video of riots in Ferguson, yeah, this is real productive

[Savannahmann]

13. Productive? Perhaps not.

But what has been productive? Unarmed people are killed by the police every week. What can be done to stop it? Especially unarmed blacks? They are being brutalized by the police all the time. They are being threatened, harassed, and tormented.

St. Louis police are not well known for being professional and honest.

The police threatened to plant evidence on a young black man unless he became an informant for them. Some choice, go to prison for a crime you did not commit, or run around and try to find names for the police. If you don't find the name because you just don't know, then prison is your destination.

Now, these cops were caught, but for everyone caught, there are dozens who are not. The corruption exists at all levels, the citizens just don't have a fair chance, the deck is stacked against them everywhere.

Broward county police were communicating secretly with the Judges in traffic court. The cops were cheating over traffic tickets? We're not talking finding murderers, rapists, or child molesters. They couldn't even play fair in traffic court. If the ability to cheat is tolerated in something as minor as a traffic offense, then what happens when they lie about something bigger? The answer is nothing.

True story. I have a friend who restored a 1980's AMG Mercedes. He drives it now and then, and gets pulled over all the time. That car is shining like a new penny, and a black man in a shiny classic Mercedes is apparently Probable Cause. I've seen him pulled over three times myself on the way to work. Of course the Police are not profiling. They are just pulling over random black men in expensive cars. He doesn't get tickets, he just gets searched by the cops. So far, they haven't planted evidence, but he's pretty much stopped driving that beautiful car because he knows eventually they will plant something.

Riots may not be productive. But objecting to the abuse isn't productive either. What do you suggest? Should the black community continue to allow themselves to be victimized? Should we keep reading stories and watching videos of black people beaten and murdered by the police? What do you suggest as something productive? Internal investigations go nowhere.

So what is productive?