The President Calls For Calm In Ferguson Missouri

[SIZE=11pt]At 17 and a senior in high school all I could do was go to McDonald’s and order a Big Mac[/SIZE]


[SIZE=11pt]Hotwater[/SIZE]

 

Interesting report:

[SIZE=11pt]Early this year, before the summer weather in Ferguson, Missouri, turned to a fog of tear gas and a hail of rubber bullets, a legal aid firm prepared a white paper that accused several municipalities in St. Louis County of stopping black drivers disproportionately for traffic violations, fining them in court sessions that were closed to the public, and jailing them when they were unable to pay.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Singled out as “chronic offenders” were three towns in the northern part of the county: Florissant, Bel-Ridge, and Ferguson.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]The untitled paper was awaiting finishing touches, when Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, was shot dead by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police Officer Bloomberg Business week reported.[/SIZE]

Who’s to blame in the confrontation that led to Brown’s death has yet to be sorted out. But the report is the clearest evidence to date that Ferguson’s justice system was discriminatory in practice, if not intent, long before the police force’s heavy-handed response to the riots that followed the fatal shooting.


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Many conflicting reports.

http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/local/2014/08/21/ferguson-protests-arrests-locations/14416779/

 

Now, the President is calling for a study of military weapons and equipment in the hands of civilian law enforcement. Hopefully, some new federal restrictions and regulations will come out of this. That stuff was intended to be used on terrorists, not on protesters and minority groups. The police need to be put on a shorter leash.

 

August 20, 2014 - By Sharda Sekaran

The dramatic uprising in Ferguson, MO following the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, at the hands of a white police officer has become an international news story. As in the case of Trayvon Martin’s murder in Florida by a paranoid neighborhood watch volunteer in 2012, racism has been at the forefront of the discussion and so too inevitably has been the drug war.

The images of a militarized police force in Ferguson are shocking and disturbing but, as John Oliver brilliantly points out on his comedy/news show, many police forces around the country have gotten beefed up into veritable local armies with expensive battle equipment supplied in the name of the drug war. The show includes an excerpt with The Washington Post’s Radley Balko, who has long documented police excess under drug war militarization.

Aggressively punitive and extreme drug policies are steeped in racism. Inherent in the response to drug law enforcement is a biased approach and stark double standards in the perceived threat of drug use by marginalized people. Unfair targeting and racial profiling have had a profound impact on how young black men in the U.S. are viewed and their lives valued.

From clothing to intoxicants, what is normal and innocuous in another context becomes sinister when associated with black people. Marijuana use has become increasingly normalized, so much so that the majority of Americans think the plant should be made legal and Washington and Colorado have become the first states to put this into practice.

Television shows joke about weed, our country’s president was once a marijuana enthusiast, and an entire industry is emerging around recreational marijuana. By contrast, for both Trayvon and Michael Brown, evidence of marijuana use in their toxicology reports was presented to news media to discredit their character in the wake of their murders. In fact, there is a long record of black murder victims being publicly smeared over marijuana.

Bringing up marijuana use in the context of the murder of these two young men is a blatant double standard and it is racist. What is happening in Ferguson, MO today has racism and the drug war written all over it.

Frank conversations about race at the national level are long overdue, and may be the only good things to come from these tragic situations. The drug war is a failed social experiment that leads to the disproportionate targeting, arrest, conviction and incarceration of people of color, despite overall equal rates of drug consumption for all people.

The drug war fuels the underlying thread of judgment, stigma and marginalization that permeates how we value human life and it enables acts of violence.

Sharda Sekaran is the managing director of communications for the Drug Policy Alliance.

http://www.drugpolicy.org/blog/michael-brown-trayvon-martin-racism-fueled-drug-war

 

I don't see the police state reversing course at this point. He can call for a study all he wants, but unfortunately it doesn't mean things will change. I see things getting worse with time with regard to the police, especially when I see an increase in civil unrest in the years to come.

 

Stuff was intended for maximum personal advantage against any perceived enemy. Not just terrorists. that is why it seems reasonable to arm yourself with increasing firepower. Starts an arms race.

 

Exactly. The "terrorists" are the people of this country -- not al Qaeda or ISIS, though that is the excuse they give us so we accept it.

 

To all you prosecutors of war it works better in the long term as well as the short to suggest we say no for a variety of substantial reasons than to say no you can't because I said so.

 

Yeah but did you see how they handled that a few years ago, with S.1867? And then they reinforced it using Brandon Raub. S.1867 was the response to civil unrest / uprising. It was effective. Since then, we see more militant police and SWAT in Ferguson. I agree, won't reverse course.

 

Pretty much. It's not like there will be a study and then the cops will just give u;p all their toys. Even if it was decided that they may no longer get that kind equipment....they already have plenty of it.

 

Ahh yes, The 'big black' gun of death, The AR! At first only state, Fed and military and now he is splitting hairs, LMFAO is this POS for real? A 'study' as mentioned that will end up in a long drawn out waste of cash again, Or a study to find they do 'need' these to combat the AK's the criminals have.
Do they need full auto ones, No! IMO in a small setting, The trigger happy cops will spray the neighborhood! That and the fact, I understand having a hundred swat show up, But do ALL of them need to be in 'fire ready stance' at all times is my question. With the slings and the way you hold them, No reason to aim at a crowd unless you SEE gun fire or a weapon and you 'need' to reach that area.

After all, The shooting that took the life of the thread in question, Was not a AR, But a regular sidearm that millions carry everyday! There would be no 'study' if it were not for the dumbass out of line steve wilkcos looking motherfucker. He just want to kill somebody, Glad he didn't get the chance with it coming close a few times.
He needs some sensitivity training and a straight jacket for a bit IMO, Or a career change! Look out paul blart!

 

institutionalized irresponsibility, cannot be excused by possibly erratic behavior on the part of one of its victims.

the action of one man alone in a stressful situation, if it even actually happened is one thing, but the follow on behavior of the department and even the city; that defies any sense of anything.

 

Happy to see that a NYC protest march concerning the police arrest death of Eric Garner came off peacefully.

The march was led by Rev. Al Sharpton and included fmr. Gov. David Patterson and Educrats Mike Mullgrew and Randi Weingarten, also fmr. OTB head: Hazel Dukes.

Yes this is off topic of Ferguson. but as good news deserves to be posted.

 

I was reminded of a swat vehicle that was 'donated' to a small community northwest of here. LOL, a quick search and lo and behold there's an new artical today on the subject in the local beacon!




Law Enforcement’s Use of Military Equipment Scrutinized After Ferguson Protests Critics say Department of Defense 1033 program ‘militarizes’ the police, but local sheriff says equipment essential
http://flatheadbeacon.com/2014/08/25/law-enforcements-use-military-equipment-scrutinized-ferguson-protests/

 

I have a strong feeling that we're about to see some detailed federal limitations on how that equipment can be used, maybe in the form of an executive order from the President. Opinion polls show that the public demands action. It's not really a partisan issue.

 

It really shouldn't be a partisan issue. We should all be able to come together on this topic. When the police work for us, are paid by us and then become a military force ready for war.....who are they going to war with? They aren't being deployed anywhere except for to go to war against.....us. I'm not a Rand Paul supporter but I'll give him credit when he basically said "The fed gave $8 million to Fargo, ND to combat "terrorism". If the terrorists get to Fargo, we should just surrender!" No fucking shit!

 

Don't worry about going off-topic because this issue is wide ranging;

The number of unarmed black men killed by white police officers in the past month;

Apart from Brown, they include Eric Garner, the NYPD chokehold victim who died while police attempted to arrest him for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes; John Crawford, a 22-year-old gunned down by police in a Walmart while holding a BB gun he'd picked up off the shelf; Ezell Ford, a 25-year-old allegedly shot in the back by police during an "investigative stop"; and Dante Parker, a 36-year-old who died in police custody after being tased while resisting arrest.



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May they RIP

 

It shouldn't be much of a racial issue either. The police are not exactly giving white people the red carpet treatment these days. Those fuckers don't like anybody.

During the old days of the original Civil Rights movement, there seemed to be a consensus among black Americans that the views and attitudes of the police represented those of mainstream white America. I hope everybody understands today that the police are completely doing their own thing.

Every little hole in the wall village in NC is required to have a terrorism plan. Places that nobody in the Middle East will ever know about or care about. Huge waste of money.

If we bring about some changes, then they didn't die for nothing. This is the time to act.