Ferguson -- The saddest goddamned story I have read today:

[VanGoghRocks]

"Being black in America is basically being born with a target,” said Keyon Watkins, a 26-year-old college graduate with a computer science degree who joined in the protests on a late weekend night. “All of this is just built-up, pent-up aggression by being mistreated on a daily basis.

. . . .

Some of the protesters said they previously had been shot by police, or know relatives and friends who had been. Michael Johnson, 42, lifted up his shirt to show the scars on his torso that he said he received when he was shot by a St. Louis police officer at age 18, during a confrontation that he said never resulted in charges against him or the officer. Because of the injuries, he said, he had to abandon his dream of joining the Marines.

“That one night cost me my whole future,” said Johnson, standing in front of a looted and burnt-out convenience store. “If I got to die tonight, I don’t mind … I’m dying for a cause.”

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/08/18/protester-if-i-got-to-die-tonight-i-dont-mind/

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

You might dismiss those words as false bravado. Or you might just hear in them resignation and resolution. Isn't it sad, though, just like this sadness that just keeps coming and never stops? Johnson is an American citizen!

[uponit7771]

1. +1

[nomorenomore08]

2. Will the people who insist "We don't know anything yet!" read this OP? I doubt it...

[VanGoghRocks]

3. I just started tearing up when I read this, hit by this crushing

wall of sadness. Took me more than few minutes to compose myself.

[nomorenomore08]

5. I'm not sad, I'm fucking enraged. And the disingenuous bullshit I've seen on this very site

doesn't help matters one bit.

[VanGoghRocks]

7. I hear you. That one of our fellow citizens is willing to lose his life to protest this is

what got me bawling. "If I got to die tonight, I don’t mind . . . " Man, if that doesn't hit someone in the gut like a sucker punch from hell, he or she has got a heart of stone. Or maybe they'll lay it off on that 'liberal media.'

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, VanGoghRocks.

[SomethingFishy]

6. You see this thread yet?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025404667

I posted it earlier. The death of Michael Brown was the straw. The people of Ferguson have been under attack for a long time. 24,000 arrest warrants in a single year? In a town of 21,000 people? It's goddamn organized crime.

[Katashi_itto]

8. The Town? The Country has been under attack for years.

Hopefully it spreads.

[SomethingFishy]

11. Can't argue with that...

[HipChick]

10. It's not just Ferguson

it's happening all over the country...Ferguson is the match

[SomethingFishy]

12. Which is even more frightening because

apparently they don't like it when their crimes are dragged out in public.

[HipChick]

14. Good..these little PD thugs need to be exposed

[VanGoghRocks]

13. Thank you for responding. I did indeed see it and am grateful to you for posting it. Still

Last edited Mon Aug 18, 2014, 11:52 PM - Edit history (1)

more sadness.

[democrank]

9. So, so sad.

~PEACE~

[indivisibleman]

15. It's true.

I often think to myself that if white folks were treated like black folks they would have burned every city to the ground by now.

[johnlucas]

16. MOVEMENTS make Change. Not politicians. KEEP UP THE MOVEMENT Y'ALL!!

This is it.
ACTION.
Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights!

John Lucas

[BlancheSplanchnik]

20. bring the light.

It's our responsibility. Not someone out there, whether an invisible deity people think will do something, or someone else who'll speak up for you....

[redwitch]

26. "Sick of waitin' round for divine intervention...

Take to the streets if you're lookin' for redemption."

Black 47

[BlancheSplanchnik]

27. good one!

[riqster]

22. Damn right. Don't wait for a leader: be the leader.

[jtuck004]

17. “If I got to die tonight, I don’t mind…I’m dying for a cause.” < Reminds me of an earlier Cuba. n/t

[usafvet65]

18. Memo to self…. never travel to the "show me state"...

…. I've already seen enough.

[tea and oranges]

19. What I want to know is

how many other towns are there out in America that are doing the Ferguson, keeping the minorities under control, terrorizing them regularly, using them as a piggy bank?

[Tommymac]

23. The 1% are using us all as their piggy bank...

And shit flows downhill so not surprising that smaller feeders in the food chain follow their lead.

[freebrew]

24. In this state, a lot...

some get shut down, some don't. Some only hassle minorities, other communities don't have a large minority population, or any at all, so they hassle the poor folk. Sure are lots of 'meth labs' around.

So, you know where that ends...

[Enthusiast]

21. Kicked and recommended!

[adirondacker]

25. It's fucking brutal out there for the commoners, add race to the mix and it's got to be living hell.

A recommended read...
"Frustration in Ferguson", Charles M. Blow
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/opinion/charles-m-blow-frustration-in-ferguson.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&gwh=3B86B76BCA0C93C0D5B67C75695F0C6F&gwt=pay&assetType=opinion

[pansypoo53219]

28. can i say i wanna hug all the still happy little black boys?

i know their future will rob that joy.

[Zambero]

29. And not one corporation (people per SCOTUS) was registered

Does Justice Scalia know about this travesty???

[VanGoghRocks]

30. Was this intended for a different thread. I'm afraid I do not understand

what you are driving at here.

Am I missing something?