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off topic open thread racism

No indictment: Open thread to discuss Ferguson

Not photoshopped. Police gather under holiday sign in Ferguson tonight.
Not photoshopped. Police gather under holiday sign in Ferguson tonight.

Open thread on Ferguson. No trolls, no MRAs, etc.

Post useful links in the comments; I’ll add some to the post.

EDIT: Links after the jump.

Protest planned in Toronto

Petitions:

https://www.change.org/p/robert-p-mcculloch-prosecute-officer-darren-wilson-for-the-unlawful-shooting-that-killed-18-year-old-michael-brown

http://iam.colorofchange.org/petitions/governor-nixon-remove-mcculloch-and-appoint-a-special-prosecutor-in-the-case-against-darren-wilson-1

Bail and legal fund for the protesters:

http://antistatestl.noblogs.org/post/2014/08/11/bail-and-legal-fund-for-those-arrested-during-ferguson-anti-police-demonstrations/

Articles on what’s going on:

http://journolist.tumblr.com/post/94563772619/michael-brown-remembered-as-a-gentle-giant-st

10 ways you can help the people of Ferguson:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/19/how-to-help-ferguson_n_5688541.html

Grand juries indict 99.99% of the time (literally)

Darren Wilson’s “injuries?”

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/11/the-photos-of-darren-wilsons-injury/383155/

Transcript: http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/11/24/darren-wilson-testimony-snippet.pdf

The full grand jury report: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2014/nov/25/darren-wilson-not-indicted-ferguson

Home-made tear gas mask tutorial: http://black-culture.tumblr.com/post/94529711883/hey-guys-i-need-your-help-spreading-this-on-social

Petition #HandsUp: We Demand National Change to Protect Citizens and Communities from Police Violence and Misconduct: https://www.change.org/p/president-barack-obama-we-demand-national-change-to-protect-citizens-and-communities-from-police-violence-and-misconduct

Donations to collaborate with the legal fund for the people arrested in protests in Ferguson: https://secure.piryx.com/donate/mS25KFCe/MORE/mikebrown

Edmonton protest:  http://allthecanadianpolitics.tumblr.com/post/103532910989/edmonton-protest-for-justice-for-mike-brown-and

A letter from the forensics office complaining that they had not been given adequate access to the crime scene evidence to make a ruling

Update on the situation in Ferguson: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/11/25/3596782/ferguson-the-morning-after/

THE NATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION RESPONDS TO THE GRAND JURY’S DECISION NOT TO INDICT POLICE OFFICER DARREN WILSON

http://gawker.com/the-shooting-in-darren-wilsons-words-michael-brown-loo-1663023343

http://www.salon.com/2014/11/25/i_am_utterly_undone_my_struggle_with_black_rage_and_fear_after_ferguson/

A list for donations you can give to Ferguson’s schools:

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/search.html?bigMap=true&nwLat=38.92064&nwLng=-90.75600&seLat=38.43068&seLng=-90.03502

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kirbywarp
kirbywarp
10 years ago

I’m left wondering why Conservative Girl started off with laments about MRAs and gamergate, then suddenly teleported to something on topic.

I’m appalled that every comment I’ve read here actually thinks that Micheal Brown is a victim.

Hot damn. “Appalled.” For thinking that an unarmed black kid that was executed could possibly be a victim.

Later folks. You can burn this place down too. I won’t be around reading this tripe anymore.

Annnndd here we have it folks. Reference to the riots in Ferguson. Well done, well done. Now please; fuck right the hell off. May a lego brick find it’s way under your foot once a week for the remainder of your days.

grumpyoldnurse
grumpyoldnurse
10 years ago

Yeah, why post just to flounce? And start the list of complaints off with something unrelated to the topic at hand? Sad trolling.

Buttercup Q. Skullpants
Buttercup Q. Skullpants
10 years ago

I won’t be around reading this tripe anymore.

You’ve been hate-reading this blog for all of five minutes and now you’re flouncing? What took you so long?

Let me guess: first-time caller, longtime asshole.

Falconer
Falconer
10 years ago

@freemage:

Oh, and since we know your sort to be narcissistic enough to rarely stick the flounce, even when it’s your first post, nice lie in there

To be fair, Conservative Girl’s posted on this site before. The earliest comment from her I could find with a quick Google was back in July. It’s just, even I have posted more frequently than she has.

Keeping that in mind, Ms. Girl, I don’t think we will particularly miss you. Buh-bye.

weirwoodtreehugger
weirwoodtreehugger
10 years ago

Conservative girl,
We do intersectional feminism here. Our focus may be misogyny but we oppose racism too. That means the racism in the US criminal justice system is a topic that’s very much up for discussion. If you don’t like that, this isn’t the place for you. Why losing your exalted presence means we’re burning the place down, I don’t know.

weirwoodtreehugger
weirwoodtreehugger
10 years ago

Ok. Now on to what I came here to say before I got distracted by the flouncing.

It has come out that prosecutor McCulloch was vice president of the company making the “I Support Darren Wilson” tee shirts. http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/43839_Is_St._Louis_County_Prosecutor_Robert_McCulloch_Helping_Raise_Money_for_Ofc._Darren_Wilson

This makes me sick. First all the familial connections with police and now this? There’s a clear conflict of interest here. McCulloch never should have taken this case. There needs to be a campaign to pressure governor Nixon to appoint a special prosecutor. One with no conflicts of interest and form another grand jury. Assuming it’s within the law to do so. As far as I know double jeopardy doesn’t apply because he wasn’t tried and acquitted.

leftwingfox
leftwingfox
10 years ago

Oh, I remember reading her here. “We conservatives can be feminists too.” Uh huh.

Conservatism: Caring for people makes us Nazis. The state’s rightful role is summarily executing people.

This is heartbreaking. I wish I could make it to the Toronto protests.

Falconer
Falconer
10 years ago

@WWTH: That’s what I’ve been hearing, that double jeopardy doesn’t apply.

That tidbit about McCulloch and the shirts is just so maddening.

freemage
freemage
10 years ago

Falconer: Thanks for the correction. I concede the error, which I can only attribute to her scant posts being so astoundingly vapid and unoriginal that they faded to background noise immediately.

And holy fuckballs, WWTH. That, alone, should get the guy disbarred.

Buttercup Q. Skullpants
Buttercup Q. Skullpants
10 years ago

I also take back my earlier assumption that Conservative Girl was a drive-by troll…but it’s still obnoxious to abruptly delurk, denounce everything as tripe, and suggest we burn the place down, in light of what’s happening in Ferguson right now.

That’s really slimy about the t-shirts. It feels like the whole thing was rigged from the start, like the prosecutor wanted to pass the buck so the grand jury could take the blame for not indicting. It’s so infuriating that less-informed people (*cough*foxnewswatchers*cough*) have been confused into thinking that Darren Wilson was “tried” and found “innocent”.

I wonder if the feds can step in and indict for civil rights violations, a la Rodney King?

sorceressensorcelled
sorceressensorcelled
10 years ago

Fuck Conservative Girl for thinking that someone who was MURDERED is not a victim. You need to swim in a pool full of legos.

I wish I could join the protests too, leftwingfox, they need all the support they can get, with people like Conservative Girl floating around.

Shaun DarthBatman Day
Shaun DarthBatman Day
10 years ago

“Neither should we any longer submit to the disciplinary impulses of the “rule of law.” The rule of law wants to beat into us, through ‘discipline,’ the belief that we –Black people — would be animals but for its chastening rod of correction. The law stepped to a podium yesterday, under cover of night, to tell us that it reserves the right to slaughter Black men with impunity, that it seeks to coerce through threat of force, our permission to do so.

To ask us to be “dignified and disciplined,” to ask us to “respect the rule of law” in the face of such a mockery of justice is to ask us to affirm the path to our own destruction.”

http://www.salon.com/2014/11/25/i_am_utterly_undone_my_struggle_with_black_rage_and_fear_after_ferguson/

freemage
freemage
10 years ago

Okay, I read the links a bit more carefully. It’s still crooked as hell, but not quite what you posted, WWTH. Here’s the scoop:

Some unnamed group or individual put up a teespring.com t-shirt with the “I Support Ofc. Wilson” logo. They then split the money raised from the sales between the now-defunct gofundme for Wilson’s defense, and a not-for-profit organization called BackStoppers, which is geared towards helping the families of first responders. McCulloch is president of that organization.

So there’s no direct evidence that he helped create or market the T-Shirt; however, the organization he heads was receiving funds directly from folks associated with the defense. That’s grounds for immediate recusal (alternately, he could have urged Backstoppers to reject the donations). So he didn’t raise money for the defense; he just took a bribe.

Fuck this fucking country….

M. Tremblay
M. Tremblay
10 years ago

So wait, these are the injuries which justified the use of lethal force?!?

Is it okay if I say I’ve done sex acts which left more marks than what Darren Wilson “suffered”? Because I’ve done sex acts which left more marks than what Darren Wilson “suffered”…

Puddleglum
Puddleglum
10 years ago

I remember conservative girl. I think she only liked the stuff that actually affect her, personally. Everything else, not interested in. Ugh. No fucking loss there.

Falconer
Falconer
10 years ago

I remember conservative girl.

Lemme tell ya, I’m just plum tore up about it.

You can tell I’m sincere ’cause I’ve gone all folksy.

booburry
booburry
10 years ago

I have no ability to form cogent thoughts about this clusterfuck shameful shit show, but Jonathan Mann has a song about it for his song of the day so I’ll just drop that if anyone is interested.

(So help me Youtube, if you post some random playlist and not the actual video…)

Also, hugs and happy cat vibes for anyone that needs them.

skiriki
skiriki
10 years ago

I’m absolutely appalled by this, even if I live far, far, far away 🙁

By the way, if people want to try and make a little difference in lives of kids (besides doing that civic thing and trying to kick politicians to stop dismantling school system funding), here’s a list for donations you can give to Ferguson’s schools:

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/search.html?bigMap=true&nwLat=38.92064&nwLng=-90.75600&seLat=38.43068&seLng=-90.03502

The scientific calculator drive just wrapped up, but if you got couple of bucks sloshing about and can put it in, every little bit helps.

M. the Social Justice Ranger
M. the Social Justice Ranger
10 years ago

Darren Wilson’s wife as of Oct 24 is a St Louis PD officer with alleged links to KKK.

Even better – if Anonymous is right, Wilson himself is a KKK member.

So he didn’t raise money for the defense; he just took a bribe.

That’s… Actually worse. Ugh.

I wish I could say that I was surprised by any of this. The lack of an indictment, the KKK ties, the police and prosecutorial corruption, the brutality against peaceful protests… But I’m not. It’s fucking sick, it’s depressing as hell, but it’s not surprising. I love America, but there are three things it’ll never get right – health care, race relations and the definition of what the police should be – and this is going to keep happening for as long as those last two keep intersecting.

Also, I’ve summoned the mods to deal with the threadshitter.

David Futrelle
Author
David Futrelle
10 years ago

I added a bunch of the links you all ahve been posting to the post.

Also put Conservative Girl in moderation.

freemage
freemage
10 years ago

M. the Social Justice Ranger | November 25, 2014 at 1:34 pm

So he didn’t raise money for the defense; he just took a bribe.

That’s… Actually worse. Ugh.

I assure you, I wasn’t trying to claim it was ‘better’. Merely different than what was posted originally. I find that, in the long run, it’s better to stick to the accusations you can demonstrate–the enemies of social justice are usually horrid enough people that those should be sufficient, in any case (and if they aren’t, an inaccurate claim isn’t gonna get any headwind either).

brooked
brooked
10 years ago

Also put Conservative Girl in moderation

I just hopped on and was shocked, so very shocked, to see that someone with a handle like “Conservative Girl” shat all over an online discussion about Ferguson. What a rare occurrence that is these days.

ikanreed
ikanreed
10 years ago

You know, I’m going to take a different tack here.

Being conservative doesn’t preclude you from being a decent feminist. The specific shit she said, on the other hand, is pretty egregious.

ParadoxicalIntention
ParadoxicalIntention
10 years ago

THIS JUST IN:

http://us7.campaign-archive1.com/?u=b493e6c4d31beda32fdaf8e2d&id=73514e334b

WASHINGTON, DC – The National Bar Association is questioning how the Grand Jury, considering the evidence before them, could reach the conclusion that Darren Wilson should not be indicted and tried for the shooting death of Michael Brown. National Bar Association President Pamela J. Meanes expresses her sincere disappointment with the outcome of the Grand Jury’s decision but has made it abundantly clear that the National Bar Association stands firm and will be calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to pursue federal charges against officer Darren Wilson. “We will not rest until Michael Brown and his family has justice” states Pamela Meanes, President of the National Bar Association.

Some good news, perhaps?

M. the Social Justice Ranger
M. the Social Justice Ranger
10 years ago

@freemage

Oh, no, I got what you meant, sorry. ^^;; I probably should have said “Even worse” rather than “Actually.” My bad; 6 am, anger, a migraine, no painkillers and no coffee don’t mix.

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