I just looked up the campaign contributions and election results for Ferguson. Most people ran unopposed. The contributions came from the candidates themselves and a bit from a local construction firm. This is explained by exactly what Lou said. A small number of affluent people who have the time to bother with local politics run the town with no opposition.
To kinda expand on something I said I twitter, I feel like at least part of this is the whole "I wanna show off my new thing" phenomenon. I'm honestly surprised it took this long for something of this scale to happen, considering how much ex-military stuff we've been given to local police departments since 9/11.
To kinda expand on something I said I twitter, I feel like at least part of this is the whole "I wanna show off my new thing" phenomenon. I'm honestly surprised it took this long for something of this scale to happen, considering how much ex-military stuff we've been given to local police departments since 9/11.
Even military veterans think this is bullshit, and even go on to say that the police in Ferguson apparently have more and better equipment than they had in active war zones while using crappier tactics and less strict rules of engagement:
Having lived around STL at a time, Ferguson wasn't even a name most people spoke of. It's just... some area of St Louis County to me.
Also fun random fact, up through high school I rarely if ever heard or saw any racism. It's only since going off to college and coming back that I've seen so much of it.
In the US if there was a 100% voter turn out, would there be more equality in these smaller tows (politically at least)?
Probably not, given how you typically need to be pretty affluent to get into politics to begin with. Even if there was 100% voter turn out, the residents of these towns will still probably have to choose between Old White Guy #1 and Old White Guy #2 on the ballot.
There was a saying a friend of mine had: in a third world country, you get into politics to make lots of money. In the United States, you make lots of money to get into politics.
So, there's evidence that Mike Brown violently robbed a store shortly before the police altercation. Details are spotty, but these photos have emerged:
Robbery:
Aftermath of the shooting:
Regardless of whether that justifies the results of the police altercation, this will kill a good deal of the public sympathy and interest if it's true.
So, look at this from the best case scenario on the police side. An officer attempted to make a solo arrest of a robbery suspect. He was in a situation where the suspect got close enough to reach for his gun. He shot the suspect enough times to be fatal. He did not call an EMT or get further officers to the body for hours at a time, and left the scene, allowing the body to be surrounded and observed by community members for what I've heard was about four hours.
In the best case scenario, he is a failure of a cop and should be disciplined, probably removed from his position (at least temporarily). In worst case, if any of these facts are wrong, the situation gets worse and worse.
The police, however, are framing it as though it fit the description, instigating the officer's interaction. They're painting a picture to justify their actions.
I've seen photos of the body. It's not clear he's wearing shoes. It looked like socks, and what appeared to be a sandal lying nearby.
Even if that is him in the photos, I think the situation has escalated where the protests are just as much about the police response to the protesters as it is about the original shooting incident.
I have friends I grew up with at places being "threatened" with being "looted" and people are leaving my town to go protest there. I kind of hate that as the narrative has become more cloudy, everyone seems to fall back harder on their preconceptions in both directions. What bugs me the most though is even though people know they are operating from less than full information, they then take their information and add misinformation to it that doesn't change the story at-all except to make it so someone can argue that you are lying about something. Cycle of stupidity propagates itself.
The autopsy showed that, contrary to eyewitness reports, he was not shot in the back. All six wounds were frontal.
It's basically all but confirmed that he was the one who robbed the store as well.
There is a an entirely plausible scenario that emerges:
1. Mike Brown robs the shop with his friend
2. Cop in the area encounters Mike Brown and his friend walking in the middle of the street, drives up to confront them.
3. Brown is on edge, believing the cop to be on to him and responding to the robbery.
4. Cop moves to exit car and cite Brown for jaywalking or whatever (he was reportedly unaware of the robbery at that moment).
5. Brown slams opening car door shut on cop, assaults him.
6. Cop fires gun once from within car; Brown flees. Cop pursues.
7. Brown turns around suddenly facing cop (and, according to the cop's story, charging him).
8. Cop reacts to this and fires 5-6 times, fatally wounding Brown.
The actual issues raised:
Racism in police interactions The cop may have been racist in his harassment of two black kids walking blocking the street. Would he have similarly harassed two white kids doing the same thing?
Use of deadly force by police In general, American cops kill a lot more people than other police forces around the world. Even if this shooting was, by current procedures and laws, completely justified, we should consider much wider uses of less-lethal technology. Mike Brown may well have been an aggressive little shit, but he should be in jail, not dead, for what he did.
Militarized local police The cops in Ferguson are amped-up heavily armed chucklefucks. Little towns shouldn't have that kind of equipment without real, actual training in its effective use (which includes knowing when it SHOULDN'T be used).
Cameras on police This is yet another case showing that EVERY SINGLE active duty police officer in the US should be equipped with a camera. If the shooting was justified, we would now have video evidence. The same is true if the cop just murdered that kid for no good reason. There is no excuse in the world for modern police to not have cameras on them.
Maybe they should ebay all that fucking military bullshit and use the money to buy dashcams and personal cameras...
Systemic racism Even if it turns out that this shooting was somehow 100% justified, there is obviously something wrong with our society if we're such a hair trigger away from persistent civil unrest. Perhaps a century of racism and marginalization has led us to this? What can we do to set these towns on an upward path?
Additional notes about the autopsy: Mike Brown was shot from the front, yes, but one shot enters at the skull and exits through the neck. Meaning Mike Brown must have been on the ground for these shots, as he is over 6 feet tall, taller than Darren Wilson. Meaning at least some shots were shot after he had fallen on the ground and/or surrendered. Source
Additional notes about the autopsy: Mike Brown was shot from the front, yes, but one shot enters at the skull and exits through the neck. Meaning Mike Brown must have been on the ground for these shots, as he is over 6 feet tall, taller than Darren Wilson. Meaning at least some shots were shot after he had fallen on the ground and/or surrendered. Source
I didn't read the whole thing, but you don't seem to be quoting it exactly, so I can't tell if this is just your armchair forensics or if that's actually something the examiner stated. If it is your own armchair analysis, I think you are making the assumption that the bullet continues to travel in a straight line after it makes contact with bone and muscle, which is usually not the case.
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Also, they fired tear gas at an Al Jazeera camera crew, then disassembled the camera equipment after the crew fled.
Just WTF?!
https://storify.com/AthertonKD/veterans-on-ferguson
Also fun random fact, up through high school I rarely if ever heard or saw any racism. It's only since going off to college and coming back that I've seen so much of it.
There was a saying a friend of mine had: in a third world country, you get into politics to make lots of money. In the United States, you make lots of money to get into politics.
Robbery:
Aftermath of the shooting:
Regardless of whether that justifies the results of the police altercation, this will kill a good deal of the public sympathy and interest if it's true.
In the best case scenario, he is a failure of a cop and should be disciplined, probably removed from his position (at least temporarily). In worst case, if any of these facts are wrong, the situation gets worse and worse.
I've seen photos of the body. It's not clear he's wearing shoes. It looked like socks, and what appeared to be a sandal lying nearby.
/Not linking to photos of the kid's body.
Also this:
It's basically all but confirmed that he was the one who robbed the store as well.
There is a an entirely plausible scenario that emerges:
1. Mike Brown robs the shop with his friend
2. Cop in the area encounters Mike Brown and his friend walking in the middle of the street, drives up to confront them.
3. Brown is on edge, believing the cop to be on to him and responding to the robbery.
4. Cop moves to exit car and cite Brown for jaywalking or whatever (he was reportedly unaware of the robbery at that moment).
5. Brown slams opening car door shut on cop, assaults him.
6. Cop fires gun once from within car; Brown flees. Cop pursues.
7. Brown turns around suddenly facing cop (and, according to the cop's story, charging him).
8. Cop reacts to this and fires 5-6 times, fatally wounding Brown.
The actual issues raised:
Racism in police interactions
The cop may have been racist in his harassment of two black kids walking blocking the street. Would he have similarly harassed two white kids doing the same thing?
Use of deadly force by police
In general, American cops kill a lot more people than other police forces around the world. Even if this shooting was, by current procedures and laws, completely justified, we should consider much wider uses of less-lethal technology. Mike Brown may well have been an aggressive little shit, but he should be in jail, not dead, for what he did.
Militarized local police
The cops in Ferguson are amped-up heavily armed chucklefucks. Little towns shouldn't have that kind of equipment without real, actual training in its effective use (which includes knowing when it SHOULDN'T be used).
Cameras on police
This is yet another case showing that EVERY SINGLE active duty police officer in the US should be equipped with a camera. If the shooting was justified, we would now have video evidence. The same is true if the cop just murdered that kid for no good reason. There is no excuse in the world for modern police to not have cameras on them.
Maybe they should ebay all that fucking military bullshit and use the money to buy dashcams and personal cameras...
Systemic racism
Even if it turns out that this shooting was somehow 100% justified, there is obviously something wrong with our society if we're such a hair trigger away from persistent civil unrest. Perhaps a century of racism and marginalization has led us to this? What can we do to set these towns on an upward path?
George also truthfully noted the problem with poverty as well. Unfortunately, poverty is often tied to race for various reasons in this country.
Mike Brown was shot from the front, yes, but one shot enters at the skull and exits through the neck. Meaning Mike Brown must have been on the ground for these shots, as he is over 6 feet tall, taller than Darren Wilson. Meaning at least some shots were shot after he had fallen on the ground and/or surrendered.
Source