Sapper Woody
Well-Known Member
Although I've not seen too much about it on the BB, I am sure we are all aware of what is going on in Ferguson, MO. Admittedly, the purpose of this thread is more of a rant than anything, but there are a lot of things going on there that I can't stand.
Before I begin, let me state that I don't know what happened that day. I don't claim to have inside knowledge. It is possible that the officer was totally in the wrong and killed in cold blood, fueled by racial hatred. It's also possible that that the "victim" was reaching for the officer's weapon and the officer acted in self defense. We just don't know yet. I just wanted to be clear on that point.
One thing that angers me is the way the news is reporting this. It's not "an officer shot a civilian", or even "an officer shot an unarmed civilian". The news outlets are reporting "A white officer shot and killed an unarmed black man". This instantly brings race into it. We don't know if the officer was even in the wrong, yet now he is viewed as racist. Even if the officer was in the wrong, we don't know that race was the determining factor. But we instantly have to bring race into it.
A second thing that frustrates me is that the news keep reporting that 2/3 of the population is black, but only 3 of the police officers are black. That is not the station's fault. It's not as if they only hire white guys. If the community wants more black representation on the force, then more black men (or women) need to get up and go to the academy. It really is that simple.
Now, one thing that upsets me that I saw video footage of is the police force gassing a media crew, then going over in gas masks and pointing their cameras to the ground when the crew fled the gas. This is not right. In the video, you can clearly see that the crew is not in the way, or part of some mob. They are on the side of the street, and get gassed. You can see this footage at http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/13/ferguson-police-race-brown-killing/14030889/. This was not right.
The reaction of the city has me baffled. It makes it hard to keep faith in the human race. "We're mad, so let's loot stores whose owners had absolutely nothing to do with the situation. That'll show the police!"
On a side note, I do believe that this shows why the police force getting the equipment that some on here are against them getting (armored vehicles, body armor, etc) is actually a good thing. This is four nights in a row that they've had to deal with riots. There have been shootings. There have been death threats towards the police. If I were them, I would want to be as protected as possible.
Before I begin, let me state that I don't know what happened that day. I don't claim to have inside knowledge. It is possible that the officer was totally in the wrong and killed in cold blood, fueled by racial hatred. It's also possible that that the "victim" was reaching for the officer's weapon and the officer acted in self defense. We just don't know yet. I just wanted to be clear on that point.
One thing that angers me is the way the news is reporting this. It's not "an officer shot a civilian", or even "an officer shot an unarmed civilian". The news outlets are reporting "A white officer shot and killed an unarmed black man". This instantly brings race into it. We don't know if the officer was even in the wrong, yet now he is viewed as racist. Even if the officer was in the wrong, we don't know that race was the determining factor. But we instantly have to bring race into it.
A second thing that frustrates me is that the news keep reporting that 2/3 of the population is black, but only 3 of the police officers are black. That is not the station's fault. It's not as if they only hire white guys. If the community wants more black representation on the force, then more black men (or women) need to get up and go to the academy. It really is that simple.
Now, one thing that upsets me that I saw video footage of is the police force gassing a media crew, then going over in gas masks and pointing their cameras to the ground when the crew fled the gas. This is not right. In the video, you can clearly see that the crew is not in the way, or part of some mob. They are on the side of the street, and get gassed. You can see this footage at http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/13/ferguson-police-race-brown-killing/14030889/. This was not right.
The reaction of the city has me baffled. It makes it hard to keep faith in the human race. "We're mad, so let's loot stores whose owners had absolutely nothing to do with the situation. That'll show the police!"
On a side note, I do believe that this shows why the police force getting the equipment that some on here are against them getting (armored vehicles, body armor, etc) is actually a good thing. This is four nights in a row that they've had to deal with riots. There have been shootings. There have been death threats towards the police. If I were them, I would want to be as protected as possible.
