Open Thread: The death of Michael Brown and the situation in #Ferguson

I’m not articulating this well. I guess I’m trying to say that it isn’t an either or thing. It can be everyone’s cause to get behind and should be. But that cause is still fighting racism specifically aimed at black communities.

1) The mention of that robbery was nothing if not bait for racists who have already convinced themselves the police are right. I don’t care what freedom of information questions some reporters have been asking; you don’t show that video while also saying that the guy in the video probably wasn’t Brown and the cop wasn’t targeting him :/.

2) How expertly the highway police handled today is all but proof that the police chief and at least a good chunk of the whole Ferguson force need to get their asses fired.

3) Why am I not surprised that anti-government Bundy supporters don’t seem to give a crap about this incident?

We don’t fucking shoot people for being thieves! Sorry, that video release was all kinds of irrelevant and fucked up. They’re trying to take the focus off the fact that they shot an unarmed person with his hands up, surrendering. Pandering to fucking racists.

Yes, I’m mad.

Relevant

@lkeke35

I have long argued that it’s an American issue.

Absolutely (well I’m Canadian, but what you say applies here as well). Which is not to say that we shouldn’t keep in the forefront just how skewed the violence is towards the Black and Latin@ communities. I’m South Asian myself, and I have so many South Asian friends and family that don’t understand why I’m “so upset” when situations like this happen. Firstly, I blow a long wet raspberry in the direction of this bullshit idea that there needs to be a limit to how much fucking compassion and empathy we feel towards others. But secondly, the reason we’re scared of the police is not just because of the harassment and violence we experience from them, which is a lot less than the black and latin@ communities, but also because the police, and society, use their violence against the black and latin@ communities as object lessons for other POCs, as well as other identities that rightfully fear the police. The reason we shut up and take the abuse is because we are shown that things can be worse for us, and unless we work to combat ALL police brutality (and racism in general), rather than just our corner, we will never feel safe because we will always live with the threat of what could happen to us should we fall out of favour.

Also, all the hugs and support are yours for the asking.

An interesting counterpoint to Palestinians tweeting the Ferguson protesters about how to deal with tear gas – Israel-trained police “occupy” Missouri after killing of black youth:

At least two of the four law enforcement agencies that were deployed in Ferguson up until Thursday evening — the St. Louis County Police Department and the St. Louis Police Department — received training from Israeli security forces in recent years.
[…]
Under the cover of counterterrorism training, nearly every major police agency in the United States has traveled to Israel for lessons in occupation enforcement, a phenomenon that journalist Max Blumenthal dubbed “the Israelification of America’s security apparatus.” Israeli forces and US police departments are so entrenched that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) has opened a branch in Tel Aviv.
[…]
Another is the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), a neoconservative think tank that claims to have hosted some 9,500 law enforcement officials in its Law Enforcement Exchange Program (LEEP) since 2004.

LEEP “takes delegations of senior law enforcement executives to Israel to study methods and observe techniques used in preventing and reacting to acts of terrorism” and “sponsors conferences within the United States, bringing Israeli experts before much larger groups of law enforcement leaders,” according to JINSA’s brochure.

Former St. Louis Police Department police chief Joseph Mokwa is listed as having traveled to Israel as part of a LEEP conference in February 2008.

So basically the US police is using army-level hardware, and counter-terrorism tactics, against domestic criminals and protesters, and being trained how to do so by Israelis.

We don’t fucking shoot people for being thieves!

He wasn’t shot for being a thief. The police stated that he wasn’t stopped in relation to the theft – they only dredged up this supposed link a few days after the event.

He was shot because he was a black teen who wasn’t respecting a white cop’s authoriTAH.

To clarify: it’s not that I disagree that it’s a Black problem or a feminist issue. I think what I meant to say is it’s an issue of everyone involved in it. The police and those White people who are supporting them, it’s a problem they’re helping to cause. Black people aren’t doing it all by themselves and can’t solve it all by ourselves either.

Also: it’s just looking at the situation from a different angle. Its a “boots on the ground immediacy” vs. an aerial view. My way of looking at things like this is to take an aerial view. It doesn’t deligitimize your POV. Our destination is the ultimately the same.

I have nothing to add to the discussion – just fuck, fuck all of this. Jesus. I don’t have words.

@Tracy:

I have nothing to add to the discussion – just fuck, fuck all of this. Jesus. I don’t have words.

This. Oh, and all the NOPE times infinity to condolences for the killer from POTUS. Plus, all the legos in the COMBAT boots of the jacked-up pseudo military police forces.

I don’t have much to add, I can’t believe the governor declared a state of emergency. Is he trying to make things worse?

I do think racism is everyone’s problem. While negative impacts of racism affect certain races more than others by definition, the race or races most negatively impacted didn’t cause this problem and therefore can’t fix it alone. We all need to stand together and say human beings should be treated as humans.

Police using teargas on the crowds in Ferguson now…

On a slightly more positive note, Toronto showing solidarity. Unfortunately I didn’t know about this in advance