundreds. Now I'm rather deeply terrified of what the armories of large police forces look like.
EDIT: I just noticed that police from surrounding areas have been called in. So that might just be up the road. Again, hard to tell which department actually owns it because transparency is for everyone else.
And now we can see that the Supreme Court was right to announce we no longer need parts of the Voting Rights Act as racism is over.
And to make this less snarky, I can usually only get through half of an article that's posted in threads like this before my I get fed up with how awful cops are to minorities.
The whole time this has been going on I'm hoping desperately that more people are as outraged as the rest of us than not. I'm going to lose a lot of faith in my fellow Americans if something this heinous gets swept up and forgotten about in a couple weeks instead of turning into a pivotal chapter in the national conscience.
The whole time this has been going on I'm hoping desperately that more people are as outraged as the rest of us than not. I'm going to lose a lot of faith in my fellow Americans if something this heinous gets swept up and forgotten about in a couple weeks instead of turning into a pivotal chapter in the national conscience.
No lie, if it weren't for this thread, I wouldn't have heard about any of this
Another thing that was brought up in the D&D thread about the two reporters being arrested is that the cops didn't have their names or badge numbers displayed so the reporters had no clue who was responsible for arresting them.
I work at a grocery store and I get yelled at when I don't have my name badge on there and I don't do anything as serious as a cop does.
I'm glad it's a small town. That police force can't do too much, unless they have a really messed up budget.
Budget doesn't matter. As a result of the War on Drugs, buoyed by the War on Terror, police have access to surplus military gear, free of charge in many cases.
Faced with a bloated military and what it perceived as a worsening drug crisis, the 101st Congress in 1990 enacted the National Defense Authorization Act. Section 1208 of the NDAA allowed the Secretary of Defense to “transfer to Federal and State agencies personal property of the Department of Defense, including small arms and ammunition, that the Secretary determines is— (A) suitable for use by such agencies in counter-drug activities; and (B) excess to the needs of the Department of Defense.” It was called the 1208 Program. In 1996, Congress replaced Section 1208 with Section 1033.
ceresWhen the last moon is cast over the last star of morningAnd the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderatormod
apologies for being a little selfish but this whole thing has been kind of extra crazy for me because I live about twenty minutes from ferguson
usually when you see this shit in the news or on social media there's a bit of a disconnect because it's somewhere far away and happening to people you don't know
but right now the world is watching a really fucked up thing happen and continue to happen and it's like... right over there
This is how I felt with the Cliven Bundy mess, as I live quite close to there.
And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
Posts
And tear-gassed a senator
Steam
they should have taken notes from the Oakland PD
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it's just this whole thing is a little surreal, in addition to being aggravating and sad
See that's what my first thought was too, but it's saddening to think what the repercussions for making any sort of stand would be for the few that hopefully do.
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I just did a Google search and there's a bunch of blog posts from the fringe sector talking about a militia having "boots on the ground"
makes me wonder what they're doing there, exactly, because I'm not seeing anybody else talking about them
I hope they do it peacefully. The worst thing would be for the protestors to fire back, that will give the cops the excuse they want to just open right up on them.
I'm really hoping that particular point will result in significant official action being taken against the Ferguson police department by the time this situation is resolved.
It would obviously be a lot better to not need a state senator to be attacked before any higher power comes down on the police, but this is a world that thinks it's better to slap on the wrist and forget than to actually do something when an outrage like this happens.
3DS: 0232-8293-7683
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Paid leave pending an investigation
No wrongdoing
Here's what we know.
Ferguson, MO, is a suburb of St. Louis, with a population of around 21,000 people, almost 2/3rds black, a racial remnant of white flight. A largely poor town, the median household income is $37,500, just over the poverty level. Despite the majority of the population being black, the town has a white mayor, a white city council, and of the 53 police officers, only 3 are black.
(source)
On Saturday, the ninth of August, Michael Brown, an 18 year old, unarmed, black male, was walking in the street around 2:15 PM, going home with a friend named Dorian Johnson. A police officer showed up, ordered the two individuals onto the sidewalk, and now Michael Brown is dead, having been shot several times, and left dead in the street for upwards of four hours.
How that happened is less clear.
According to the officer, after he ordered the two onto the sidewalk, he tried to exit his vehicle, Brown pushed him back into the car, a struggle for the officer's gun ensued, a shot was fired inside the vehicle, and then Brown ran for it. The officer opened fire, killing Brown.
According to Johnson, and other witnesses at the scene, the officer pulled up so close to Brown and Johnson that when the officer tried to exit the vehicle, the door struck Brown and Johnson, and bounced back onto the officer. The officer then reached out the vehicle, grabbing Brown by the throat. Brown tried to pull away, the officer threatened to shoot, and then did, killing Brown.
(source)
Since then, the town has descended into chaos, the culmination of decades of racism, white flight, poverty, and the militarization of police, making it incredibly hard to figure out what, exactly, is happening. The police refuse to name the officer who killed Brown, citing death threats. The town itself is struggling to get information out, as the ever-popular group of fucksticks known as Anonymous have been attacking the government's internet services and are trying their hardest to doxx everyone involved. Coupled with the obvious increase in national interest, the government's internet services, including email, are basically done.
What we know for sure is that there are widespread protests throughout town. Some of them have turned violent, but how many is hard to say. The police have been extremely heavy handed, but how heavy handed is much, much easier to figure out. They have tried to order away the media, citing safety concerns. They have been using tear gas on protestors. Tonight there are reports across Twitter of flashbangs, and use of high-tech noise devices designed to disperse crowds. Earlier today the police raided a McDonalds, arresting two reporters. The reporters, working for the Huffington Post and Washington Posts, released this story of the arrest:
The reporters were released without charge a short time later.
So, in short, it is a horrible mess, even just on the surface. But underneath, for those folks who don't live in America or have been too horrified to read a lot about this, it is far, far worse.
Michael Brown isn't just a man who was shot by police. He was the fourth unarmed black man killed by police this month. Yes. Just this month.
In Ohio, police killed 22-year old John Crawford for walking around a Wal-Mart with the empty BB-gun he was about to buy. The police department chief said, "The officers gave verbal commands to the subject to drop the weapon. The subject … was shot after failing to comply with the officers’ commands. The quick response of officers was instrumental in containing this situation and minimizing the risk to customers.” I will point out again, that the risk was from a BB-gun. An air-rifle.
Crawford was black.
Then we move to Aurora, Colorado, the town you may know best as where 12 people were murdered, and 70 more injured, during a screening of the Dark Knight Rises. In Aurora, an 18 year old was opening carrying around a shotgun, claiming to be on a quest to make people "more comfortable" around guns. After several people called 911, the police arrived, and demanded ID, a demand that was refused. Despite the obvious public unease, and open refusal to cooperate with police, the young man was given a citation for misdemeanor obstruction.
This young man was white.
Coupled with the increased militarization of the police force, centuries of narratives about "violent black men" and the subtle way that any grouping of black people angry at their mistreatment has become a "riot", it is incredibly hard to pick out the signal from the noise here. That Brown lay in the street for so long after being killed has been a point of hard, hard anger from many black people, stirring up pain from when lynching victims were left to hang for hours, a warning to other black people, and an attraction to white people. You'll note that the story above from the two reporters arrested involved police continuing a long, national tradtion issuing inherently contradictory orders to generate cause to arrest otherwise innocent people, particularly in cases involving minorities.
Because of this, I have tried to include sources where I can, it'd be nice if everyone tried the same, please.
This is really bad
that's my bet as well
but I meant that I hope these officers are ordered to stand down as soon as fucking possible
and, if necessary, replaced with people who will actually help mediate the situation
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Don't worry, the police will investigate and find out they actually did nothing wrong.
I know that feel. There's a town 20 minutes away with a police force who have pulled over friends of mine, 3 times in the same day. We try to stay the heck out of there, as the police are terrible, and you just hear the worst from there.
Yeah I remember the last time that happened. That turned out well for everybody involved.
And most of LA
http://new.livestream.com/accounts/9035483/events/3271930
Skip to the 9 minute mark to see a neighborhood turn into a warzone
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/08/07/black-man-gunned-down-by-police-in-walmart-while-shopping-for-air-gun/
Her account:
Steam
the name of the game is token punishments until media attention has mostly dissipated
Twitch (I stream most days of the week)
Twitter (mean leftist discourse)
That armored convoy thing is owned by a police force of fifty-three.
FIFTY-THREE.
Before I started really looking up links for that summary, I was sure it had to be in the hundreds. Now I'm rather deeply terrified of what the armories of large police forces look like.
EDIT: I just noticed that police from surrounding areas have been called in. So that might just be up the road. Again, hard to tell which department actually owns it because transparency is for everyone else.
And to make this less snarky, I can usually only get through half of an article that's posted in threads like this before my I get fed up with how awful cops are to minorities.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{Writing and Story Blog}
I still cannot believe this happened 4 or 5 months ago
Steam
No lie, if it weren't for this thread, I wouldn't have heard about any of this
I work at a grocery store and I get yelled at when I don't have my name badge on there and I don't do anything as serious as a cop does.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{Writing and Story Blog}
Budget doesn't matter. As a result of the War on Drugs, buoyed by the War on Terror, police have access to surplus military gear, free of charge in many cases.
That's "transfer", not "sell".
This is how I felt with the Cliven Bundy mess, as I live quite close to there.