Ferguson Police shoots unarmed black kid 10 times

Mike BrownFerguson police gunned down 17 year old Michael Brown as he and a friend walked down the street. A witness stated police pulled up to the two boys and said “Get the fuck on the sidewalk”. According to a witness police grabbed the kid around the neck and repeatedly shot the unarmed kid.

WTFF? It’s open season on young black boys in America. Shot 10 times? Did he empty his clip? A hunter doesn’t shoot a lion 10 times.

Tea Party aiming guns on federal agents- bundy-ranchSomething is VERY wrong in America when a white man aiming down on police gets a pass and nothing happens but an unarmed black kid walking down the street is shot 10 times.

Young black boys can’t even walk down the street or it could be a death sentence. How do we protect our kids from racists police and vigilantes? Marching isn’t working.

How can this happen again?

What am I saying, OF COURSE IT HAPPENED AGAIN.

He was unarmed.
He had his hands up.
He was 17 years old.

WHAT THE FUCK ARE THE POLICE DOING WITH M-16 MACHINE GUNS ON A ROUTINE STOP?

This is a country of 300 million.

I’m tired of White people and the Media pretending that there isn’t a war on Black people in this country!

When Black people bring up the obvious racial component of this against the Black community by law enforcement, White people always want to diminish it, and disregard our valid feelings about it.

So, before any trolls begin and think about posting here…

I want you to find 25 cases where WHITE PEOPLE are MURDERED by the police like this.

Unarmed and choked like Eric Garner in New York.
Standing in a Wal-Mart – a place that sells and shills ACTUAL FIREARMS – with a Plastic BBGuns – being shot down
This young man being shot with his hands in the air.
Being shot in the back ‘ resisting arrest’.
‘Committing Suicide’ while being handcuffed.
Killing a 92 year old woman in her house under a wrong warrant.

Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
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White militia points guns at officials. Hailed as patriots. Unarmed black teen not seen as a human being. Shot 10 times by cops. America.
8:59 PM – 9 Aug 2014

TheObamaDiary.com @TheObamaDiary
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If Michael Brown had been white, @stltoday would have described crowd not as a “mob”, but as a ‘heartbroken community’. #Ferguson
7:40 PM – 9 Aug 2014

Deepak Oprah @lolitasaywhat
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PAY ATTENTION as “teen” becomes “man,” “community” becomes “mob,” and “murder” becomes “alleged shooting.” #Ferguson #medialiteracy
7:48 PM – 9 Aug 2014

TrumpDog @TrumpDog1
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@TheObamaDiary Bet the people that gathered at Bundy Ranch weren’t described as a mob. Wonder why the difference…??? @stltoday
7:38 PM – 9 Aug 2014

Imani ABL @AngryBlackLady
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Being Black in this country is dangerous business. #Ferguson
7:09 PM – 9 Aug 2014

Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
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America: Where an unarmed black teen gunned to death by the cops isn’t seen as a victim, but a white kid on a shooting spree is. #Ferguson
8:37 PM – 9 Aug 2014

Side-Eye (Harder) @prisonculture
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If your first reaction to hearing that an unarmed 17 year old child was shot 10 times by cops is ‘what did he do?’ your humanity is in doubt
5:18 PM – 9 Aug 2014

Michael Bae @rodimusprime
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And I’m always like “Cops don’t have rules for black people. Black people are the ones who have to follow rules to not get shot!”
7:04 PM – 9 Aug 2014

Side-Eye (Harder) @prisonculture
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You will NEVER be respectable enough to avoid the possibility of being gunned down by cops if you are black & living in the U.S.
5:54 PM – 9 Aug 2014

Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
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White militia point guns at officials. PATRIOTS! Black people protest a teen being gunned to death. “ANGRY MOB!” Police bring guns & dogs.
9:31 PM – 9 Aug 2014

Gin @2ysur2ysub
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Where can a Black American feel safe, anywhere in this country? Let me know, so I can move there.
9:20 PM – 9 Aug 2014

Deepak Oprah @lolitasaywhat
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The media is complicit with dehumanizing Black folks and our “inherent” criminality. Even in death, #MikeBrown will be on trial. #Ferguson
7:51 PM – 9 Aug 2014

hareef Jackson @ShareefJackson
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The cops left Brown’s body in the street for hours. That is just disrespectful and malicious
9:41 PM – 9 Aug 2014

Deepak Oprah @lolitasaywhat
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To all white ppl horrified by #Ferguson: go to police, school board, & mayor and teach how anti-blackness kills. They don’t listen to us.
7:59 PM – 9 Aug 2014

GrooveSDC @GrooveSDC
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If people of color shared all their stories of being watched, stopped, frisked, arrested or accused of shit we’d be here all night
8:05 PM – 9 Aug 2014

Olivia A. Cole @RantingOwl
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Media outlets focusing on angry black crowds, hoping to stir white fear. Meanwhile the black community’s fear of murderous cops is ignored.
10:04 PM – 9 Aug 2014

a fifth of forever @ARainhaDoce
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When white people die, we learn about their whole life’s accomplishments & future dreams, but the black teen going to college is irrelevant.
8:13 PM – 9 Aug 2014

UV @UltraVerified
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Institutional racism is alive. It’s quite well and healthy. And it’s still killing people of color.
10:03 PM – 9 Aug 2014

Olivia A. Cole @RantingOwl
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Pay close attention to which news outlets call #MikeBrown a boy and which call him a man. It matters.
9:47 PM – 9 Aug 2014

Black Girl in Maine @blackgirlinmain
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The hardest thing about what Black folks face in America is how few people outside the Black community fully grasp the enormity of it.
10:19 PM – 9 Aug 2014

About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles. Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures. A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.
This entry was posted in discrimination, Gun Violence, Institutional Racism, Open Thread, Police bruality, Racial Bias, Racial Profiling, Racism and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

265 Responses to Ferguson Police shoots unarmed black kid 10 times

  1. **************
    4632 stops? DAMN!

  2. rikyrah says:

    NEW MICHAEL BROWN POST IS UP.

  3. Black people are oppressed oppressed day after day, our kids are shot down in the street like a dog & when you fight back “it’s look at them, they’re angry”.

  4. Ametia says:

    News coverage of the Michael Brown shooting: headlines matter
    Allan Brauer | August 11, 2014

    The killing by police of Michael Brown, a teen in the St. Louis area, is burning up social media and starting to get mainstream media coverage. This is an important developing story raising questions about police conduct, and investigations are underway. But some media outlets have already used this gruesome crime scene to paint another picture, which plays to the prejudices they assume in their readers, and just happens to coincide with how police want the incident to be framed.

    In the hours that followed Brown’s shooting, his body reportedly was left lying in the street for up to 4 hours. Photos from the scene show a substantial flow of blood running down the street from his corpse. (They can be found online, but out of respect for the victim and his family we won’t post them here.) Brown’s relatives began to gather at the scene, distraught at the sight of their loved one bleeding out on the street. Police were keeping the angry citizens at bay while evidence was being gathered. People in the crowd were furious. Some shouted obscenities. Others vented their anger directly at the police on the scene, including some shouts of “Kill the police!” The police called in forces from around the region, and a highly militarized response, including armored vehicles and officers with dogs, reported to the site, creating disturbing echoes of photos from the 1960s civil rights movement.

    http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2014/8/10/news-coverage-of-the-michael-brown-shooting-headlines-matter

    .

  5. rikyrah says:

    Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
    Follow
    White militia points guns at officials. Hailed as patriots.

    Unarmed black teen not seen as a human being. Shot 10 times by cops.

    America.
    8:59 PM – 9 Aug 2014

  6. rikyrah says:

    Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
    Follow
    Unarmed teen killed by cops isn’t the headline but calling black people “ANGRY MOB!” is, that tells you everything about the media #Ferguson
    10:00 PM – 9 Aug 2014

  7. There’s something happening here…

    Stop, what’s that sound? Everybody look what’s going down..

  8. Ametia says:

    THE FERGUSON POLICE ARE THE REAL THREAT TO FERGUSON COMMUNITY!

    We don’t have it TWISTED.

  9. rikyrah says:

    PrestonMitchum @PrestonMitchum
    Follow
    Talking about the behavior of Black folks AFTER experiencing killing and racism is the epitome of derailment and victim-blaming. #Ferguson
    9:28 AM – 11 Aug 2014

    • Ametia says:

      It’s what the white media does. No reports from major networks and cable all weekend on Michael Brown and the quiet vigil. Now all of sudden there’s rioting! Let’s report on these angry negroes!!!!!!

  10. rikyrah says:

    Political Nerd @Sttbs73
    Follow
    Why is #MikeBrown not innocent until proven guilty in the media but the cop who shot him is? #furguson
    6:54 AM – 11 Aug 2014

  11. rikyrah says:

    El Cosby Esq… @TheCosby
    Follow
    I don’t want to live in a color blind society …I want to live where people can see my color and see my humanity at the same damn time
    8:03 AM – 11 Aug 2014

  12. FBI Taking Over Missouri Police Shooting of Teen

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/fbi-taking-missouri-police-shooting-teen-24929031

    Police say the FBI is taking over the investigation of a suburban St. Louis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed teenager.

    Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson tells The Associated Press that he was informed Monday that the FBI was going to take over the investigation into the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Jackson says he welcomes the move.

    Police say the teen was shot multiple times Saturday in a scuffle with an officer.

    Tensions erupted in Ferguson after a candlelight vigil Sunday night. Crowds looted and burned stores, vandalized vehicles and taunted officers who tried to block access to parts of the city. Nearly three dozen people were arrested, though the area was relatively quiet early Monday.

    The FBI in St. Louis didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.

    • Ametia says:

      This is the news now, huh?

      How about Ferguson community heartbroken, angry, and fearful of POLICE SHOOTING AN UNARMED BLACK TEENAGE BOY?

  13. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    Here are some VERY IMPORTANT tweets including a video of a witness to the police killing of Michael Brown:

    Retweeted by 3ChicsPolitico
KSDK NewsChannel 5 @ksdknews
    
When asked if he has any footage of #FergusonShooting: Police Chief Jackson says he has purchased dash cams but they are still in the box.

    Justice Putnam @justiceputnam
    Ferguson Police Chief told local news there’s no footage of actual incident between officer and #MikeBrown.

    Shannon In Miami
‏@miamidecor
    
He also said no one caught it on camera phone & bystanders phones were confiscated ‘to chk for possible evidence’
Smfh @RLM_3 @drgoddess

    JBECorrupt Frisco Cops
11:30 PM – 10 Aug 2014
Robert Mitchell ‏@RLM_3 5h
    
@miamidecor @drgoddess
    I read that story, too. One bystander said she was threatened with jail unless she turned everything over. Sigh.

    Anti-Racist ‏@DOJisComing4GZ 4h
    
@miamidecor @RLM_3 @drgoddess I urge ppl not2give police their phones when something like #MikeBrown happens. I’m sure PD deleted pics/vids.

    —–> Retweeted by Shannon In Miami
Charlíe @CharlieAdrien · 7h
    “Eyewitness speaks on the murder of #MikeBrown”:

    http://youtu.be/tfy5FiqzWHI&rel=0
    ……………………….
    Published on Aug 10, 2014
This man lives in Canfield/Ferguson, knew Mike personally and witnessed what happened. Rumors of him stealing are shut down. Rumors that he reached for ‘something’ are shut down.
    …………………………..
    (Note from Yahtzeebutterfly: Here is what I have transcribed so far….timestamp 0:01 to timestamp 0:25

    What the f, and then he kicked the door open trying to hit him with the door. Door flew back, hit his leg, brother. He done shot, he pulled his gun out, shot inside the car trying to hit him. He got out the car, brother. Doing on his knees (in this video this witness is demonstrating how Michael Brown had his hands up, surrendering), like “Brother, don’t shoot me. Brother, don’t shoot me” Boom….shot him dead in the head, brother. Then walked up to his body, shot him four more times. Looked at his eyes, paused for a minute, shot him four more times. Dead, brother….

    • Liza says:

      Sounds like some big time police corruption in that town. Not hard to guess when cops decide to harass black kids like that and then murder them for no reason.

      This country has a cop problem. Even these local police departments think they are the some kind of f**king military organization when in truth they are civil servants paid by taxpayers. They got confused somewhere along the line and forgot who they work for, who signs their paychecks, and what their duties are supposed to be. Murdering peaceful citizens is not what they are supposed to be doing, but that is what they have been doing for as long as they have been in existence in this country.

      This country needs to face up to its cop problem that only gets worse every day that goes by.

  14. rikyrah says:

    Ferrari Sheppard @stopbeingfamous
    Follow
    You won’t hear me criticize how oppressed people react to be oppressed tonight.
    9:15 PM – 10 Aug 2014

  15. rikyrah says:

    Ferrari Sheppard @stopbeingfamous
    Follow
    We’re always supposed to solve something we’re not causing, and do it a calm, docile manner.
    9:18 PM – 10 Aug 2014

  16. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    This article has statistics on Ferguson, MO :

    “Blacks In Ferguson, Missouri, Get Stopped And Arrested Far More Than Whites
    But a higher percentage of whites have contraband.”

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/jimdalrympleii/blacks-overwhelmingly-get-stopped-by-the-police-in-ferguson

  17. u says:

    Saddened and sickened. People kill people. Thats the harsh truth.

  18. Looky here folks!

  19. Ametia says:

    ALL EYES SHOULD BE ON FERGUSON POLICE

  20. Ametia says:

    Did the DOJ order these KILLER cops to dress in RIOT gear and incite a riot in Ferguson.

    I.DON.T.THINK.SO!

  21. rikyrah says:

    Antonio French @AntonioFrench

    Police have tear gas masks on in #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/SfOAch9H82

    Bobfr @Our4thEstate
    Follow

    @AntonioFrench They are INCITING RIOT to deflect from the fact that one of their own EXECUTED an innocent boy. Period. cc @TheJusticeDept
    8:47 PM – 10 Aug 2014

  22. rikyrah says:

    Video: Witness to Shooting of Black Teenager: Police Said “Get the F-ck on the Sidewalk”
    Witnesses say the unarmed teen had his hands up when the officer shot him again
    By Charles Johnson

    Here’s a video from Fox 2 in St. Louis, with interviews with witnesses to the police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. According to his friend Dorin Johnson, who was with Brown when the confrontation occurred, they were walking in the street to Brown’s grandmother’s apartment when a squad car pulled up and the officer driving told them to “get the f-ck on the sidewalk.”

    According to police, one of the teens allegedly pushed the police officer back into the car and assaulted him (witnesses dispute this claim, however); then as they ran away, the police officer fired multiple times, killing Brown. Witnesses say Brown had his hands up when the officer shot him twice more.

    http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/43708_Video-_Witness_to_Shooting_of_Black_Teenager-_Police_Said_Get_the_F-ck_on_the_Sidewalk

    • Ametia says:

      now who do you think they want us to BELIEVE?

    • Liza says:

      I believe the witnesses especially what they say while their memories are fresh. The cops make up a story they all agree on and say as little as possible.

      Hey, Ferguson lawmen, has the shooter taken a polygraph questioning him about this killing?

    • Liza says:

      I should say I believe what witnesses say right after the fact but not necessarily what they say to cops, who tend to get people to say what they want them to say.

  23. rikyrah says:

    Charles Johnson @Green_Footballs

    The right wing blogs and media are going to launch a massive character assassination campaign against Michael Brown. It’s starting already.

    • Ametia says:

      The right wing media and blogs need to start with the RACIST history of St. Louis, MO

      • Ametia says:

        The East St. Louis Riot (May and July 1917) was an outbreak of labor- and race-related violence that caused between 40 and 200 deaths and extensive property damage. The incident took place in East St. Louis, Illinois, an industrial city on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from St. Louis, Missouri. It was the worst incidence of labor-related violence in 20th-century American history,[1] and one of the worst race riots in U.S. history.

        The local Chamber of Commerce called for the resignation of the police chief. At the end of the month, ten thousand people marched in silent protest in New York City in condemnation of the riots.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_St._Louis_Riot

  24. rikyrah says:

    Police Shooting Victim Michael Brown Remembered as a ‘Gentle Giant’
    “Let’s make something out of nothing”
    By Charles Johnson

    I have a pretty tough shell after 13 years of blogging, but this report by Elisa Crouch about 18-year old Michael Brown, gunned down by a police officer yesterday in Missouri, brought tears to my eyes. What a tragic loss to the world. Michael Brown Remembered as a ‘Gentle Giant’.

    Michael Brown posted a haunting message on Facebook last week as he prepared to enter a new phase in his life — college.

    “if i leave this earth today,” he wrote to a friend, “atleast youll know i care about others more then i cared about my damn self.”

    Brown, 18, died Saturday after a Ferguson police officer shot him multiple times outside an apartment complex as he walked to his grandmother’s home. Brown was two days from starting class at Vatterott College. Close friends had been packing up and departing for schools such as Kansas State University and Arkansas Baptist University on sports scholarships.

    “Everyone else wanted to be a football player, a basketball player,” said Gerard Fuller, who had known Brown since second grade at Pine Lawn Elementary School. “He wanted to own his own business. He’d say, ‘Let’s make something out of nothing.’”

    Brown graduated from high school at the predominately African-American Normandy High School, a high-poverty school in a district that has been at the center of legislative battles and a string of politically charged decisions by the Missouri Board of Education.

    Teachers described Brown as a “gentle giant,” a student who loomed large and didn’t cause trouble. Friends describe him as a quiet person with a wicked sense of humor, one who loved music and had begun to rap. He fought an uphill battle to graduate.

    Read more at http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/43709_Police_Shooting_Victim_Michael_Brown_Remembered_as_a_Gentle_Giant#hELx7gYYyTivtF7C.99

  25. Liza says:

    The picture of the murdered child bleeding out in the street just tears me apart inside. Those redneck Ferguson lawmen left him out there for four hours.

    • Liza says:

      Scared-ass cops, pray no one else gets hurt.

    • yahtzeebutterfly says:

      *tears*

    • Ametia says:

      The last thing Ferguson needs is a SWARM of POLICE CARS. As if these folks are going to open fire on them.

      Right now, black people should be the ones FEARFUL of these disgusting POS. But their presence is supposed to show they’re there to en they’re the ones who keep the peace, when they’re the ones who incited the need for the gathering, by murdering Michael Brown in broad daylight and in COLD BLOOD.

  26. It’s on and poppin in Ferguson…

    • Ametia says:

      That militarization of the streets is what’s so awful. They are trying to take us back to attack dogs/water hoses.

      • yahtzeebutterfly says:

        “They are trying to take us back to attack dogs/water hoses.”

        That is exactly what is happening, Ametia.

    • Ametia says:

      Marlene Pinnock, that’s her name SFGate.com. Call Marlene Pinnock by her name.

      See how the news print identifies Marlene as “LA woman punched by cop?”

      THIS: “Andrew said in his report that she was a danger to herself and wrote that “upon contacting the subject she was talking to herself. The subject began telling me ‘I want to walk home’ and called me ‘the devil.’ The subject then tried to walk into traffic lanes.”

      Well how about that, if Marlene Pinncok called Andrew a “DEVIL” for nearly beating her head in and killing her… I say he’s is with red cape and pitch fork included.

      • yahtzeebutterfly says:

        Yes, Andrew IS a devil. Her lawyer said this:

        “If in fact she did call him the devil is secondary to the fact that he proved to be either the devil or a close relative,” Harper said. “Because he treated her in a manner nobody should ever be treated.”

        I am glad that Rep. Maxine Waters is on board supporting Marlene Pinncok!

        The incident has drawn outrage from U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, who called it police brutality and demanded the officer be fired, and civil rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

  27. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    Let’s all shout out:

    What do we want? JUSTICE!!!

    When do we want it? NOW!!!

    We White individuals need to stand in unity with our Black sisters and brothers as they stand up for their Constitutional rights and freedoms. Power to the People!

    http://youtu.be/JuMlHdxiIZ8&rel=0

  28. Ametia says:

    Now y’all know that Michael’s mother had to have schooled him on the PO PO. thus the hands up while he was running. AND THEY STILL SHOT HIM.

    No way in hell would this boy ever roll up on a cop and push him in the car..a police car at that, and wrestle them for a gun.

    FUCK OUTTA HERE WITH THAT LIE!

    • A BRAZEN ass lie to help a cop get away with murder. This cannot happen. Folks blood is at the boiling point.

    • Liza says:

      Cops ALWAYS lie when one of them commits murder.

      Mainstream media puts the cop version out there as the truth, or the most reliable version of what happened, and (white) people turn away.

  29. Accounts of college-bound Missouri teen’s fatal shooting conflict

    http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/10/justice/missouri-police-involved-shooting/index.html

    (CNN) — A friend and witnesses say Missouri teen Michael Brown was unarmed and had his hands in the air when a Ferguson police officer shot and killed him, but that account is in dispute.

    “The genesis of this was a physical confrontation,” Jon Belmar, chief of the St. Louis County Police Department, said at a Sunday news conference.

    The officer tried to leave his vehicle just before the shooting on Saturday afternoon, but Brown pushed him back into the car, “where he physically assaulted the police officer” and struggled over the officer’s weapon, Belmar said.

    A shot was fired inside the police car, and Brown was eventually shot about 35 feet away from the vehicle, Belmar said, adding few details because he didn’t want to “prejudice” the case.

    All shell casings collected at the scene were from the officer’s weapon, Belmar said. He further said the medical examiner would issue a ruling on how many times Brown was shot, but “it was more than just a couple.”

  30. Ametia says:

    The fact that that CRACKA ASS CRACKER Rep Mo Brooks would put his two Bologna thin-lips together and say that the Democrats and President Obama are declaring war on white people ..

    This MOFO needs to be taken to the woodshed for that fuckery.

  31. Ametia says:

    7 MINUTES OF LIES

    • Ametia says:

      Time it takes media to dig up photos of thuggish black folks to discredit them after they’re shot & killed?

      …MINUTES

      *********************************************************************************

      Time it takes cops who fired 10 shots and kill unarmed teenage boy with both hands up and running to concoct their LIES before press conference?

      ...LESS THAN 24 HOURS

      • Look for the smear campaign to begin on Michael Brown by morning. They’re combing through every inch of his short life. Fox News will start it and the other networks will follow.

      • Ametia says:

        There you go! 17 years Michael Brown lived and he was going to COLLEGE

        You know Fox is working overtime, and the rest of the cable station will follow. I’ll bet the idiots who watch Fox don’t know that Sean Hannity NEVER went to college, and neither did Limpballs.

  32. Liza says:

    It’s good to hear that Eric Holder has the DOJ watching this already. He probably needs to double the size of the Civil Rights Division.

  33. rikyrah says:

    I’m not on twitter, but if you feel so inclined:

    …………………………………..

    Bree Van de Tramp @Cornbread_Cunt
    Follow

    I think if Obama came from a BLACK woman’s womb, his attitudes and maybe behavior towards race would be different, maybe more urgent feeling
    2:55 PM – 10 Aug 2014

  34. rikyrah says:

    Black and Unarmed: Men Without Weapons Killed by Law Enforcement

    The death of Eric Garner in New York City is a grim reminder that it’s nothing new for a black man without a weapon to be killed.

    by: Jenée Desmond-Harris
    Posted: July 21 2014 6:54 AM

    http://www.theroot.com/photos/2014/07/unarmed_black_men_killed_by_law_enforcement.html

  35. Bitchass trolls! Take your racists ass somewhere else. We’re not having it.

  36. rikyrah says:

    Looking at a picture of Mike Brown. Like Trayvon, he still had his babyface. He looks so damn young.

  37. rikyrah says:

    A Few Thoughts on Ferguson
    By Liberal Librarian
    I can’t even pretend to internalize what’s going on through the hearts of Mike Brown’s family. I can’t pretend to internalize what African Americans all over the country are feeling at young Mr. Brown’s execution.

    I can ask a few questions.

    What was the last time a white teenager was killed for stealing a candy bar?

    What was the last time a white teenager was killed by a community watch vigilante for walking down the street?

    What was the last time a white father was gunned down by police for handling an air rifle at Walmart?

    If you are scratching your heads trying to come up with the answer, the answer is simple: never.

    If your answer then is to say “Well, they [all those black folks] looked suspicious”, then you’re part of the festering racism which works to hold back this country.

    I straddle two worlds. As a child of Cuban immigrants, I’m putatively in the Latino world. You can ask Chicanos from East L.A. of their run ins with police.

    However, the Latino community is as diverse as the broader American community. It spans my black Dominican friends with whom I grew up in New York, to my brown Mexican sister in law, to my immdediate family, virtually indistinguishable from “white America”. You can be Latino and not have that fraught relationship with the police which so many African Americans have. I remember my mother having a version of “the talk” with me; her version was “Don’t be afraid of the police. They’re on our side.” That’s not the talk African American parents have with their black sons.

    Abraham Lincoln said that a country cannot survive half slave and half free. A modern variation on that aphorism would be that a country cannot survive half free and half under siege. What happened to Mike Brown is what happens to a community under siege, policed closely, any infraction a possible cause of death by police fire. What was so threatening about that young man that he had to be shot ten times? Was there no other course of action the police could have taken to prevent a needless death, a family’s anguish, a community’s outrage? Too often, the police work to “serve and protect” one segment of society while keeping other segments under a heavy thumb. That shouldn’t be how police operates. Entire communities shouldn’t be suspect and subjected to oppression. Police should work with all communities in respect, making sure all communities are safe. When police see entire communities as suspect, that leads to a morgue full of Mike Browns.

    http://theobamadiary.com/2014/08/10/a-few-thoughts-on-ferguson/#comment-1105387

  38. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    Black Girl in Maine @blackgirlinmain · 2h
    “Dear white folks on this farm, today is a bad day to pretend you don’t see me.”

  39. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    Valar Morghulis
    ‏@HurricaneLiv
    #NYC please attend a vigil for #MikeBrown tonight at 9:30 in Washington Sq Park.

  40. rikyrah says:

    Walmart Airgun Death Looks Worse Every Passing Day
    Posted by Bob Owens on August 9, 2014 at 3:43 pm

    The more we hear about the shooting death of John Crawford III inside a Beavercreek, Ohio Walmart, the worse it sounds. Evidence continues to suggest that Crawford was effectively SWATted by an ex-Marine.

    Crawford was then killed by Beavercreek police officers that may have been amped up over the Marine’s apparently embellished description of what was occurring, and who may not have given Crawford a reasonable amount of time to comply with instructions to drop the BB gun.

    We’d mentioned in our previous post on the subject that it appeared to us that Crawford had been SWATted by a former Marine and his wife.

    Ronald Ritchie made the 911 call to police that set events in motion, and even though his wife April was confined April and Ronald Ritchie, in an interview Wednesday night with News Center 7′s Jessica Heffner and Dayton Daily News Staff Writer Kelli Wynn, said they were in the hardware department when they saw a man leaving an aisle and walk past them with the rifle pointed toward the sky.

    “He got on his cell phone right after he walked past me,” April Ritchie said. Ritchie was on her cell phone, talking with her mother. She had broken an ankle and was riding a scooter.

    “Guy. Gun. Hold on,” April Ritchie recalled telling her mother.

    They followed the man at a safe distance and Ronald Ritchie, a former Marine, called 911 at 8:21 p.m.

    “Anytime I saw people walking his way, I would get their attention,” April Ritchie said, waving her hands for the reporters to demonstrate what she did. She said at one point, a family was standing next to the man with the rifle, but didn’t notice the rifle. The man turned to look at them with a stare she described as if he was telling them, “don’t come near me.”

    He was holding a cellphone between his left ear and left shoulder while messing with the rifle, she said. “He just kept messing with it and I heard a clicking,” she said.

    Ronald Ritche [sic] said the man “was just waving it at children and people. Items…. I couldn’t hear anything that he was saying. I’m thinking that he is either going to rob the place or he’s there to shoot somebody else.” The man looked kind of serious, Ronald Ritchie said. “He didn’t really want to be looked at and when people did look at him, he was pointing the gun at them. He was pointing at people. Children walking by.”

    http://bearingarms.com/walmart-airgun-death-looks-worse-every-passing-day/

  41. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    Michael Skolnik @MichaelSkolnik · 3h
    Family asking for people to join them in a peaceful candlelight vigil at 8pm tonight at the place where #MikeBrown was killed.

  42. Liza says:

    Shot ten times is overkill. That’s a rage killing.

  43. Liza says:

    “The hardest thing about what Black folks face in America is how few people outside the Black community fully grasp the enormity of it.”

    Therein lies the problem.

    The question is, how do you reach people? And how do you reach the people who would even care?

    I think about this every time this happens, and that is often. What really protects us from each other except the rule of law? The shared belief that crime has consequences? What else is out there that even has potential? Love? No, most people just aren’t wired that way. The rule of law is all we’ve got.

    I see this more and more as a bottom up, slow infiltration of more blacks in positions of authority in law enforcement and the criminal justice system which is now dominated by whites. I remembered when I volunteered for the Democrats, they talked a lot about focusing on low level elected positions when that was all we could do. The idea is to quietly consolidate and build a base, get bigger and keep trying to move up. It is community by community, but slowly and eventually it adds up when people believe they can do this.

    I don’t think marching and boycotts are the sole answer to the systemic corruption and injustice in the criminal “justice” system. Nor will they do much to eliminate these redneck lawmen. But marching and boycotts make a big statement and they are certainly the first line of defense. But long term, it’s the rule of law and the fear of consequences that might stop folks from killing each other, including murdering cops.

  44. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    I am praying for my fellow Black citizens and their children.

    May we all hear their cry for justice and the prayer of their children.

    “Prayer of the Children”

  45. Marching isn’t working. We have to change strategy. I’d say hit them hard in the pocketbook. Dry up the money. Folks will understand it real quick.

  46. rikyrah says:

    Halstonette @MOSPDC
    Follow

    some wonder why POC aren’t concerned about dronez and NSA. Look at Ferguson.
    10:50 AM – 10 Aug 2014

  47. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    Liza, SG2, Ametia, rikyrah,

    My heart is so sickened by this, at the same time as knowing that as a white mother I have never felt the stress and nights of worry fearing for the safety of my children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews from the police who negatively profile, stereotype, and gun down innocent Blacks.

    I reach out to you in a caring embrace for all that you are feeling and experiencing in your hearts (again) this morning. I am so sorry.

    • Yahtc

      You are one beautiful loving person. God bless! So glad your fonts grace our blog.

    • Ametia says:

      Yahtc. Your words are comforting. THANK YOU!

      These are words that should begin, maintain, and end in dialogue, when white folks speak about experiences they don’t have.

      It’s called EMPATHY. I don’t mean sympathy.

      There’s a difference. For me, sympathy implies a person is sorry for you, they feel above you. You know a pat on the head, you’ll get over it by and by, kind of gestures.

      Empathy implies: I may not have experienced what you’re going through, but I feel your pain, putting oneself in the other’s shoes, just for that moment. How would you feel if someone gunned down your son. It’s not hard.

      • Liza says:

        Yahtc, in one of the Cicely Tyson videos that was posted here a couple of days ago, she talks about the times and how no one expected this is where we would be in 2014, with respect to race. If someone told me this back in the 1970s, I would have argued forever that it would be impossible.

        Yet, here we are and I find myself unable to process what is happening right here in America. I keep reading about the millenials being different, not burdened by racism in the ways their parents and especially their grandparents have been. So where are they? Where are the problem solvers? We should be ready to pass the torch.

        In the interim, I suppose that I just wish there were more reasonable, empathic people like you. Honestly, I don’t know where we are headed.

    • yahtzeebutterfly says:

      I hold you close in my heart.

  48. Brad says:

    I agree with yahtzeebutterfly, speak out against injustice whenever and wherever it happens. Those of us with love in our hearts must unite, regardless of race or creed or sexual preference or whatever difference is used to divide us. Peace to all. From a disillusioned white man.

  49. Ametia says:

    Ferguson coppers stealing the LIE from the George Zimmerman playbook.

    Say: “He was reaching for a gun; we had to shoot him 10 times.

  50. Ametia says:

    Do these fuckers REALLY think we’re that DUMB, not to NOTICE how INSANELY UNBELIEVABLE their story is?

    • Liza says:

      They are going to keep telling the same lies that get them off, not even charged, until the lies don’t work anymore.

    • Ametia says:

      SG2, media says “emotions are running high in Ferguson”

      SHORTER: Those NEGROES ARE ANGRY, FOLKS. WATCH OUT.!

      A mother’s child is shot TEN TIMES & IS DEAD.
      Um; EMOTIONS SHOULD BE RUNNING HIGH MOFOS!

  51. rikyrah says:

    Kevin Grüssing @KevDGrussing
    Follow

    Kid wasn’t in a Police Car when he got shot. Cop was. “Altercation” would mean BOTH would be outside car. Does not compute. #MichaelBrown
    10:28 AM – 10 Aug 2014

  52. rikyrah says:

    Goldie Taylor @goldietaylor
    Follow

    I do not buy it. Not a single witness publicly reported any physical altercation. None.
    10:28 AM – 10 Aug 2014

  53. rikyrah says:

    Side-Eye (Harder) @prisonculture
    Follow

    Ah I see, this 18 year old young man went after a police officer’s gun, assaulted him, then ran with his hands in the air. I see…
    10:29 AM – 10 Aug 2014

  54. rikyrah says:

    Michael Skolnik ✔ @MichaelSkolnik
    Follow

    Question for police: If there was an alleged “scuffle” in police car, was there a camera in the car, and if so, was it recording? #MikeBrown
    10:23 AM – 10 Aug 2014

  55. rikyrah says:

    r. @PlayVicious
    Follow

    And notice how they don’t talk about who initiated the confrontation. This is standard racist police PR against Black folks they murder.
    10:26 AM – 10 Aug 2014

  56. rikyrah says:

    Ashley Ford @iSmashFizzle
    Follow

    People in Ferguson chanting “no justice, no peace” and “killer cops have got to go”. In the news, this becomes “kill the police”. Wow.
    9:46 AM – 10 Aug 2014

  57. rikyrah says:

    Michael Skolnik ✔

    @MichaelSkolnik

    Follow

    Ferguson police are only ones saying #MikeBrown stole something from store. Parents went to store + workers said they never called police.

    9:16 AM – 10 Aug 2014

  58. rikyrah says:

    Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
    Follow

    First the cops said #MikeBrown shoplifted. Then it isn’t mentioned in the media briefing. Now he was reaching for a gun? Someone’s lying.
    10:25 AM – 10 Aug 2014

  59. Ametia says:

    So it took these liars less than 24 hours to concoct their LIE

    Belmar: Struggle over gun led to teen’s shooting

    FERGUSON, Mo. – Chief Jon Belmar with the St. Louis County Police Department held a news conference Sunday morning and released new information about the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

    Brown was shot and killed Saturday afternoon by a Ferguson police officer.

    Belmar said the incident started when Brown physically assaulted the police officer, pushing him into the officer’s vehicle. He says there was a struggle inside the car, and at some point Brown reached for the officer’s weapon. One shot was fired inside the vehicle.

    http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/crime/2014/08/10/ferguson-police-news-conference-michael-brown/13860601/

  60. Ametia says:

    the LYING pieces of SHIT. The cops said their car was fired upon. LIARS!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Police LYING all over the place. OK, tell me again how can someone be going for an officer’s gun while they’re trying to flee? And why would a kid going to college on Monday attack a police officer and mess up his future? It’s the same old shit time after time…when police are in the wrong for shooting an unarmed black man/woman/boy… here comes the excuse…they were going for the gun.

      • Liza says:

        All this multi-tasking is kind of amazing. Trayvon Martin was able to flee, talk on a cell phone, look for houses to rob, chase down Zimmerman, and bang Zimmerman’s head into the ground all at once.

        Those redneck cops in Ferguson are lying, telling the standard lies that cops use to dismiss the murders of black men.

      • Ametia says:

        @Liza. that’s the super human nonsense these thugging cops use all the time.

        On one hand they try and paint black boys and men as SUPER HUMAN, yet on the other had they are painted as SUB HUMAN.

        Well, which is is it?

      • Liza says:

        These cops are leftover from bygone days when white men killed black men with impunity, with no fear of consequences. They don’t even care if their lies make sense. As white supremacists, they believe they will only be judged by white supremacists.

        That dynamic must change. We need more black police chiefs, more black prosecutors, and more black judges.

    • Liza says:

      The cops ALWAYS lie. And the sociopaths wearing badges who do this will keep doing it as long as they get away with it. And they do get away with it, no matter how implausible their lies are, even when there is a video proving they are lying (ex: Oscar Grant.)

  61. Ametia says:

    Mo Brooks, We got your Motherfucking WAR ON WHITES!

  62. rikyrah says:

    From Don over at TOD:

    Don
    August 10, 2014 at 9:04 am

    It is amazing how black men can keep their sanity despite the insanity that happens to them. I remember one time I took my wife to a medical appointment at an office building, usually I drop her off at the entrance and I wait in my car in the parking lot usually listening to music or talk radio. Anyway this one time I decided to go in the lobby to use the rest room. As I exited my car this white lady was walking towards me, the look of fear she had or her face was palpable, she clutched her purse so tight her hands turned red. As usual I smiled at her to ease her fears, see I’ve discovered that when I run into white people on a one on one situation I smile just so they will feel comfortable. I’m tired of smiling; I’m tired of having to worry about some stranger feeling comfortable or uncomfortable in my presence. Why is it that when I’m the only black person in an elevator with a bunch of white peoples, nobody smiles to make me feel comfortable? Why is it that when I’m anywhere and I’m the only black person there, nobody smiles at me to make me feel comfortable? The average black man will tell you, if he’s lived long enough, that he’s discovered certain mechanisms he uses to make people feel comfortable in his presence. So now another black kid is dead under unclear circumstances, another black community is in pain, and another policeman is on paid administrative leave. By this time tomorrow we’ll know everything this young black kid has done since he left his mother’s womb, the good and the bad, the right and the wrong. I’ve got an eight year old son; I used to wonder about what college he will attend or what does he want to do when he grows up. As black men we’ve learned to focus our thinking on the present more so than on the future when it comes to our black boys.

    http://theobamadiary.com/2014/08/10/early-bird-chat-321/

  63. rikyrah says:

    Missouri Rages After Police Shooting of Unarmed Black Teenager Michael Brown

    Tommy Christopher on August 10, 2014

    Just two days after the muted relief of a measure of justice in the murder of Renisha McBride, another young black life has been cut short, a life lived on the same razor’s edge of suspicion and fear that has become all too familiar. Details are still somewhat murky, but according to several witnesses, police in Ferguson, Missouri, shot down 18 year-old Michael Brown in the street as he held his hands up, unarmed, then shot him up to nine more times after he fell. Here’s how one witness described it:

    Crowds soon formed to protest the shooting, and police from 15 different departments responded to the scene following reports of gunshots. Brown’s body was reportedly left in the street for four hours before he was removed.

    While the scene of the shooting eventually calmed, KDSK reports that protests at the Ferguson Police Department continued into the night, in what’s called a “vigil” when white people do it, but in this case, constituted “unrest”:

    Crowds soon formed to protest the shooting, and police from 15 different departments responded to the scene following reports of gunshots. Brown’s body was reportedly left in the street for four hours before he was removed.

    While the scene of the shooting eventually calmed, KDSK reports that protests at the Ferguson Police Department continued into the night, in what’s called a “vigil” when white people do it, but in this case, constituted “unrest”:

    Yes, well, shooting an unarmed kid ten times is one thing, but that trash fire could really hurt someone!

    Police have confirmed the shooting, but little else, and as if the people of Ferguson, or across the nation via social media, needed any more reason to be outraged, their response to community grief and frustration was a show of force, rather than a show of concern. Aside from minimal statements to the press, there has been no press conference, no hint of what precipitated the shooting, and perhaps most tellingly, no denial that the young man was unarmed.

    http://thedailybanter.com/2014/08/missouri-rages-after-police-shooting-of-unarmed-black-teenager-michael-brown/

    • Liza says:

      I believe that if Renisha McBride had not been a woman and it had been a black man knocking at Wafer’s door, Theodore Wafer would have walked.

      • roderick2012 says:

        I think his testimony sunk him especially the part about ‘not cowering in fear any more’ remark.

  64. Ametia says:

    What in the living HELL is going on?

  65. rikyrah says:

    Anger On Streets After Black Teen Killed By Cop
    A crowd confronted officers, with some shouting obscenities and threats including “kill the police,” following the fatal shooting.

    By Sky News US Team

    The fatal shooting of a black teenager by a US police officer has sparked angry protests in his Missouri neighbourhood.

    Hundreds of residents gathered at the scene of the killing outside an apartment building in Ferguson, a suburb of St Louis.

    It is not known why the officer opened fire on the victim, 18-year-old Michael Brown, last Tuesday.

    Following the shooting, a temporary memorial was set up and the crowd confronted officers, with some shouting obscenities and threats including “kill the police”.

    But there were no reports of injuries.

    Brown’s mother Leslie McSpadden said: “He don’t bother nobody. My son just turned 18 and graduated from high school and he don’t bother nobody.”

    http://news.sky.com/story/1316289/anger-on-streets-after-black-teen-killed-by-cop

  66. Liza says:

    No words, just no words.

    Are they actually recruiting sociopaths capable of murder to be policemen or do that many of them actually slip through the cracks? Dear God, something has to be done. This is getting worse, these murdering cops have absolutely no fear of consequences. They believe they are entitled to kill and the reason can be just that they want to.

    God help us.

  67. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    Live streaming on Ferguson, MO:

    http://new.livestream.com/accounts/2075940/events/1701970

  68. Live video: Ferguson Police News Conference.

    http://fox2now.com/on-air/live-streaming-2/

  69. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    You can find a video entitled “Police Chief Discusses Fatal Shooting of Teen…” at this link:

    http://fox2now.com/2014/08/10/ferguson-police-officer-shoots-kills-teen-community-outraged/

  70. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    Antonio French @AntonioFrench · 27m
    Outside the Ferguson police department headquarters https://vine.co/v/MVQ1I71uUHx

  71. Just in..

  72. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    From erica williams simon @createdby erica:
    The killing, the militarized police response, the coverage. How many more ways can you say “Your lives hold no value”? #Michael Brown

    They’ve tried for GENERATIONS to wipe us out & time & time again we rise. Our ancestors blood runs too thick through our veins. #Ferguson

    Fortunately, the state cannot define us. Nor can they hold us back. They still don’t get it: YOU CAN’T ERASE US.

    This is an epidemic, plain & simple.

  73. julesagray says:

    I’m so glad I found your blog–i LOVE it.

    Thank you! Keep on keepin’ on!

  74. rikyrah says:

    Thank you for this post. He was killed for nothing. NOTHING

  75. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    SG2,

    Thank you for your immediate response and your article. I know others have responded quickly also. I hope and pray that EVERY blog possible stays on this story!!!

  76. yahtzeebutterfly says:

    “Protests Follow Police Shooting of Unarmed Black Teenager Michael Brown”

    http://thedailybanter.com/2014/08/protests-follow-police-shooting-of-unarmed-black-teenager-michael-brown/

    Excerpt:
    Police have confirmed the shooting, but little else, and as if the people of Ferguson, or across the nation via social media, needed any more reason to be outraged, their response to community grief and frustration was a show of force, rather than a show of concern. Aside from minimal statements to the press, there has been no press conference, no hint of what precipitated the shooting, and perhaps most tellingly, no denial that the young man was unarmed.

    The notion of black people as threats is older than America itself, but there is something new and disturbing about this current roster of names added to those etched even in our recent past. Rodney King, Amadou Diallo, Eleanor Bumpurs, Abner Louima, these incidents were all rather far removed from the era that consumed the life of Emmett Till, but still occurred during times of roiling racial tension that was palpable to all. Even the killing of Sean Bell happened in the waning days of the pre-post-racial era before Barack Obama was elected president, and our popular (white) culture declared an end to racism.

    What’s different now is that in post-racial America, it has become acceptable to be “post-racial,” and still fear black people. Policing strategies have legalized racism, and the media, beginning with the killing of Trayvon Martin, has made the view of black people as de facto threats just another side of the argument, and a persuasive one for many.

    You can lock up all the killers of unarmed black people, or not lock them up, and it will make no difference the next time some panicky person with a gun shoots down the next Michael Brown, or Renisha McBride, or Jonathan Ferrell, or John Crawford, or chokes out the next Eric Garner. The people who have made it their business to legitimize the view of black culture as the wellspring of criminality have blood on their hands, and will continue to have blood on their hands.

  77. White people can walk into Home Depot and Wal-Mart armed to the teeth but a black man plays with toy gun in Wal-Mart and SHOT DEAD. There is a war on black people in this country.

    • yahtzeebutterfly says:

      My innocent fellow Black citizens have ALWAYS faced this horrific treatment by police. Why hasn’t ALL (and I mean ALL) of America condemned this in the past, in this last year, in this last month? If ALL Americans do not speak up and condemn this treatment, then I BELIEVE America has NO decency and NO moral conscience.

      What needs to be address MOST at this crucial moment when an UNARMED Black child with his hands up in a SURRENDER mode is the treatment of our innocent fellow Black citizens….the UNJUST, NEGATIVE profiling and stereotyping of Blacks by LE, wanna-be cops and hateful racists.

    • yahtzeebutterfly says:

      All of us who have the benefits and advantages of white privilege need to speak up and stand up against this evil targeting of our fellow Black citizen.

      We cannot be silent; we cannot put our heads in the sand; we cannot hope it is going to stop. We need to act now! We need to march, sign petitions, talk to our communities, talk to our friends and acquaintances.

      For me as a white person…for any white person…to remain silent = guilt. This has to STOP.

  78. Michael Brown was a graduate of Normandy High School. He was to start at Vatterott College on Monday. A got damn shame!

  79. NAACP

    Don’t tell us to march while police & vigilantes are still hunting black boys for sport and juries are letting them walk. Our boys lives are at risk. Their crime? Born with black skin.

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