video of riots in Ferguson, yeah, this is real productive

[snooper2]

(click the bottom right full screen icon easier to close popups)

[CBGLuthier]

1. Some folks express outrage with internet rants and some folks don't

May not be productive but I bet it felt real good.

[Cigar11]

7. Well if they were White ...

They would be Carrying Guns

[rhett o rick]

18. Yes but they only carry their guns to impress each other. They talk big but in New Orleans

after Katrina, when the National Guard went door to door asking for everyone's guns, the gun owners cried like babies and couldn't wait to give up their precious guns. In Nevada at the Bundy fiasco, the tough gun totters said they would hid behind their wives and sisters if the Feds started shooting. People (men) that think it's necessary to strut around exposing how big their gun is, need help.

[hobbit709]

3. When the day comes that the oppressed have had enough, the results are not pretty.

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. The American Flag was out last night

[cwydro]

5. I call bs

This looting for the sake of looting.

Pathetic

[hobbit709]

6. Haven't studied history much have you?

[pintobean]

9. You're right.

None of those arrested for looting are from Ferguson. Thieves, arsonists and assholes from other areas jumped on the opportunities, loosely organized through social media. I doubt any of them care about Michael Brown at all.

[rhett o rick]

19. But of course they shouldn't act like that. How dare they. Give them some cake and send them

home. They should bow down and thank the overlords for letting them even live.

[Bragi]

8. Gosh, I wonder why there was looting?

It's not as though shooting unarmed black youths, militarized community policing and mass incarceration of African Americans are the highlights of the new Jim Crow America.

Not at all. This is just spontaneous, unexplained violence. What a mystery? Wonder why it happened?

[seveneyes]

10. Wonder why it happened?

To gain sympathy?

[rbrnmw]

11. they don't want sympathy, they want justice

[NM_Birder]

24. I understand the wanting justice, but

I've never been able to understand why trash and loot stores in the local community ?

So would it be fair and understandable if the guys that got their stores trashed, to go and trash someone else's store because they want justice ? I can understand trashing the cop car, station etc, but the local stores ? What the hell did the business owners do ?

[uppityperson]

32. "no injustice has been committed"? Are you serious?

[rbrnmw]

36. excuse me?

You are calling him a thug? That is so racist and is stereotyping because he is a black youth.

[arcane1]

45. Ever notice how those who consider themselves "superior" always engage in inferior behaviors?

I mean seriously, this troll signs up every time anything race-related comes up on DU. How sad is that? That's the best that the pinnacle of humanity can come up with? Desperate attempts to raise themselves by lowering others...

Master Race? More like Mastur Bation!

[rbrnmw]

47. this troll is like a bad penny it always comes back

[Quayblue]

37. I predict you aren't going to last too much longer on this board.

[rbrnmw]

39. enjoy your stay however long or short it is.

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. The police banned any community protests around the death of the young man.

They outlawed free speech and the right of peaceful assembly ( look that up in the constitution).

History shows us that [font style=color:#FF0000;]"the seed of revolution is repression".............Woodrow Wilson[/font]

[rhett o rick]

21. Ah yesss, the simple rationalization. If one sees their brothers and fathers murdered in cold blood

by the police, the very people that are supposed to protect the people, they should sit down and write up a petition or start an email campaign. I don't for a minute condone violence but I think I understand it. No offense intended but your knee-jerk response is more typical of a conservative.

[rbrnmw]

12. +1

[uponit7771]

14. +1

[redqueen]

17. +1

[Schema Thing]

34. go away

[Savannahmann]

13. Productive? Perhaps not.

But what has been productive? Unarmed people are killed by the police every week. What can be done to stop it? Especially unarmed blacks? They are being brutalized by the police all the time. They are being threatened, harassed, and tormented.

St. Louis police are not well known for being professional and honest.

The police threatened to plant evidence on a young black man unless he became an informant for them. Some choice, go to prison for a crime you did not commit, or run around and try to find names for the police. If you don't find the name because you just don't know, then prison is your destination.

Now, these cops were caught, but for everyone caught, there are dozens who are not. The corruption exists at all levels, the citizens just don't have a fair chance, the deck is stacked against them everywhere.

Broward county police were communicating secretly with the Judges in traffic court. The cops were cheating over traffic tickets? We're not talking finding murderers, rapists, or child molesters. They couldn't even play fair in traffic court. If the ability to cheat is tolerated in something as minor as a traffic offense, then what happens when they lie about something bigger? The answer is nothing.

True story. I have a friend who restored a 1980's AMG Mercedes. He drives it now and then, and gets pulled over all the time. That car is shining like a new penny, and a black man in a shiny classic Mercedes is apparently Probable Cause. I've seen him pulled over three times myself on the way to work. Of course the Police are not profiling. They are just pulling over random black men in expensive cars. He doesn't get tickets, he just gets searched by the cops. So far, they haven't planted evidence, but he's pretty much stopped driving that beautiful car because he knows eventually they will plant something.

Riots may not be productive. But objecting to the abuse isn't productive either. What do you suggest? Should the black community continue to allow themselves to be victimized? Should we keep reading stories and watching videos of black people beaten and murdered by the police? What do you suggest as something productive? Internal investigations go nowhere.

So what is productive?

[ljm2002]

15. It may not be productive...

...but it certainly was predictable.

I remember when the Rodney King verdict was announced. My friend and I looked at one another and pretty much in unison said "There's going to be riots". Sure enough. Same thing in Ferguson. What the hell do people think will happen when a population perceives (correctly) that they are being targeted by police and harassed and killed with impunity? When they know they cannot expect justice? Really, what the hell do people think will happen???

There is no need to try and justify these actions. There are always people who will rush in to exploit a situation for their own advantage, using it as an excuse to steal and/or destroy property. Sure, it does make it worse for them, since it allows the PTB and their useful idiots to go around saying "See! See what those animals are like!" and avoid the core issue that causes the riots in the first place.

Frustration, grim poverty, hopelessness, being targeted by the police -- these are the core issues that eventually boil over when an incident like the Ferguson shooting occurs.

[NutmegYankee]

16. Rage is rarely productive.

But I can understand why they are filled with rage and wanting to strike back at "the man". At some point a community just can't keep it within any more and when it gets released, it's something to behold. People complain that some are just taking money - perhaps they are bitter and striking against a commerce system that keeps them and their children in perpetual poverty? Maybe they feel they deserve to take some reparations for all of the shit they've have to endure for generations.

The only way it's going to end is to give them economic and social justice and true equality in our society.

[LanternWaste]

22. When change cannot be affected by the disenfranchised voice...

When change cannot be affected by the disenfranchised voice...

[sabrina 1]

23. What WOULD be productive?? How many murderous cops have been held accountable

for the killing or harrassment of African Americans over say, the past decade or so?

Frankly I feel like joining them. There was a time when I also thought it wasn't productive to respond to violence with violence, but now I'm not so sure anymore.

See OWS eg, peaceful, unarmed civilians against a military police force. Those odds were certainly not in favor of citizens who thought they had the right to protest legitimate grievances without being assaulted with military grade weapons and tanks and prison and near death.

So what would be productive, we would love to know.

[VanGoghRocks]

25. Somehow, I don't think you will get an answer to your question, but I think you

deserve an answer. I find myself unable to suggest what the residents of Ferguson (and St. Louis) should do, since my ass is not on the line. That is, it's easy to advocate 'violent revolution' when one's own life and limb are not at stake. But were I a person of color living there, I think I would have no choice but to join the resistance.

[sabrina 1]

42. Thank you. I am not living there either so am not saying people should put themselves on the line,

but we have been watching the violence against the African American community for so long, something like this happens, it's on the news for a while, then it goes away, cops are rarely held accountable, until the next time, which we all know is inevitable.

So being reasonable hasn't worked. I agree with you, if I was there, I would be with them at this point.

[VanGoghRocks]

46. Much as I like Al Sharpton - and he gave a killer speech yesterday, btw -- that's

what he and his leadership cohort don't seem to quite get: "Being reasonable hasn't worked."

[sabrina 1]

49. I didn't hear his speech, but he of all people should know that the only thing that EVER worked was

scaring the daylights out of the bigots and bullies by rising up en masse, taking to the streets, which he certainly did airc, and letting them know there would be consequences. One thing the NYPD came to fear more than anything else was for Al Sharpton to show up after an incident like this.

You cannot change haters. We all know this is going to happen again, the 'stop and frisk' bigotry will continue, people will complain, but nothing will happen until someone comes up with some better ideas than we have seen so far. PEOPLE are DYING. That SHOULD get the attention of our leaders, this one has, but it will soon be forgotten unless the people refuse to accept this horrendous police brutality any longer.

[VanGoghRocks]

51. I suck at digital media - just can't get the hang of it for some reason - but

this link from the St. Louis Post Dispatch has an embedded clip of it. Worth watching and considering.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/multimedia/videos/rev-al-sharpton-s-speech-at-old-courthouse/html_bcdb486f-f3d5-5bb1-8d44-2708e84c170f.html

But how really can one be 'reasonable' with mobile death squads?

[dixiegrrrrl]

26. Good news, Sabrina.....Anonymous is now involved!

[uppityperson]

29. great news, thanks

[sabrina 1]

43. That is good news, thanks.

[Savannahmann]

27. We are on the same page Sabrina.

My response above asked the same questions, and highlighted two cases where Blacks were mistreated by the police. Of course, nothing happened to the cops. In one case because the Judge refused to allow the video from the Police Transport to be used against the police.

[sabrina 1]

50. How do you change a whole culture of hate? Major city PDs seem to be riddled with people

who feel they have a right to KILL citizens, especially minorities. And the lack of accountability proves them right.

So, if those we entrust with our safety refuse to solve the problem, then something else will have to happen. Personally I would dismantle the LAPD, the NYPD among others and start all over again, with an actual CIVILIAN not MILITARIZED PD who actually are there to protect the people. I know it's a tough job, I know there ARE bad guys. But that too can be minimized by putting money into poor communities.

But this teenager was not a 'bad guy' as is so often the case with these killings.

I read that African American mothers in NYC advise their children to be cooperative WHEN they are stopped and harrassed by the police. Not IF they are stopped, but WHEN. That is unacceptable yet it continues.

[LexVegas]

28. Fuck the police.

[NightWatcher]

35. Their internet was down, else they would've signed an online petition.

The riots got your attention, hopefully they'll get the DoJ's attention and there will be a federal investigation of the police department too.

[mwrguy]

40. Cops will have to get their free coffee somewhere else

QT is not open for business at the moment.

[WillowTree]

54. And the owner(s) and employees of the QT will just have to get their incomes somewhere else, too.

[NaturalHigh]

55. Yes, the QT management is not going to rebuild there.

The QT headquarters is in Tulsa, and the company spokesman was on the news the day after that store was torched. He didn't come right out and say it, but it's pretty obvious the company is in no hurry to rebuild in that area.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

41. The police car in the YouTube still looks like a good start.

The pigs are out of control; why shouldn't the citizens be? If they don't want to give up the murderpig, maybe they should start to expect this sort of thing.

[kelliekat44]

56. I question the authenticity of the photo. Is that really Ferguson? nt

[pinboy3niner]

44. The Rude Pundit - It's a Family Tradition: The Looting, Rioting Founding Fathers

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025379130

[VanGoghRocks]

52. Looting is as American as Mom, baseball and apple pie :)

[Ex Lurker]

48. Mobs are not rational and take on a life of their own, often going in counterproductive directions

even if the original reason for the anger is justified.

[alcibiades_mystery]

53. When some people care as much about an innocent young man being gunned down

as they care about the inventory of the QT Mart, I'll take your OP seriously.