Am I the only one that's sick and tired of feeling bad for victims of police violence?

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

Feeling bad, feeling sad, feeling compassion for Michael Brown is certainly right, moral, as well as a normal healthy human instinct, but it never seems to change anything. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, with no changes to the system. The system is corrupt, from the police, to the media that covers them. Parts of Ferguson burned to the ground, and no changes will be made. Protesters, peaceful or not, and still no change. We must have "peaceful" protests, but the media ignores that, and still no changes. What is left for us to do to facilitate, or force change in a completely corrupt system?

I feel helpless and hopeless. In my white world, the police seem to serve and protect. But in black communities, it seems to be accepted by the status quo that the police can treat humans as animals, to be herded, and culled at will - with NO REPERCUSSIONS!

We, as in normal, compassionate, empathetic citizens seem to have no avenue EXCEPT to resort to violence, and that makes me even sadder and more hopeless.

I'm open to any ideas or suggestions.

[raging moderate]

1. Let's send money to Ferguson.

Listen, I have been poor (going hungry poor), and I have been rich (I can eat whatever I want). Being rich is better. Money matters. Really, it does. At least, up to a point. Not having money is awful. Really it is.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

4. I would love to do that. I wish there was a general fund.

Is the Red Cross organizing anything?

[uppityperson]

5. Beware American Red Cross as they don't use their donations very well overall. I am sure there are

good groups in the organization, but overall they waste too much, spend too little on those in need.

I hope someone has some other suggestions.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

9. There is a thread about a looted and vandalized bakery

And the owner has raised 178k from a site called gofundme. Even if we could make all the businesses whole again, we are just cleaning up the mess created by an out of control police state. We need to be able to somehow clean up the police state, and the political system generally.

And I really don't know how we can do that. There used to be something called voting that once could have helped.

[840high]

15. Don't use Red Cross - too

little actually gets to where it's needed.

[AndyTiedye]

10. The Police Will Take the Money

The "justice" system in Ferguson is bleeding the black population dry with fines and court fees for bull$#¡† charges.

…Despite Ferguson’s relative poverty, fines and court fees comprise the second largest source of revenue for the city, a total of $2,635,400. In 2013, the Ferguson Municipal Court disposed of 24,532 warrants and 12,018 cases, or about 3 warrants and 1.5 cases per household. - See more at: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2014/08/ferguson-and-the-debtors-prison.html#sthash.hx1aFyoP.dpuf

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

23. Bleeding them dry. There ought to be a law.

[Half-Century Man]

35. There is a law.

The one that allows the bleeding dry thereof

[raging moderate]

28. Listen, the money will help! Poor people are used to these things. They will get some good somehow!

Just send the money! Maybe the police will get some of it, but the people in the community will manage to get some good things that they would not otherwise have obtained. Trust me on this: Every little bit helps! Poor people know how to make the most of their opportunity.

[SummerSnow]

2. I completely understand. I'm drained and numbed by all the constant police brutality.

Everyday my husband goes to work I fear for him. I have brothers too and I fear for them.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

6. That is just so wrong. And it breaks my heart to hear that.

I swear white people really have no idea what it means to be black. I'm learning more every day, and I greatly appreciate people relating their experiences to help educate me, and others.

[PDJane]

3. The money will help in the short term.

However, the system isn't corrupt. It's broken. It does not respond to the people who rely on it. It doesn't respond to the voter.

In fact, from the things I've seen lately, this is not a democracy. I can't figure out yet whether it's a fascist state or just a plain old oligarchy.

[Kalidurga]

7. The so called broken system is functioning as designed

in that sense it is not broken. We need to break the system and put on in it's place that actually does work for the majority that want to live their lives contributing to their families and their communities. Right now it works if you are white and in a certain income bracket. To everyone else good luck and let the Hunger Games begin.

[VanillaRhapsody]

18. Yeah its not a flaw in the system...its a feature....

[Kalidurga]

22. Yep

I feel stupid for not seeing it sooner, but then I am white and even though my family is poorer than church mice I was still relatively sheltered for a long long time.

[daleanime]

51. Even many of us who knew well about this.....

have been stunned by it's nature and size. Changing technology and media have made us more aware.

[Kalidurga]

59. Yeah

It was my vague impression for a long time even as a child things weren't quite right. I asked questions got no answers. When you are dealing with life sometimes things just go by the wayside. That being said I am stunned absolutely and completely stunned. I saw the Lawrence O'Donnel segment on what the assistant prosecutors did and what the prosecutor did and I can't believe that they haven't been charged with something. They violated the court in a most profound way.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

8. I don't disagree with broken.

But it's broken because the level of corrupted power has reached a point of no return, I fear, without a coordinated revolt. I have no other ideas. We have a facist oligarchy.

[arcane1]

11. That's what happens when nobody votes. n/t

[rhett o rick]

13. Ah yes the illusion of voting. You know of course that they get to vote in Russia.

Voting isn't the answer. Not when the candidates all work for the Oligarchs.

[arcane1]

16. So the Answer is...?

[VanillaRhapsody]

20. Yeah I don't like the sound of the alternatives....

[rhett o rick]

45. There are some good books that will give you answers. Yes mag has great articles.

Stop eating meat is a good start. Support local businesses and join cooperatives. Stand up and demand thru peaceful protests that our government represent us and end fracking for example. Voting via a corrupt voting system hasn't helped us one bit. We have been sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire. Support whistle-blowers that are trying to expose the truth.

Don't vote for status quo Conservatives like HRC. Have some fortitude and support those that are actually standing up for the 99%.

Thanks for asking.

[arcane1]

52. You still included voting. That's how you get politicians who will respond

[rhett o rick]

53. My point is that lots of people think their obligations end with voting.

But w/o free and fair elections, voting doesn't do much good.

[arcane1]

54. That is a VERY good point! Voting should be the starting point

"I elected you and I'm going to hold you to your promises with action!" is the part people tend to forget

[rhett o rick]

55. I think we are on the same page.

[arcane1]

56. Agreed!

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

24. And there they get 100% turnout!

[blkmusclmachine]

33. And even if we could fund a progressive candidate, we still have to beat the secret black box vote

"counting" machines which are owned by the 1%.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

42. And we still have to overcome the brain dead and brainwashed.

That is an equally intractable problem.

[840high]

44. Then put up your own candidates. People

must get involved in their communities.

[rhett o rick]

47. I agree people should get involved but voting in a corrupt system isn't the answer.

We currently put our vote into a machine and out the other end comes a corrupt candidate.

Stop supporting Google, Yahoo, Comcast, Apple, etc. We must hit them where it hurts. STOP EATING MEAT.

[840high]

58. I gave up meat years ago. After

2 bouts with cancer I did it for health reasons.

[rhett o rick]

12. Maybe you should be satisfied with Pres Obama's speech. That seemed to satisfy some here.

Apparently results aren't important. A good speech every now and then seems to comfort them.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

19. Nope. Not at all satisfied.

[blkmusclmachine]

34. Obama's pretty little speeches lull the (DEM) masses back to sleep.

And no REAL action ever results. It's just one pretty little speech after another, and the nation continues to drift to the right...

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

36. It's not fair, though, because Obama is defeated. The sad paradox is that I truly

believe that his election was the catalyst for all the racial backlash that we've been witnessing. It's simply unfair to direct your anger his way, as he has no real power over local affairs. The anger should be directed at the system that failed at serving justice!

[rhett o rick]

49. Well let's see what he does about what happened. He gave a speech. nm

[840high]

60. No comfrot for me - same blah blah blah.

[SomethingFishy]

14. "In my white world police are there to serve and protect".. you must not get out much..

Protect and Serve.. How quaint. Since 9/11 the police have become a military force without any military training. Things are only going to get worse as the gap between the wealthy and poor grows... exponentially..

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

17. Born and raised in Madison, WI

Still live there, so yes, I don't get around much. I was talking about my personal experience in Madison. I wish everyone could have a police department like we have here. No drama.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

37. But you reelected that governor, and frankly I don't understand that.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

40. Madison did not reelect Wanker

It was the rednecks in the northern part of the state mostly. Milwaukee and Madison voted predominately against him. I voted for Mary Burke. There are a lot of idiots in this state that live outside the major cities.

[KingCharlemagne]

38. You must have missed out on the 60s in Madison. There's a good documentary about it

called The War At Home. Maybe Madison learned from its experiences but there was plenty of drama in the 60s.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

41. I was 14 when that happened.

I did not personally experience any of that as I lived on the far west side of Madison. The riots, and the bombing happened on and around UW-Madison campus which is closer to the middle of the city.

Indeed, when David Cooper was elected Police Chief, he changed the department greatly into what it is today.

[VanillaRhapsody]

26. I see you that and raise you one.....Ethan Couch!

Killed 4 people DWI.....and got probation because "Affluenza".

[raging moderate]

21. There is a GoFundMe button on this page.

It is for Natalie's bakery, which was burned down by the arsonists who seized the opportunity during the peaceful demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri. Bakers are among the heroes of the world. I urge everyone to contribute. And to any other business owner who has the guts to rebuild in that community. How about it, grocers? Anybody with GUTS in your group?

HEY, MR. BILL GATES! I TRIPLE-CHICKEN DARE YOU! I TRIPLE-CHICKEN DARE YOU TO DONATE A PERCENTAGE OF YOUR INCOME ANYWHERE NEAR TO WHAT MY TEN DOLLARS REPRESENTS RELATIVE TO MY INCOME! YES, YOU ARE PRETTY GOOD AGAINST OLD LADY SCHOOL TEACHERS, AREN'T YOU?

MR. GATES, DO YOU HAVE THE GUTS TO FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, TAKE ON SOME REAL VILLAINS? MAYBE START WITH SMALL ONES LIKE THOSE WHO BURNED DOWN THESE VITALLY IMPORTANT BUSINESSES ON WHICH SO MANY POOR PEOPLE DEPEND?

DO YOU REALLY HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH SUFFERING THIS IS CAUSING?

OR DO YOU JUST REALLY NOT CARE ABOUT ANYTHING EXCEPT SETTLING PETTY OLD SCORES FROM YOUR PATHETIC ADOLESCENCE?

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

25. Actually her bakery was looted and vandalized, not burned.

Her gofundme requested 20k, and she has now raised over 200k. I hope she gives some of the excess to other business owners that lost everything.

[damnedifIknow]

27. I'm also very sick and tired

It just never seems to end. Never seems to end.

[raging moderate]

29. If there are other funds set up for other businesses that were vandalized there, I will send money.

I hope others will, too. You guys, when I was growing up, my mother and her siblings had something they called the floating five. Every Friday, they would call around and hear each other's hard luck stories, and decide which one of them needed a few extra bucks from the others that week. Sometimes, that was why we had supper all week. Or didn't get evicted. Or got medicine we needed. And these little businesses are frequently the only ones a poor family can manage to get to in time.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

30. Don't you know the alternative is communism?

[vlakitti]

32. Actually it probably is.

So?

Thanks. Happy to see irony.

[cstanleytech]

31. The only real long term solution is for

the people of Ferguson to become more active in the running of their government and unless that happens its unlikely anything is going to change.

[lbrtbell]

39. Your white world's nothing like mine

I'm a white woman, and I've been harassed by cops on more than one occasion. Once I was arrested on bullshit charges, and forced to go to anger management classes...even though I didn't do anything I was accused of. Everyone else in these expensive (and stupid) classes was white, and they were arrested for stupid things, too--like a father and son getting into a loud argument on Thanksgiving. It was a warm day, their windows were open...and the neighbors, who disliked that family, called the police on them.

Since then, I'm exceedingly cautious about police. Just the other day when I left a neighboring city, a State Trooper car came out onto the rural highway behind me. My blood ran cold, as it was only my vehicle and his out there. No witnesses? No thanks.

Hoping he wouldn't find it suspicious, I turned on another road at the edge of town, to go back into the city. I wanted to see if he would follow me. Thankfully, he didn't.

But I had to drive a few miles out of my way, and my heart was racing as I did so.

People need to wake up and realize, it's not just a racial problem. It's a problem with an increasingly militarized police force, who can use their authority at will to ruin (or end) someone's life.

Don't sit there and think nothing can happen to you, just because you're white. Just ask the young, white Occupy protesters how cops treated them while peacefully protesting.

As long as we make it about race, people will just shrug and think some violent hood rat brought it upon himself. We need to show how this is happening to all people of all races, and THEN they'll care. But until that happens, police incidents will keep occuring, because the majority of people think they're safe.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

43. I probably shouldn't have worded it that way

As I said earlier, my only real experience is living in Madison, which is often called "77 square miles surrounded by reality"' or "The Berkeley of the Midwest"' or "The People's Republic of Madison". A very progressive city. Our mayor, Paul Soglin, was one of the protest leaders in the Vietnam war protests on campus.

The city's voters are generally much more liberal than voters in the rest of Wisconsin. For example, 76% of Madison voters voted against a 2006 state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, even though the ban passed statewide with 59% of the vote.

[bravenak]

57. I have seen this too many times myself.

You must not be wealthy. They love to pick on white who are not wealthy. And if you tend to like black people they treat you extra terrible.

[jwirr]

50. I will not stop fighting against police violence. And I do not think rioting helps anyone. But this

community is a segregationists dream come true. Home for one race, run by another more powerful race. Very much like slavery or jim crow was. I think the people who live there have been pushed back against the wall and it is finally built to the point that there is nothing left to do. Today I am feeling much like them with much less reasons. Today is not a good time to ask me if I feel sorry for the bullies.