That’s in the FBI’s court now. Sure, I guess the police there can say something but no one will believe it anyway. Might as well just wait for the feds to finish up and release their report.
They can get their closure if the courts do their jobs. the public needs to be on both issues, and neither takes precedence over the other. Addressing both issues ensures that this sort of rampant behavior is curbed in the future.
Half a billion dollars worth of military gear given out JUST LAST YEAR, are you fucking kidding me?
American government is fucking scared right now. The way I see it, the government is terrified you guys are coming for them, and sadly, you are going for them (more or less). All it’s going to take is one little event like this again, in a different city, and shit will get ugly again. It doesn’t have to be a racist moment, or even one involving police or a death. They’re arming hillbilly sherriff’s
they busted out fucking sonic weapons for this shit:
The war on terror was all just a ruse to make sure police everywhere in America were ready and able to more quickly stomp your asses to the ground, when you inevitably rose up. “oh, you will need this shit to fight ‘terror’. AKA when your citizens riot, you will be 100000x more armed than them, and shouldn’t be capable of actually losing (except morally).”
the right to bear arms doesn’t mean your police chief gets to have tanks and choppers.
The incident itself. which we still don’t know the full details of. What we do know is that the cop was trying to detain Brown, and that Brown was involved in a robbery. Was there a struggle? Was there an attempted gun grab? We still don’t know for sure. Was this a case of the extreme excessive force police have been increasingly displaying at any sign of resistance (which, by the way, is not limited to black people)? It seems like the majority of people here still refuse to even entertain the notion that Brown fought. Is it really a far stretch to conclude that there’s a chance that someone who was in a robbery (as in a show of force robbery, not shoplifting) might fight police, particularly in an area where there already existed tensions between citizens and law enforcement? My personal speculation (bold font because I’m sure people reading are sure to not catch it otherwise) at this point was that there was a struggle, and the cop went too far after the legitimate threat had ceased- understandable given the adrenaline of such a struggle, but still wrong and worthy of manslaughter at the least. Unfortunately, the consensus here seems to be that anyone not towing the line of Brown being 100% innocent in the matter is racist, which is a fine example of the sort of shit I lamented earlier in the thread. It’s pretty hard to legitimately get to the bottom of something when discussion is drowned in such accusations from the start, and even if facts prove otherwise, the incident will forever remain an example of racism in the memories of people already shouting it.
The rioting/looting. Premature, evil, and counter-productive, yet criticizing them is met with accusations of ignoring the shooting and racism (again). I guess the proper thinking at this point is that Brown was shot by a cop, and nothing leading up to it nor nothing that followed matters, only that an unarmed black teen was shot by police.
The extreme actions of law enforcement to put down what we’re being told were peaceful protests at that point, and police suppression of the 1st amendment. At this point, I’ve made it clear that I believe the reaction to Brown’s shooting was premature and fueled by the desire to see everything as a product of racism. That said, this show of force, and the sort of culture that views police as domestic military, is unjustifiable and should worry everyone. If you think this sort of police reaction is limited to black America, you’re fooling yourself and missing the bigger picture. Save the riot police and riot gear for actual riots, not protestors.
In conclusion, we have a nasty situation that has been made much worse, and there’s no end in sight to racial problems in America when racism is screamed immediately and constantly. Hostilities between police and citizens in UBN’s will increase, and the majority of real root problems in UBN’s will continue to be largely ignored in favor of the ubiquitous charge of racism. Legitimate racism (which, contrary to popular belief, is more than a one way street), where it actually exists, will continue to foment as bitterness builds, with race hustlers churning away. Seems like any way you slice it, we as Americans lose. I know I sure as shit wouldn’t want to be a cop in an urban neighborhood right now.
They’d still lose.
It’d be like at the Battle of Thermopylae.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae)
Hundreds of millions(us) vs. …Under 1 million(them). That’s NOT a disadvantage that can be overcome if things go pear-shaped in this scenario, not outside of fiction.
Also, “more armed”? Blatantly false, and honestly? The reverse holds more true.
Disparities in quality of gear(a gap which isn’t that large in the first place, and would quickly close as they lost more of their equipment to us/got it stolen) would not change the outcome there, unless nukes are invoked… But that would be totally insane, and I think that SOME of them would like living more than dying for shit as trivial as “power”. Not that they would get the chance.
tl;dr The populace outnumbers, outclasses, and outguns those who would invoke a police state.
They wouldlose.
This is a terrible counter argument. First of all in that battle they’d be using swords and spears. We’re talking about a range of (oh let’s be generous) 6ft, and MAYBE the ability to kill 4 people in a minute if the targets are fighting back. Compare that with modern firepower which has a range of hundreds of feet and a fire rate of ~ 1000RPM, there are also sonic weapons, explosives and gas. Furthermore citizens are just that, citizens. They’re not trained fighters. Soldiers are trained to keep fighting, and have a plan of action before going into battle. Unless citizens are truly desperate and fed up once those first few people drop they’re gonna scatter.
In conclusion, we have a nasty situation of people like you who try to give every biased benefit of the doubt to the police and try to give every other conclusion under the sun, but try to downplay the possibility of race could have played in this case. There is one thing by saying that we shouldn’t jump to conclusion, but people like you are doing something that is entirely sleazy.
You try to come up with any kind of excuse for this shooting, and take the words of the COP AS GOSPEL WITHOUT ANY KIND OF CRITICAL ANALYSIS WHATSOEVER. Any other possible reason for this shooting is worth mentioning, yet when the idea of race is thrown into the picture; you’re so quick to put the wall up and say “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Let’s not bring race into the picture!” Give me a fucking break. do you not think that people here wouldn’t see through your bullshit? You can come here and claim all you want that what you’re trying to do is be open-minded, but it’s obviously not the case.
You need to look at yourself in the mirror son. You’re just as bad as the people who claim racism over the most
Oh yeah in regards to the protesters, the anger isnt the criticism over the rioters and the looters. No, the problem comes when conservatives and racists who try to only focus on those people as the sole agents of this unrest, and mention jack diddly shit about the peaceful protesters. But that is to be expected, the peaceful protestors don’t count because they don’t confirm your biases.