Posted on Nov 24, 2014
How do we heal after the Ferguson grand jury decision?
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Ferguson
Health
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I can't help but wonder how the whole Ferguson story would have played in the media if the situation had been reversed 180 degrees.
Just for a moment, imagine that the police officer would have responded just as he did, but instead of him shooting the kid, let's say the kid shot the officer. What would the news story have been? Would it have gotten national media or presidential attention at all?
Think about it. How many of us can name even one police officer that was shot and killed in the line of duty?
Moreover, assuming that it even did make the national news, would we have heard any more about it by the time of the arraignment? Or would it have been a dead issue by then? I tend to think that nobody beyond the borders of Missouri would have even seen the story the first time around, let alone the second.
Just for a moment, imagine that the police officer would have responded just as he did, but instead of him shooting the kid, let's say the kid shot the officer. What would the news story have been? Would it have gotten national media or presidential attention at all?
Think about it. How many of us can name even one police officer that was shot and killed in the line of duty?
Moreover, assuming that it even did make the national news, would we have heard any more about it by the time of the arraignment? Or would it have been a dead issue by then? I tend to think that nobody beyond the borders of Missouri would have even seen the story the first time around, let alone the second.
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MSG John Wirts
Lets go one further if it was a black police officer who shot a white thug, where would the outrage be??
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It appears too many Americans grow up ignorant because of an educational system that fails to teach the basics.
Basics of the US legal system aside, I've talked with young people (HS grads) who didn't know which political party Abraham Lincoln belonged to. Why?
Is teaching basic bodies of knowledge / historical facts now taboo? Why?
Growing up ignorant because of poor quality education cannot lead to anything positive.
Basics of the US legal system aside, I've talked with young people (HS grads) who didn't know which political party Abraham Lincoln belonged to. Why?
Is teaching basic bodies of knowledge / historical facts now taboo? Why?
Growing up ignorant because of poor quality education cannot lead to anything positive.
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MSG John Wirts
The youth of today are not taught to respect anyone's rights but their own. Today if a teacher corresponds with a parent about their child's misbehavior, the parent will likely demand to see the principal and demand disciplining the teacher. In my day I prayed for the teacher to discipline my if I misbehaved! If my parents got word I had misbehaved the teacher was given full permission to discipline me at school, and my parents would discipline me when I got home!
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PO1 John Y.
Cpl Johnson, that just drives the wedge deeper. Why are we still segregating people based on skin color?! I do understand there are young black men and boys who are impoverish and could use guidance, mentorship, and a leg up. But there are young men and women and boys and girls of every race in every socio-economic level who could use some help and opportunities. We shouldn't have organizations help just one part of the population based on race and skin color but helping everyone who needs help. As positive as an organization is to help a particular race it still drives the divide between races deeper. This might not carry much weight coming from a white man, but I have many friends with more melanin in there skin who feel the same way.
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MSG John Wirts
I agree, right now too many service organizations are labeled "OFFENSIVE" because someone does not believe the way the labelers do. I find this offensive, scouting, 4H, and Future farmers of America. Were a few very successful groups. Then in came the PC Police, now scouting had to disassociate from churches, accept gays and become just another perverse group teaching moral mainstream youth to accept and embrace perversion.
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PV2 Abbott Shaull
It more about Discipline and Respect for others than anything else. It is ironic that the one segment of population that fought so hard against segregation in the past, is the one so vocal about segregating themselves at this point of time for healing, guidance, mentorship, a showing others in their community a leg up. Well state PO1 John Young it does drive a wedge deeper into the problems we have today, that we should of had solved in the late 60s and early 70s. They would have been resolved for the most part if it hadn't been for Dr. King being killed in 1969. He was the one factor that truly united all factions of the movement. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and other were just radical back then, but with Dr. King, they kept focus to the true cause of the movement. Much like during the Revolutionary War there were certain Colonial leaders who wanted to go lot further than other, but it leadership shown by a few, that kept the cause on course.
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It appears to me that the community - aided, abetted, and motivated by outside self-serving interests has decided to self-medicate through arson, theft, and general mayhem.
I would advise authorities to do what I do with my two year old. Stand back a safe distance and let them destroy their own stuff. Once they realize that their looted and burned liquor stores, convenience stores, and groceries (as well as those jobs) won't be back soon, if ever, the tantrum will stop. The trouble makers are looking for a way to lash out at those who they think wronged them. Don't give them that chance.
I would advise authorities to do what I do with my two year old. Stand back a safe distance and let them destroy their own stuff. Once they realize that their looted and burned liquor stores, convenience stores, and groceries (as well as those jobs) won't be back soon, if ever, the tantrum will stop. The trouble makers are looking for a way to lash out at those who they think wronged them. Don't give them that chance.
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1SG (Join to see)
SFC Gary Fox, it may not be their business (I guess we really don't know) but it is their neighborhood. You burn down the local Taco Bell and tire store and you get to drive past a vacant lot or a smoldering ruin to feed your nacho craving.
While the businesses it is probably safe to say are owned by people other than the folks who have nothing better to do than burn stuff down, those same businesses employ people and provide services enjoyed by the community. Now they are lost, maybe forever. Merry Christmas, Ferguson.
For the record, my two year old would not have access to a hammer, because I am actually a father who is present in his life. The analogy with the temper tantrum, however, is spot on - because that is exactly what it is.
While the businesses it is probably safe to say are owned by people other than the folks who have nothing better to do than burn stuff down, those same businesses employ people and provide services enjoyed by the community. Now they are lost, maybe forever. Merry Christmas, Ferguson.
For the record, my two year old would not have access to a hammer, because I am actually a father who is present in his life. The analogy with the temper tantrum, however, is spot on - because that is exactly what it is.
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SSgt (Join to see)
SFC Gary Fox I honestly was confused by your post until read 1SG Healy's comments. The behavior by many rioters was to get in on the action (robbing, burning) and so forth. Now they have TVs, owned by the business owners and sneakers to run away with....
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1SG (Join to see)
SSgt (Join to see), remember the lady in New Orleans that was confronted by a TV crew with a shopping cart full of shoes from a nearby Foot Locker store? She said she was stealing shoes because she's "got to feed her kids".
These people are opportunists who had been waiting with baited breath for the cops to all be busy with protesters so they could pillage and burn unmolested.
The real protesters, the ones who are actually emotionally invested in the outcome, weren't even thinking about stealing stuff.
It is a sad commentary on society that rather than come together when there is a crisis, some feel it is a great opportunity to take advantage of the chaos to commit crimes, and then justify it by saying that the man has been keeping them down.
These people are opportunists who had been waiting with baited breath for the cops to all be busy with protesters so they could pillage and burn unmolested.
The real protesters, the ones who are actually emotionally invested in the outcome, weren't even thinking about stealing stuff.
It is a sad commentary on society that rather than come together when there is a crisis, some feel it is a great opportunity to take advantage of the chaos to commit crimes, and then justify it by saying that the man has been keeping them down.
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First, these radical, animalistic, indiscriminant, violent protests have to end now. You can't blame the system then destroy property and injure innocent bystanders simply to justify your feelings. What about the businesses and livelihoods these animals have destroyed for no reason? Do we let them go as "payback" for no indictment of Darren Wilson being handed down - commit true injustice because people don't like the decision of a grand jury?
Somebody posted on FB - The events in Ferguson are very reminiscent of all the violent protests that took place after the injustice of O. J. Simpson being acquitted for killing a white woman.
Somebody posted on FB - The events in Ferguson are very reminiscent of all the violent protests that took place after the injustice of O. J. Simpson being acquitted for killing a white woman.
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This is F--KING INSANE! These violent protests are getting us nowhere towards healing. Lets act like savage animals - burn cars and buildings and loot business that are completely irrelevant to this case - creating more victims.
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SSgt (Join to see)
Rev Al (Tawana Brawely) Sharpton is a thistle and a self-promoting feces-stirring moron.
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SSgt (Join to see)
More than that he should be sued for inciting a riot. Look at his statements. He was using very inflammatory rhetoric. And was he consoling the blacks who lost everything in those fires? And the outsiders who came in and had a Red Light Special of their own? Al Sharpton is a punk and a loser. Sue his nasty butt....
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I honestly think this will be forgotten in 1-2 weeks. The media will spin something new and the majority of the country will remember this episode as a blip in their life. The media controls the masses and we'll move in when they are ready to move on.
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MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca
We can only hope SSG (Join to see). Personally, I think tis is going to be as infamous as Watts and Rodney King.
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MSG John Wirts
I think this will hang on as Maj Robert Petrarca maintains. Watts, Rodney King, Travon Martin, and anywhere that ENTITLED blacks are faced with accountability. They will milk the event for all they can.
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That community should not have had to heal; If he was indicted and then acquitted there would have only been a pause in the violence. This nation as a whole needs to move forward and not focus on small town thugs who through his own actions caused the end of his life and focus on the nation as a whole.
While this man loosing his life is tragic he brought it on himself. Any situation can be done differently when looking at it in hindsight but when a person is there and in the moment snap decisions are all you have. For this community to loot and destroy business's shows ignorance. They asked for justice and that is what they received; it may not have been the justice they wanted but it was justice. Quit showing pictures of this man when he was 12 and show him as the 17 year old who was man enough to rob a store and attack a police officer.
While this man loosing his life is tragic he brought it on himself. Any situation can be done differently when looking at it in hindsight but when a person is there and in the moment snap decisions are all you have. For this community to loot and destroy business's shows ignorance. They asked for justice and that is what they received; it may not have been the justice they wanted but it was justice. Quit showing pictures of this man when he was 12 and show him as the 17 year old who was man enough to rob a store and attack a police officer.
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Stop the media from showing only half the story. I for one feel the media will ALWAYS be a burden to moving forward in America on stories that center around racial issues.
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We admit to ourselves that there are instances that occur that, even when the perpetrator is white and the victim is black, ARE NOT RACIALLY FUELLED! I know, crazy concept, right?
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