Missouri Police Kill Unarmed Black Teen, Violent Protests Erupt

A day of protests and vigils Sunday for an unarmed black teenager who was shot to death by a Ferguson police officer erupted Sunday night with confrontations, looting and gunshots.

Authorities said Sunday that a police officer shot an unarmed black teenager after the teen attacked the Ferguson officer. But pressure for a deeper explanation grew locally and nationally through the day.

Hundreds of people gathered at the shooting site Sunday night for a vigil for Michael Brown, 18, who was to begin technical school classes today.

While some people prayed, others spilled onto West Florissant Avenue, choking off traffic. Looting was reported at a QuikTrip at 9420 West Florissant Avenue about 9 p.m. and soon spread from there. Most of the businesses being targeted were mainly along West Florissant.

Comments

[Free Society]

Why can't people riot everytime a cop kills an innocent? Instead people only riot when the victim was black and probably guilty of a petty crime.

[gaoxiaen]

Petty crime doesn't deserve death.

[Free Society]

Never said it did.

[Radioactive]

DEATH TO ALL CRIMNALS!!! petty or otherwise, it's only fair.

[Free Society]

There's just better victims to riot about and if blacks require a black victim to riot over, then why not pick some guy who got shot as the victim of a no-knock raid at the wrong house? There's no shortage of those.

[toolkien]

I agree in the sense that it seems that riots occur when the victim is less sympathetic, so that when a quite innocent person is done in, the attitude at large is "yet another bitch fest by the easy on crime crowd". In short, what we seem to have is innocent people getting harrassed (or sometimes killed), mildly tainted people getting murdered, and - with regard to truly dangerous people - we're the first line of defense against and all the cops will do is put crime scene tape around our corpses. It would be nice to have more outrage when a guy gets killed shilling some cigarettes or a toddler gets his face blown off.

[Free Society]

Exactly. I didn't see the "black community" rioting when when a Polynesian baby takes a grenade to the face. Injustice is injustice, but what we're seeing isn't a reaction to injustice, it's a reaction to an offense against tribal dignity. Think of all the outrage they spent on a piece of shit like Trayvon Martin while probably 5 other legitimately innocent black children were quietly gunned down by cops and other blacks.

[straffinrun]

Rioting in and of itself is a form of injustice against the owners of property. Expecting a rational expression of indignation out of a group looking for a chance to snag a handful unguarded slim jims seems a bit unrealistic.

[Free Society]

Hey, when your society is morally deficient, expect a flash mob of justice to snatch up all the slim jims and big gulps in sight.

[Free Society]

and skittles and iced tea. because skittles and tea are symbolic or something

[straffinrun]

Yep. I've been living in Tokyo for 20 years and when the Earthquake/Tsunami hit a few years back I was amazed at the reaction of the people. Not a riot or looting to be found. And people ask me when I'm coming back to the states. Yeah, I'll be right back.

[Free Society]

Japan has their own morality problems, but nothing like the US sees in the inner-cities.

[straffinrun]

The difference is here the concept of disgrace is still existent. Having the community look at you with contempt is unbearable to most Japanese. Contrast that with Orange being the new Black in inner city USA.

[Free Society]

Well in the US we subsidize behaviors that should make people feel shame. And then we tell people that it's inappropriate to disapprove of their choices. "Who are you to judge?".... "I'm the guy who has a gun pointed at his head to pay for Laqueesha's steak dinner."

[booboobambam]

Blacks don't seem to get upset when they kill each other and their children. But if a white cop kills one of them, they start riots. How can a society deal with such a confusing moral code?

[Free Society]

Spread rational philosophy. Kill the state, delegitimize it. Discredit the Government Error by Accident theorem and replace it with the Government Error by Systemic Flaw theorem.

[perlhaqr]

Oh, come on. You know that the owner of that QuikTrip was responsible for this death... y'know, somehow.

[Anon E. Mouse]

Looters: It's why every gun owner should have a few 30-round magazines.

[booboobambam]

Heard Eric Holder has already stepped in to investigate. No surprise there.

Why the black community always riots against a copy killing a black person but never riots against the gangs and drug dealers who take over their neighborhoods and kill black children in their drive by shootings is a question no ever asks.

[Free Society]

Because this isn't about murder or violence. It's about tribal dignity.

[booboobambam]

How do members outside the tribe deal with a concept that tribal dignity trumps everything and that it requires murder and violence, rioting, destruction of other's property, and claims of racism?

[Free Society]

1) You start by destroying the state education system and replace it with a wholly private education system.
2)You destroy the welfare state and replace with it a private system of charity and fraternal organizations supported by the tremendous expansion of wealth that comes with eliminating the parasitic state.
3)Destroy the government legislative powers and replace with local legislative and/or common law authority.
4)You eliminate the judicial monopoly in favor private arbitration and eventually a wholly private law system of contracts, private courts and indemnity companies.