Ferguson is now a free speech zone

The Verge ^ | August 14, 2014 | T.C. Sottek and Matt Stroud

[2ndDivisionVet]

The people of Ferguson, Missouri are still out on the streets. They're loud, and they're upset, but tonight they're not being intimidated by warrior cops. They're not being tear gassed. They're not being shot at with rubber bullets. They're simply doing what Americans do in hard times.

The decision today by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to yank St. Louis County Police from security detail appears to be paying off. Since police shot and killed Michael Brown on Saturday, heavily armed officers locked down the neighborhood, intimidating peaceful protestors. Police aggression peaked on Wednesday night as the nation watched, as officers advanced on crowds of residents, asking them to turn off their cameras. Police even tear gassed an Al Jazeera news crew, and arrested two journalists for no reason.

The tone has shifted. Residents we spoke with on the ground today said they're finally able to do what they wanted to do in the first place: mourn the death of Michael Brown and let the country know that his death was senseless and unnecessary. The afternoon, marked by calm solidarity, has transformed into a boisterous parade. People from all over St. Louis — and elsewhere — are driving through this small strip of Ferguson, honking horns liberally, packed so full that passengers are hanging out of the windows.

Whenever hands are raised, just as Brown's were before he was fatally shot, the chant echoes through the street: "Hands up! / Don't shoot!"

We asked several people who've been present for the protests how the tone has changed since St. Louis County Police left Ferguson. In a word, it's peaceful. "They told us to go back to the house," a young man named Sosa told us. "We don't want to be in the house. We want to be on the streets."

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)

[2ndDivisionVet]

"They're simply doing what Americans do in hard times."

In your neighborhood, do people shoot an innocent woman in the head, burn down a convenience store and loot & pilfer a Wal-Mart and dozens of other businesses when something angers you?

[easternsky]

Who got shot ? missed that, Woman?

[kabar]

The deceased, Michael Brown.

>

[mrsmel]

Well, stealing and destroying businesses is a time-honored civic right of ‘protest”.

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Is that Eric Holder in the background?

[2ndDivisionVet]

Woman Shot in Head in Missouri Town Roiled by Michael Brown Protests
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/woman-shot-head-missouri-town-roiled-michael-brown-protests-n179286

[Paladin2]

Walking down the middle of the street is not deserving of killin'.

Other stuff? Yep.

[Tzimisce]

Why do I have to obey the law?

No one else is.

Oh right, I’m white....

[Henry Hnyellar]

Yep, all those cities burned in the USA during the hard times of the Depression and WWII.

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

"They're simply doing what Americans do in hard times."

Rioting and looting a bunch of stuff?

"Police even tear gassed an Al Jazeera news crew, and arrested two journalists for no reason."

No reason, except breaking and entering into a boarded up private building.

"Whenever hands are raised, just as Brown's were before he was fatally shot""

No bias there.

[easternsky]

Thanks , been out, had not heard that.

[Zhang Fei]

Black privilege means you can be 6’4” and weigh 300 lbs, grab for a cop’s gun and be lionized as a saint when the cop shoots you dead. Black privilege means that cops don’t have to justify shooting non-black victims whereas when a black perp is shot, anyone pointing to the fact that he’s no saint is automatically labeled racist.

[2ndDivisionVet]

I thought I had posted it here, but I guess I didn’t.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Or Trayvon?

[2ndDivisionVet]

Yep, and don’t forget to pay your taxes in full, pay your Obamacare fees and deductibles, give to the Negro College Fund, NAACP and the local food bank.

[SpaceBar]

So smashing a store front and making off with the merchandise is now a form of free speech. Mmmkay.

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I think Saint Trevor is indisposed,

[Tzimisce]

They take my money, dreams and freedom and I’m expected to just sit here and take it.

Then I get some condescending lecture from some holier than thou liberal politician or activist about how all the above will America a better place.

Meanwhile brown skinned border hoppers and inner city gangbangers can do whatever they want?

Isn’t the law supposed to apply equally? Why does it only apply to me?

Is it because I’m white?

[kabar]

You have all the facts, I don't. From the reports I have read, Brown pushed the officer back into the patrol car and then tried to take his weapon away. A shot was fired inside the patrol car during the scuffle. Brown then tried to flee and was shot. The police officer was supposedly injured in the encounter.

I am not defending shooting someone in cold blood. However, Brown was a big man, 6'4" and 300 pounds. I have no idea how big the police officer is. Why the officer felt it was necessary to shoot him needs to be investigated.

[tennmountainman]

This writer must have forgotten that the widespread looting is why
the police were deployed. To protect businesses who had nothing to do
the the young black thug being shot.