Police Kill Unarmed Teen In Ferguson, Missouri

[iamjusayn]

I'll never understand feeling soo threatened by a group of people you go out of your way to structure a country to oppress them.

You'd think black people enslaved whites for 100s of years the way they hate.

I don't know if it was for a hundred years but we did enslave them. From my research it was not as brutal and dehumanizing as how they did us but still.

 

[victor page]

I don't know if it was for a hundred years but we did enslave them. From my research it was not as brutal and dehumanizing as how they did us but still.

Show us your research

 

[tekthemaestro]

blacks.... enslaved whites? lol i think ur thinking of that episode of American Horror story in season 3 where gabourey sidibe (sp?) made the white lady go get her a sandwich

 

[gwap]

 
 gabourey sidibe (sp?) made the white lady go get her a sandwich

#PROGRESS

 

[tampadude]

 
blacks.... enslaved whites? lol i think ur thinking of that episode of American Horror story in season 3 where gabourey sidibe (sp?) made the white lady go get her a sandwich

Well, one of the first slave owners in America was indeed a black man.  Of course, that doesn't excuse slavery, but it is a historical fact.

Good read here, BTW: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html

 

[DCAllAfrican]

Why do some of you waste your time trying to convince people with clear supremacist views that
A. They have supremacist views
B. That they should stop having supremacist views

Why bother?

 

[Sir San Diego]

I guess so bystanders on the fence who actually use reason and logic can have a different perspective.

 

[Methodical Management]

Why do some of you waste your time trying to convince people with clear supremacist views that
A. They have supremacist views
B. That they should stop having supremacist views

Why bother?

So you think that's a waste of time, but you're happy to spend hours and hours here trolling and squabbling over trifling nonsense?  (Is CP3 overrated?  Is wrasslin' a sport, or a loosely choreographed soap opera for perpetual adolescents?)

You don't fight fire with fire and you certainly don't fight fire by "waiting until it dies."  

Intervention works.  There are people on this very site who were once "arch conservatives" and are now self-professed "social justice warriors."  

Even if such cases are rare:  

1) I'd still rather see that happen than not and

2) I'd still rather make the effort than not.

Ultimately, even if we can't influence other people's behaviors, we can control our own.  I'd rather strive to enact my values than sit on the sidelines and be passive. 

If you care about fitness, you work out.  You live it.  You can't truly "value" fitness while planted on a couch.  

Internet discussions are hardly the foremost expression of activism, but if you're here anyway, you might as well bring those values with you and try to use the opportunity we have to interact with people who may not otherwise encounter different perspectives and experiences. 

I guess so bystanders on the fence who actually use reason and logic can have a different perspective.

That's absolutely true, but it's also the case that even the ideologues can genuinely reexamine their views once they're out of the spotlight and their egos are no longer in play.  

You'll never see these guys publicly admit fault, but you just might see their views "evolve" over time.  It's happened before. 

 

[tyree do great]

Will read the report this weekend.

I hope y'all are doing what you can to get this story out, especially to anyone you personally know who may not like hearing the truth.

It's been Facebook debate month for me. **** it. If your feelings get hurt, so be it.

Had To Remove Myself From Facebook Entirely Smh, Found Myself Fighting With People Everyday. Decided To Take A Different Route & Talk To My Friends & Family Who Will Understand The Struggle

 

[victor page]

 
Well, one of the first slave owners in America was indeed a black man.  Of course, that doesn't excuse slavery, but it is a historical fact.

Good read here, BTW: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html

How did he get there?

What was so special about that black man that white slave owners didn't just enslave him too?

 

[tyree do great]

She Said " I Shouldn't Be Punished For What My Ancestors Did" But Every Generation Since Has 1. Benefitted & 2. Carried On (in One Form Or Another) The Oppressive Nature & Mindset As The Last

 

[tampadude]

 
How did he get there?

What was so special about that black man that white slave owners didn't just enslave him too?

AH HA!  You broke the code, my friend!  It's always been about RICH vs. POOR more than black vs. white.

The Ferguson PD got away with their abuses because they preyed on poor folks who couldn't afford to hire a lawyer or move the hell out of Ferguson.  Of course, many police departments in this country have the same issues as the one in Ferguson, so moving away may not help much.  Choose your destination wisely.

Let them try that ish with a rich black man.  They won't like the outcome, count on it.

 

[tampadude]

Those emails and jokes were probably the least offensive thing in the report. Actions speak louder than words and the stuff that this PD was doing should have the entire department fired with no chance of working on the field again.

Racism in a PD doesn't happen without racist cops. Fire these clowns and strip them of their power. Anything less than that and nothing changes.

Yeah, I just read through the first part of that report, and I can see why so many folks want to use violence against the FPD.  I am disgusted.  The State of Missouri should just decertify the FPD and be done with it.

When I used to live in the DMV, we had a local town PD that was corrupt and incompetent (they were a local laughingstock), and the State of Virginia decertified and dissolved that PD and let the county PD take over that area.

 

[blco02]

"Hands up don't shoot" never happened, as confirmed by none other than Eric Holder and the DOJ. It was all a farse, what a shame that this country was whipped into a frenzy for months and it never should have happened.

The witnesses were intimidated into lying about what they saw and the liberal media ran with it. End of story. Where does Darren Wilson go to get his reputation back?

http://www.breitbart.com/big-journa...-contradicting-hands-up-dont-shoot-narrative/

 

[tampadude]

"Hands up don't shoot" never happened, as confirmed by none other than Eric Holder and the DOJ. It was all a farse, what a shame that this country was whipped into a frenzy for months and it never should have happened.

The witnesses were intimidated into lying about what they saw and the liberal media ran with it. End of story. Where does Darren Wilson go to get his reputation back?

http://www.breitbart.com/big-journa...-contradicting-hands-up-dont-shoot-narrative/

Yeah, most people realize that the Mike Brown shooting, while tragic, was legally justified, but that doesn't erase the endemic corruption and bias present in the FPD as a whole.  For the record, I come from a family of cops, and I hate bad cops.  I can't really post the totality of my thoughts regarding bad cops, because it would likely be a violation of the NT TOS.

 

[blco02]

Also, I'm waiting on an apology by all the people on here who called me and others racists, biggots, SWS, etc for saying that Wilson was innocent. We have been proven right.

 

[dreamer23]

keep waiting...

 

[Methodical Management]

Racial Bias

Ferguson’s approach to law enforcement both reflects and reinforces racial bias, including stereotyping. The harms of Ferguson’s police and court practices are borne disproportionately by African Americans, and there is evidence that this is due in part to intentional discrimination on the basis of race. 

Ferguson’s law enforcement practices overwhelmingly impact African Americans. Data collected by the Ferguson Police Department from 2012 to 2014 shows that African Americans account for 85% of vehicle stops, 90% of citations, and 93% of arrests made by FPD officers, despite comprising only 67% of Ferguson’s population. African Americans are more than twice as likely as white drivers to be searched during vehicle stops even after controlling for non-race  based variables such as the reason the vehicle stop was initiated, but are found in possession of contraband 26% less often than white drivers, suggesting officers are impermissibly considering race as a factor when determining whether to search. African Americans are more likely to be cited and arrested following a stop regardless of why the stop was initiated and are more likely to receive multiple citations during a single incident. From 2012 to 2014, FPD issued four or more citations to African Americans on 73 occasions, but issued four or more citations to non-African Americans only twice. FPD appears to bring certain offenses almost exclusively against African Americans. For example, from 2011 to 2013, African Americans accounted for 95% of Manner of Walking in Roadway charges, and 94% of all Failure to Comply charges. Notably, with respect to speeding charges brought by FPD, the evidence shows not only that African Americans are represented at disproportionately high rates overall, but also that the disparate impact of FPD’s enforcement practices on African Americans is 48% larger when citations are issued not on the basis of radar or laser, but by some other method, such as the officer’s own visual assessment.

These disparities are also present in FPD’s use of force. Nearly 90% of documented force used by FPD officers was used against African Americans. In every canine bite incident for which racial information is available, the person bitten was African American. Municipal court practices likewise cause disproportionate harm to African Americans. African Americans are 68% less likely than others to have their cases dismissed by the court, and are more likely to have their cases last longer and result in more required court encounters. African Americans are at least 50% more likely to have their cases lead to an arrest warrant, and accounted for 92% of cases in which an arrest warrant was issued by the Ferguson Municipal Court in 2013. Available data show that, of those actually arrested by FPD only because of an outstanding municipal warrant, 96% are African American. Our investigation indicates that this disproportionate burden on African Americans cannot be explained by any difference in the rate at which people of different races violate the law. Rather, our investigation has revealed that these disparities occur, at least in part, because of unlawful bias against and stereotypes about African Americans. We have found substantial evidence of racial bias among police and court staff in Ferguson. For example, we discovered emails circulated by police supervisors and court staff that stereotype racial minorities as criminals, including one email that joked about an abortion by an African-American woman  being a means of crime control. City officials have frequently asserted that the harsh and disparate results of Ferguson’s law enforcement system do not indicate problems with police or court practices, but instead reflect a pervasive lack of “personal responsibility” among “certain segments” of the community.

Our investigation has found that the practices about which area residents have complained are in fact unconstitutional and unduly harsh. But the City’s personal-responsibility refrain is telling: it reflects many of the same racial stereotypes found in the emails between police and court supervisors. This evidence of bias and stereotyping, together with evidence that Ferguson has long recognized but failed to correct the consistent racial disparities caused by its police and court practices, demonstrates that the discriminatory effects of Ferguson’s conduct are driven at least in part by discriminatory intent in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Does the conservative echo chamber have a justification for that?  

The whole damned department may soon be shuttered for racism and corruption, and you're claiming victory because some disparities in eyewitness testimony challenge the "hands up narrative?"  

That's like finding out that Eric Garner's saliva was on Pantaleo's arm and claiming "SEE!!!! HE WAS TRYING TO BITE HIM!!  RESISTING ARREST!!! DESERVED DEATH!! TAKE THAT LIBS LAAOOSLOSOSLSSOLLOLSOLSOSOOLZZZORORORRZZZZZ!"

Focus.  You claim racism is an "illusion?"  Take a good look.

Also, I'm waiting on an apology by all the people on here who called me and others racists, biggots, SWS, etc for saying that Wilson was innocent. We have been proven right.

Should the Brown family win their wrongful death suit, will you apologize?  

Even if you discount the eyewitnesses, you still have to justify the use of lethal force on an unarmed, wounded teen in that situation.  Given the now eminently well documented history of racial discrimination and excessive use of force - particularly against Black citizens - by the Ferguson police department, it's not unreasonable to suggest that a White teenager would have been treated differently. 

Wilson didn't have to shoot Brown in the back as he fled to have been in the wrong.  

The pattern of racial discrimination in Ferguson isn't a paranoid fantasy.  It's now established fact.  That the DOJ failed to assemble the evidence necessary to pursue federal charges against Wilson is less an endorsement of Wilson's innocence than a testament to the formidable burden borne by the prosecution in such cases.  

Don't forget, Holder himself believes that existing standards do not provide an adequate "backstop" against instances of "Southern Justice" like those in the Zimmerman and Wilson cases:  http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/eric-holder-civil-rights-interview-mike-allen-115575.html

 

[sfc415]

"We have been proven right" Dude is so happy to be part of an online Neo Nazi gang A lack of evidence does NOT mean it didn't/couldn't have happened, especially when the same DOJ you're riding the nuts of claimed that the entire Ferguson department is a racist, abusive organization.

Zimmerman was declared not guilty, but anyone not living in a trailer park in the South knows he did it. Same @#@$ in this situation

 

[blco02]

So far both a grand jury and the freaking DOJ have found no wrong doing by Darren Wilson. And you guys still can't admit you were wrong. I'm out.

 

[Betonblck]

So far both a grand jury and the freaking DOJ have found no wrong doing by Darren Wilson. And you guys still can't admit you were wrong. I'm out.

Wrong about what? You sound like you are talking about a damn football game or something.

The DOJ found that the FPD is a bunch of lying racists. So everything that the FPD said about the case as it was going on could not be trusted.

 

[Methodical Management]

So far both a grand jury and the freaking DOJ have found no wrong doing by Darren Wilson. And you guys still can't admit you were wrong. I'm out.

So the DOJ found HEAPS of evidence documenting the racial discrimination by Ferguson's PD.  And you can't admit THAT?   Run away if you must. 

OJ Simpson was found not guilty in an actual trial.  You'd rebut this with the results of the civil trial.  Well, there's a wrongful death suit on the way in this case.  Somehow, I doubt your opinion will change regardless of its outcome. 

Let's review the assumptions here:

An Unarmed Black teenager was shot six times by a police officer.  You assume the teenager was guilty, as you apparently do in all such cases.  (Child and mother shot in botched SWAT raid?  Their fault.  Child holding BB gun shot?  His fault.  Unarmed man choked to death?  His fault.  Use of force justified b/c Black people are scary.) 

Those who see it as a use of excessive force on its very face (he's UNARMED for crying out loud), assumed that racial prejudice may have been a factor.  Granted, that IS an assumption.  We don't have the opportunity to swap out Mike Brown with a White teenager to see if Wilson would have been equally terrified of an unarmed teen "charging" his SUV.  

Is that a less reasonable assumption than the one that portrays Brown as the Implausible Hulk?  That assumes an unarmed Black teenager posed a mortal threat to a trained law enforcement officer in a police vehicle? 

Teenagers have been known to make poor decisions.  If Brown tried to strike Wilson, if he ignored his "commands," even if he stole something, that doesn't mean he deserved to die.  

It's not unusual for teens to blow off authority figures, especially if they're around friends.  How many times, in the course of American history, has a cop been cursed at or even shoved when responding to noise or alcohol complaints at a frat party?  And how often do such incidents end with uncovered corpses left in the street for hours to rot?  

So, if we're honest, it's the police response here that's atypical, not rebellious behavior by a teenage male.   

Let's take a different series of events:

1.  Springfield residents are fearful of large advertising characters come to life.  (e.g. Lard Lad.)  

2.  Upon seeing a lanky man exit the "Big & Tall" shop, Chief Wiggum immediately turns and fires his weapon.  

3.  Lou informs the chief that the person he just killed was not a monster, but the captain of the high school basketball team.

4.  Without missing a beat, Wiggum replies, "yeah, but he was turning into a monster, though."  

There are those those assuming excessive use of force by the officer, and then there are those, like you, who accuse the victim of turning into a monster.

Who's more rational? 

What the DOJ report shows is that there is an ABUNDANCE of evidence demonstrating racial bias by the Ferguson police department.  This is the context in which an unarmed Black teenager was killed by a police officer, who fired the fatal shots at range while inside a vehicle.

What it does not show is that Darren Wilson was a robed Klansman who shouted "I'm killing this child because he's Black!"  

And, for that, you claim "victory."  

Unbelievable.

If you lived in Ferguson and feared that you might be victimized by a racist police officer, the statistics in this case would bear that fear out.  You would be FAR more likely to be subjected to force.  You would be FAR more likely to be stopped and searched, even though, statistically speaking, White motorists stopped by Ferguson police officers were 26% more likely to be in possession of drugs.  The suspicion of racism was warranted.  

That's not paranoia.  That's not an invention of the media.  There's no intervening variable there, as there is with poverty and crime.  The emails speak for themselves.  The statistical disparities are overwhelming.  

You refuse comment on ALL of that to focus obsessively on the one aspect of the eyewitness accounts that makes this killing less flagrant.  

You want an apology for Wilson.... where's the apology for the people of Ferguson? 

 

[frenchbreadbuilds]

So far both a grand jury and the freaking DOJ have found no wrong doing by Darren Wilson. And you guys still can't admit you were wrong. I'm out.

I don't think "wrong doing" is the word. They just didn't find anything they could charge him with. He was a white member by a proven racially biased police department. There's just no way to concretely prove he acted the way he did out of genuine fear or hate. Doesn't mean he didn't do anything wrong.

 

[sfc415]

So far both a grand jury and the freaking DOJ have found no wrong doing by Darren Wilson. And you guys still can't admit you were wrong. I'm out.

I honestly don't get white people like you who go out of their way to defend fellow white people who are clearly racist. Is it really that bad to admit that someone of your race could have done something wrong? Why do you take it so personally?

If some European or Asian dude murdered someone today, I would not be spamming message boards trying to prove his innocence.

Sometimes I think it's because I'm only half white and grew up in a 99% minority area until college, so maybe I can't relate to this type of garbage mentality, but then I remember there's a lot of white people who are against things like this. It's just loud mouthed semi-educated racists (like you) that are constantly on the defensive and drown out all the good people with common sense. "Bad apples" like you and your SWS friends like to call every black person who gets murdered

 

[rexanglorum]

Liberals and conservatives have different ideas of what constitutes a racist. For conservatives, a racist is person who consciously harbors animosity towards people of another race. Individuals are racists. Furthermore, the dynamics of power and history are not part of the equation. For conservatives, racists can be non white. That is why MEChA, La Raza, the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam is equal to the Ku Klux Klan and the various Neo Nazi organizations.

For Liberals, racism is largely a sociological problem, it is bigger than the individual. Racism also requires power and that is why non white organizations are, at the very worse, parochial and chauvinistic.

When a liberal calls a white conservative a racist, they usually are not accusing that person of being in the Klan or of harboring overtly anti-minority views. For the most part, when a liberal calls a white conservative a racist, it is short hand for "you are benefiting from and are complicit in a centuries-old, economic, social, political and cultural edifice of white supremacy." To white, conservative ears, he or she hears "you actively plot to harm non white people, you are probably in the Klan and are planning on bombing a black church during their Sunday school."

We may never be able to reconcile how we define racism but we should at least try to understand that when we say the words "racist" and "racism" we are talking about two very different things.