General background: unarmed black kid killed by police officer while fleeing with eyewitness, riots and peaceful protests following by local community, heavy-handed police response, character assassination of now dead black kid, and so on.

At this point in time, the police officer who killed Mike Brown is protected while he is away on leave. The issue has garnered national attention, including a personal response from the president.

Topics for discussion:
militarization of police
systematic racism
specific attitudes and practices employed by police
media portrayal of these incidents
ongoing public and official reactions

Major news sources: www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/14/ferguson-police-teargas-rubber-bullets-michael-brown
http://time.com/3109154/michael-brow...ghts-ferguson/
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/11/us/mis...-what-we-know/

So we are discussing our thoughts on the way police are treated and their system of dealing with crimes?

Seems clear that in the initial incident Brown and Johnson should not have provoked the clearly agitated policeman, but the shooting was not justified.

What I find interested is the way you frame the situation. Riots, looting and assaults on police were already prevalent before police were forced to take action. Given that in previous similar situations (obviously LA '92 is an almost identical situation) the crowds have become uncontrollable and extremely damaging, so police clearly wanted to stop it before it could become too much for them to handle.

The community were clearly predisposed to being hostile to police too, which doesn't help the situation.


> militarization of police
Well they have guns and cars so yeah. But I guess that in USA even normal citizens can get that so not sure what exactly you are referring to.

> systematic racism
Again, not sure exactly what you are referring to, are you saying the kid being black and therefore the cop is a racist? or are you referring to the community's racism towards whites? or are you referring to the KKK saying they support the policeman?

> specific attitudes and practices employed by police
I think this case is more of a unique situation than a result of general attitude or practice.

> media portrayal of these incidents
From what you've linked it looks like they are mostly anti-police. The first article seems very intent on demonizing the police, whilst the second takes a more subtle approach with it's choice of images. The third seems fairly neutral.

> ongoing public and official reactions
Overwhelmingly in favor of investigation and due process.

Not sure what exactly you want to discuss since it's all very straight forward.

It takes a really special effort to first note the (actually less than true, but w/e) similarities to Rodney King riots and then blithely ask what racism or police militarization I'm talking about.

I just heard about this, this is terrible.

Did you here that all footage that was taken was forced to be deleted? Even though it is legal to take video of cops, as long as you don't get in there way.

So in other words "something happened to a black person -> racism" and "police have weapons -> militarization"?

I thought there was something specific to this situation that you wanted to talk about. If not, then I guess I will rebut with 'sometimes bad things happen without there being racist undercurrents' and 'yes of course they had to mobilise to prevent further riots and looting'...

I actually live in Saint Louis, so I know this case really well [For those who don't know, Saint Louis is considered an independent city, and Ferguson is a county within St. Louis. Our shit is different than most states, it's pretty confusing]. I have friends and family who live in the area, so I'm getting updates constantly.

Personally, I think the entire thing has gotten out of hand and blown out of proportion. While it's unfortunate that a young man was killed, there is no need to loot and burn down businesses. That's why this has blown up - Not the death of the kid, but because of the reaction of the community. It certainly isn't giving their cause any strength.

I feel that peaceful protests are necessary to keep "the man" in line from time to time, but there's a better way to do it than what's happening in Ferguson.

As for the fate of the officer - Anything you hear now is just hearsay until the investigation is complete. I would hold off on calling the police names like fascist, militarized and racist until everything has settled and facts are known. Because honestly, the military-like response is kinda necessary, considering the response from the community; The police isn't just gonna let them burn down the entire county.

Actually, the militarization of U.S. police forces is a legitimate concern. A lot of police jurisdictions are getting military-grade hardware from the U.S. military, as the military is trying to unload a lot of it's surplus from their wars in the Middle East, and a lot of police forces are eager to get their hands on it. This ranges from small arms and non-lethal hardware (NV and the likes), to fully armored vehicles.

Anecdotally, the city I live in recently received a tank and several armored transports for their police force. The tank is obvious overkill, and I'm pretty sure they gutted it and keep it for show, but the armored transports are designed to withstand sniper fire and IEDs, and have a nest on top with a machine gun. They occaisionally drive through downtown in them. I live in a college town with only a couple tens of thousands of people, but you'd think they were anticipating a full-scale war from half the populace.



Also, the Ferguson police have supposedly been harassing members of the press and actively interfering with their work. They have tear gassed an Al Jazeera T.V. crew and taken down their equipment when they fled, they have arrested reporters for little reason, most recent their arrest of two journalists who were trying to charge their batteries at a McDonalds (with permission), and they have fired on the press with no warnings, often damaging their equipment. Regardless of the state of investigation, their actions have been unproffessional at best, unconstitutional at worst.

And why the feck not ? The original role of the Police is supposed to be "protect & serve" (the citizens), but Police is turning into a fascistic (& militarized) entity protecting the government(s) from the people.

But then again, as fascistic Police can be, it's only men and women, some are more responsible and conscious about their role and use, some just enjoy having authority and impunity and had nothing else to do in their life. We can't judge the entire police corp, tho we can judge people giving directives, using police to serve a politic of numbers and statistics etc...

Also I'm really not sure the death of Mike Brown has something to do with racism, we'll never know. But there sure is an ambiant smell of racism all over the place , because people are stupid and uneducated, it doesn't matter if they're cops or civilians.


Wow that's wrong, I know you didn't mean to but that's a bit shocking.

While it's unfortunate that businesses have been looted and burnt down, there's no need to kill a young man.

Your innocent comment reveals a deep dangerous aspect of why things go this way : human life doesn't have much importance anymore, actually life in general doesn't have much importance.
Some people just can't take it anymore, and some only know violence to answer with. That's a sad observation, but we actually live in a sad world for most people.

For your first point, the police are protecting and serving the citizens of the county who own businesses and property that is being threatened by the looting and riots.

For the second point, there are proper and lawful ways to react to this. Looting and rioting and attacking police are not legal or lawful ways to respond.