I live in a warzone. Oh wait, no, I'm in St. Louis.

[ame]

It's back to chaos. LRAD deployed. Teargas. Jerks destroying businesses. McDonald's just looted by people coming in starting issues.

Reports of fights and gunshots and conflicting reports that those gunshots were fireworks. Possibly both. Some little kid just got it good with Teargas and that has not gone over well. I don't appreciate this.

The more county cops I see the more angry I get. Why are they still there.... (Tan uniforms). They were relieved of duty. City officers were on last night guarding businesses despite Dotson declining before.

Unfortunately this will not end soon.

 

[ame]

NYT has a copy of the private autopsy report. Appears all shots were from the front so far and all from a distance.

 

[arkieb1]

We are seeing some terrible images in our media of the shops being looted. I hope that it all calms down soon until then, Ame, take care and stay safe.

 

[kenny]

AGBF nice post.

To me, I didn't read profanity in posts... Saying Damn is profanity?? When someone is shot down and killed it's ok to say something other than heck what were they thinking.. I don't see profanity on here. Rather careful and thoughtful posts.. Yes we get spirited at times and as long as it's not over the top or offensive it's ok with me.... And again you don't have to respond or read if you don't agree... But telling us we can't discuss something that is relevant... Because you don't like it...

+1

 

[ame]

That was one of the most obnoxious and racist posts I've ever read.

 

[AGBF]

...
We have thugs in armored cars pointing guns in peoples faces.
Growing up it was if someone points a gun at you they are trying to kill you and respond accordingly.
Gee isn't that what cops are taught?
Yet they go around pointing weapons at innocent people?

I'm skeptical that there are many "innocent people" in that crowd of protestors. I would wager that any "innocent people" are gainfully employed, and have things to do, and are not out cruising the streets at night. This is a race riot masquerading as a protest.

I agree with ame that your post was so racist as to make the the top ten most racist posts I have ever seen on Pricescope, if not the top three. Unlike ame, however, I am going to address some of the specific "points" you "made". (Please forgive me for putting these words in quotation marks, but in my opinion you did not actually make any points.)

First, when Karl (Storm) refers to innocent people, he is referring to people who have not been convicted of crimes and do not deserve to be punished without trial by jury. Are you saying that the people in the picture have been convicted of crimes? If not, they are innocent people. In the United States one is innocent until proven guilty even if one has been arrested. One is not supposed to be punished just for being under arrest. The people in the picture are not even under arrest. It appears that to you they have committed a crime and that their crime is their skin color and the way that they are dressed. If I were there, you might say I was not innocent because I am dressed in jeans and T-shirt. I am not dressed like a female version of Sidney Poitier. But, as ame has pointed out repeatedly, it is likely that you would give me a pass since I am old; very fair skinned; have light eyes; freckles; and red hair. I have what the Black Panthers used to call, "white skin privilege". Letting me off the hook for my dress, ma'am, and not letting them off the hook for their dress, is racist.

Second, many people who can be out there because they are not gainfully employed are not gainfully employed because there is a bad economy with high unemployment. If you are one of the lucky people who has never been touched by that you are fortunate indeed.

Third, when you say that this is a race riot masquerading as a protest, I say that they are one and the same. It is time for a protest showing the "rabid" anger (packrat's word) that we all feel towards the racial inequality being displayed right now in the United States and on the Pricescope forum today. I believe only in non-violent protest, however, and I hope and pray that cool heads prevail and that there is no more looting and violence, that anger can be channeled into peaceful-but forceful-change in race relations.

Deb/AGBF

 

[AGBF]

What a ridiculous bunch of gorillas. Thank goodness the photos coming out aren't scratch and sniff. Nothing smells worse.

It is a shame that I have to spend time on Pricescope, a civilized forum, answering a post like this. Would you have written a comment like this about the people pictured if they had white skin? I think not. You have no idea what those people are like. And they may smell delicious for all you know. You are simply prejudiced against them because they are black. You are a racist, madam.

Deb/AGBF

 

[Karl_K]

What a ridiculous bunch of gorillas. Thank goodness the photos coming out aren't scratch and sniff. Nothing smells worse.

It is a shame that I have to spend time on Pricescope, a civilized forum, answering a post like this. Would you have written a comment like this about the people pictured if they had white skin? I think not. You have no idea what those people are like. And they may smell delicious for all you know. You are simply prejudiced against them because they are black. You are a racist, madam.

Deb/AGBF

I think or least I hope that the post you quoted was meant to be sarcasm and ironic, a comment on the post above.
That is the way I read it anyway.
But I do agree its not appropriate and came out badly if that is the case.

 

[Karl_K]

This is a race riot masquerading as a protest.

There are some people on both sides that are tying to turn it into just that.
The local police and the looters.
They do not represent the majority.
The media is then putting emphasis on that part because it draws viewers.
And it is working drawing off support by the millions for the majority, the innocent peaceful protesters.

 

[AGBF]

What a ridiculous bunch of gorillas. Thank goodness the photos coming out aren't scratch and sniff. Nothing smells worse.

It is a shame that I have to spend time on Pricescope, a civilized forum, answering a post like this. Would you have written a comment like this about the people pictured if they had white skin? I think not. You have no idea what those people are like. And they may smell delicious for all you know. You are simply prejudiced against them because they are black. You are a racist, madam.

I think or least I hope that the post you quoted was meant to be sarcasm and ironic, a comment on the post above.
That is the way I read it anyway.
But I do agree its not appropriate and came out badly if that is the case.

If mrs jam was attempting irony, I apologize for calling her a racist. Given the blatant racism of the previos post, it seemed to me that absolutely anything was possible, but mrs. jam never said anything outrageous before.

AGBF

 

[iLander]

Before I logged onto the computer this morning, I read the newspaper. When I saw this posting by Gypsy, it reminded me of one of the several very moving letters to the editor in, "The New York Times" I had read today.

To the Editor:

Thoughts of a black mother to a mixed-race child:

The other night, I had to have him go over the rules again.

“But, Mom,” he whines, “I don’t go out at night.” At 10, he can think only of McDonald’s as the most interesting place he can go to after dark is. “Go over them for me anyway.” He sighs. Wiggling under his covers, he leans back on his fuzzy green pillow and recites:

“Don’t run after dark. It doesn’t matter if your little buddies are running or not. Don’t you run.

“Don’t put your hood up. People will think that you’re hiding your face. Keep your hands visible at all times. If you reach in your pocket, people will assume that you have a weapon. Always be scrupulously polite. Yes, sir, ma’am, officer. No, sir, ma’am, officer.

He looks at me and asks why. Why must he learn these strange rules that won’t apply until “forever from now”? And I hesitate. How to explain my fear? That six or seven years isn’t forever from now.

How do I explain the pure selfishness of my motives? That I see Emmett Till, murdered at 14 in Mississippi, in his eyes, Michael Brown in his height. That I’m afraid that I could never be as strong as their mothers were forced to be.

I brush the curls off his forehead. And I lie: “For the same reason I taught you to be careful around the stove long before I let you cook. Because if you follow the rules, you’ll be safe.”

ELICE A. SMITH
Salina, Kan., Aug. 15, 2014


Deb/AGBF
[/quote]

This is the saddest thing I've read in a long time. The US is a police state all the time for persons of color.

 

[AGBF]

Before I logged onto the computer this morning, I read the newspaper. When I saw this posting by Gypsy, it reminded me of one of the several very moving letters to the editor in, "The New York Times" I had read today.

To the Editor:

Thoughts of a black mother to a mixed-race child:

The other night, I had to have him go over the rules again.

“But, Mom,” he whines, “I don’t go out at night.” At 10, he can think only of McDonald’s as the most interesting place he can go to after dark is. “Go over them for me anyway.” He sighs. Wiggling under his covers, he leans back on his fuzzy green pillow and recites:

“Don’t run after dark. It doesn’t matter if your little buddies are running or not. Don’t you run.

“Don’t put your hood up. People will think that you’re hiding your face. Keep your hands visible at all times. If you reach in your pocket, people will assume that you have a weapon. Always be scrupulously polite. Yes, sir, ma’am, officer. No, sir, ma’am, officer.

He looks at me and asks why. Why must he learn these strange rules that won’t apply until “forever from now”? And I hesitate. How to explain my fear? That six or seven years isn’t forever from now.

How do I explain the pure selfishness of my motives? That I see Emmett Till, murdered at 14 in Mississippi, in his eyes, Michael Brown in his height. That I’m afraid that I could never be as strong as their mothers were forced to be.

I brush the curls off his forehead. And I lie: “For the same reason I taught you to be careful around the stove long before I let you cook. Because if you follow the rules, you’ll be safe.”

ELICE A. SMITH
Salina, Kan., Aug. 15, 2014

This is the saddest thing I've read in a long time. The US is a police state all the time for persons of color.

I am lily white and I come from a lily white family. Although I adopted a baby from Colombia who looked Hispanic when she was an infant and a toddler, she was still the fairest skinned child-and the only one with blue eyes-at the LAPA (Latin American Parents Association) Homecoming Party in January of 1993. My husband and I had joined LAPA because we wanted to adopt a baby from Latin America and wanted to attend socials with other similar families. We anticipated helping her to celebrate her shared heritage of being our child and also being, originally, from Colombia.

Everyone at that homecoming party knew that one family had ended up adopting a baby through Connecticut protective services and they had come to the party with their new baby, too. (We were all in this together, folks. Some women had gotten pregnant as we tried to adopt together. They came with their biological kids.)

But my point was that many, many people came up to my husband and me and said, "Oh! You got the baby from Connecticut!" She just didn't look as dark as the other children. I actually started apologizing for it.... I recall saying, "Who knew?" (For, indeed, I didn't pick her skin color!!!). And one experienced mother with several adopted children in tow said, soothingly, to me, "It's all right". As my daughter grew up she looked less and less Hispanic. The Native American in her appearance seemed to recede and the European became dominant.

My point is that when I raised my daughter, contrary to what I expected, I raised a child who simply looked Caucasian.

Some of you know that my niece recently married a man she met in Spain. He is from Senegal and he is very tall and very dark skinned. Their children will certainly be dark skinned and be considered, "black". I do not know if my niece is at all prepared to be a mother to a mixed race child in the United States. I fear that she, as a white woman, has not been sufficiently exposed to the harsh realities that people of color face and that she will not think of the things a woman of color would think of to say to her sons. The letter written to, "The New York Times" makes me fearful for my niece's children.

Deb/AGBF

 

[ame]

Today's downtown protest in front of the Wainwright building, which is where Jay Nixon's STL office is (among others) was broken up due to "failure to disperse", and among those arrested was a Holocaust Survivor.

If you haven't watched last night's John Oliver, you should.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUdHIatS36A

 

[Madam Bijoux]

The autopsy report says that the unarmed young man was shot 6 times, twice in the head. He died before he had a chance to really live.
FOR WHAT?
Maybe taking a lousy box of cigars? Walking in the road? For being in the wrong place at the wrong time? For maybe raising a bit of hell before starting college?
Since when is execution the penalty for any of those things?

 

[ame]

The store owner didn't call the police nor were they planning to follow thru on pressing charges since they consider it petty. Someone else called it in. They've been interviewed and gave that statement to police and the FBI. Now their store has been attacked bec the Ferguson police chief decided to release the video he was explicitly instructed not to, making them a target for angry protestors and ******* looters. And for what? To make this kid look bad, and justify murder.

I am awaiting the other autopsy info. I want to see what the differences are. Surely all of them will vary.

 

[kenny]

Police Threaten To Shoot, Mace Reporters In Ferguson
Also, if you click on the link below and scroll down a bit there's a live feed of a camera showing what's happening now in Ferguson.

SNIP

Police turned on journalists in Ferguson once again on Sunday night, briefly detaining three reporters and threatening to shoot and mace others.

Relations between the police and the people covering the turmoil that has erupted following the killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by policeman Darren Wilson have been severely strained all week.

In the most chilling incident on Sunday, police threatened to shoot Mustafa Hussein, a reporter who was filming for local Argus Radio.

"Get the fcuk out of here! You get that light off or you're getting shot with this!" the police appeared to shout.
(Others said the officer told Hussein he would be "shelled.")
The threat was captured on a livestream and was tweeted widely.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/17/police-threaten-reporters-ferguson_n_5686674.html

 

[AGBF]

Today's downtown protest in front of the Wainwright building, which is where Jay Nixon's STL office is (among others) was broken up due to "failure to disperse", and among those arrested was a Holocaust Survivor.

If you haven't watched last night's John Oliver, you should.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUdHIatS36A

I don't watch television and had never heard of John Oliver, ame, but I loved every second of this video. It was very well done (entertaining), but full of a lot of information and insights into how Ferguson is run and how the militarization of the police works. Mr. Oliver's use of comedic wit to make his points kept the information coming at one from being too dry, but he actually said a mouthful when all was said and done! Thank you for the link.

Deb

 

[Gypsy]

AGBF, you HAVE to watch John Stewart on the Daily Show and John Oliver.

 

[ame]

AGBF, you HAVE to watch John Stewart on the Daily Show and John Oliver.

Absolutely! It figures that Colbert, Stewart and Maher are all off right now. Maher kinda chimed in on Social Media--and he kinda called such an incident a couple months ago, which is scary. John Oliver, I think, is off this coming weekend, and possibly the next, but I am SO DAMN GLAD he went for this on Sunday. And he did it so beautifully. He came from the Daily Show, and since he's on HBO he gets to be a bit mouthier. It's f'ing awesome. He is NOT a dingo.

 

[Karl_K]

This is the saddest thing I've read in a long time. The US is a police state all the time for persons of color.

It is heading that way for all the people in more and more areas.
If someone thinks they are immune because of the color of your skin there will be a rude awakening some day.

 

[kenny]

AGBF, you HAVE to watch John Stewart on the Daily Show and John Oliver.

Absolutely! It figures that Colbert, Stewart and Maher are all off right now. Maher kinda chimed in on Social Media--and he kinda called such an incident a couple months ago, which is scary. John Oliver, I think, is off this coming weekend, and possibly the next, but I am SO DAMN GLAD he went for this on Sunday. And he did it so beautifully. He came from the Daily Show, and since he's on HBO he gets to be a bit mouthier. It's f'ing awesome. He is NOT a dingo.

In a click ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUdHIatS36A

 

[AGBF]

This is the saddest thing I've read in a long time. The US is a police state all the time for persons of color.

It is heading that way for all the people in more and more areas.
If someone thinks they are immune because of the color of your skin there will be a rude awakening some day.

Karl-I completely agree with you and it is why the militarization of police bothers me so much. But long before the militarization of the police, as we all know, some people went into law enforcement not because they wanted to protect he weak, but because they wanted to be the strong.

The threat posed by the police to white people is not the same as the threat posed to people of color, however. We white people can, of course, be be swept up if the police suddenly decide to use their weapons upon the entire populace. On the other hand, we are usually the ones whose interests they have been hired to protect. They are in our employ. Unless we happen to be standing on the wrong side of some barricade, they don't usually come after us. If we dare to stray over to where the protesters are...well, yes. perhaps then we are fair game. But not, usually, when we are just walking down the streets where we live.

Deb

 

[ame]

This will not get any better until this officer is charged. And if he's not, expect it to just explode. Already it's far and wide, too many journalists arrested, too much violence, people coming in from other cities to start trouble and maintain the status quo of insanity.

In semi-related news:
There was another man shot by police today, in North City--city police. It got an enormous amount of angry people surrounding the scene very quickly. This incident sounds like suicide by cop from what's been released thus far, and based on witness testimony thus far, but not enough info is out. There are lots of witnesses saying he was acting erratically, had a knife, was all over the place including going at the police with the knife, was asked repeatedly to drop it and refused, and kept saying things along the lines of shoot me, comon shoot me, kill me. They're trying to get any surveillance footage.

 

[TC1987]

...
We have thugs in armored cars pointing guns in peoples faces.
Growing up it was if someone points a gun at you they are trying to kill you and respond accordingly.
Gee isn't that what cops are taught?
Yet they go around pointing weapons at innocent people?

I'm skeptical that there are many "innocent people" in that crowd of protestors. I would wager that any "innocent people" are gainfully employed, and have things to do, and are not out cruising the streets at night. This is a race riot masquerading as a protest.

I agree with ame that your post was so racist as to make the the top ten most racist posts I have ever seen on Pricescope, if not the top three. Unlike ame, however, I am going to address some of the specific "points" you "made". (Please forgive me for putting these words in quotation marks, but in my opinion you did not actually make any points.)

First, when Karl (Storm) refers to innocent people, he is referring to people who have not been convicted of crimes and do not deserve to be punished without trial by jury. Are you saying that the people in the picture have been convicted of crimes? If not, they are innocent people. In the United States one is innocent until proven guilty even if one has been arrested. One is not supposed to be punished just for being under arrest. The people in the picture are not even under arrest. It appears that to you they have committed a crime and that their crime is their skin color and the way that they are dressed. If I were there, you might say I was not innocent because I am dressed in jeans and T-shirt. I am not dressed like a female version of Sidney Poitier. But, as ame has pointed out repeatedly, it is likely that you would give me a pass since I am old; very fair skinned; have light eyes; freckles; and red hair. I have what the Black Panthers used to call, "white skin privilege". Letting me off the hook for my dress, ma'am, and not letting them off the hook for their dress, is racist.

Second, many people who can be out there because they are not gainfully employed are not gainfully employed because there is a bad economy with high unemployment. If you are one of the lucky people who has never been touched by that you are fortunate indeed.

Third, when you say that this is a race riot masquerading as a protest, I say that they are one and the same. It is time for a protest showing the "rabid" anger (packrat's word) that we all feel towards the racial inequality being displayed right now in the United States and on the Pricescope forum today. I believe only in non-violent protest, however, and I hope and pray that cool heads prevail and that there is no more looting and violence, that anger can be channeled into peaceful-but forceful-change in race relations.

Deb/AGBF

Seriously, Mrs. "your post was so racist as to make the the top ten most racist posts I have ever seen on Pricescope, if not the top three," I didn't make the very TOP of your list??? I'm not going to fight about it. Madame, you sure are naive. But perhaps you have never experienced a place like Youngstown, OH, or Farrell, PA, or DE'troit, MI, and have been fortunate to never have such a crime-infested ghetto alter your desired lifestyle, ruin your property values, or drive you or your family out of their homes. Whether or not that crew had committed any crime, I find their BEHAVIOR and their DISRUPTIVE ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR< and their attitude of THE RULES DON'T APPLY TO ME highly foolish and inappropriate. If one wants respect, then one conducts oneself in a manner which EARNS people's respect. African Americans MUST start assuming some of the blame for the "racism" and "discrimination" in the USA. Why? Because they were granted equal rights and financial helping hand up 'way back in the 1960s. And mostly what they've done with that is squander it!

Call me racist if you wish. I am not offended. I don't shrink from the term. I'll print it out and frame it and hang it on my wall. I'd be more offended to be called a liberal. I shall devote no further time to this discussion. Indeed, I think you don't even know what you are talking about. Are you out there in Ferguson demonstrating and/or looting or protesting or shooting guns or anything? No? Well, why not? Better get a move on. >;-D

Having well-armed police doesn't bother me in the slightest. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know. When the criminals are as well-armed as the military, I see no reason why the police departments should not be. It's a new era, and it seems that the decent and law abiding people are ALWAYS being asked to give ground and put up with whatever crap the savages want to dish out, in the name of "diversity."

NPR, years ago, did a little interview of two American black women who went to France for a while. I got a chuckle out of it, because they said they tried cut in front of people in a line at a nightclub, so they could get in first, like they did in the USA. But the French people wouldn't put up with it, and forced them to go to the back of the line. The comment these women made in their interview? "We found out that we can't intimidate the white people there the way that we can here in the USA." I cataloged that remark, and ever since, have simply refused to be cowed. But go ahead, call me racist.

 

[Karl_K]

wow just wow.
I don't even know where to start.
First this is not a liberal and conservative thing this is about basic human rights.
Deb and I are on opposite ends of the political spectrum and we are agreeing on this issue.
There will always be questions about the initial incident but the insane out of control response by militarized police I fail to see how anyone can not question it?
I would not tolerate that behavior by the police in my area, why should they?
By speaking up now maybe in little way it can keep it from happening here.

 

[AGBF]

...
We have thugs in armored cars pointing guns in peoples faces.
Growing up it was if someone points a gun at you they are trying to kill you and respond accordingly.
Gee isn't that what cops are taught?
Yet they go around pointing weapons at innocent people?

I'm skeptical that there are many "innocent people" in that crowd of protestors. I would wager that any "innocent people" are gainfully employed, and have things to do, and are not out cruising the streets at night. This is a race riot masquerading as a protest.

I agree with ame that your post was so racist as to make the the top ten most racist posts I have ever seen on Pricescope, if not the top three. Unlike ame, however, I am going to address some of the specific "points" you "made". (Please forgive me for putting these words in quotation marks, but in my opinion you did not actually make any points.)

First, when Karl (Storm) refers to innocent people, he is referring to people who have not been convicted of crimes and do not deserve to be punished without trial by jury. Are you saying that the people in the picture have been convicted of crimes? If not, they are innocent people. In the United States one is innocent until proven guilty even if one has been arrested. One is not supposed to be punished just for being under arrest. The people in the picture are not even under arrest. It appears that to you they have committed a crime and that their crime is their skin color and the way that they are dressed. If I were there, you might say I was not innocent because I am dressed in jeans and T-shirt. I am not dressed like a female version of Sidney Poitier. But, as ame has pointed out repeatedly, it is likely that you would give me a pass since I am old; very fair skinned; have light eyes; freckles; and red hair. I have what the Black Panthers used to call, "white skin privilege". Letting me off the hook for my dress, ma'am, and not letting them off the hook for their dress, is racist.

Second, many people who can be out there because they are not gainfully employed are not gainfully employed because there is a bad economy with high unemployment. If you are one of the lucky people who has never been touched by that you are fortunate indeed.

Third, when you say that this is a race riot masquerading as a protest, I say that they are one and the same. It is time for a protest showing the "rabid" anger (packrat's word) that we all feel towards the racial inequality being displayed right now in the United States and on the Pricescope forum today. I believe only in non-violent protest, however, and I hope and pray that cool heads prevail and that there is no more looting and violence, that anger can be channeled into peaceful-but forceful-change in race relations.

But perhaps you have never experienced a place like Youngstown, OH, or Farrell, PA, or DE'troit, MI, and have been fortunate to never have such a crime-infested ghetto alter your desired lifestyle,

Indeed, I think you don't even know what you are talking about.

Well, I haven't lived in Ohio or Pennsylvania or Michigan since I am not from the Midwest. We do have poverty on the East Coast where I am from, too, however.

There was a saying in my day, "You don't have to be a horse to judge a horse race." In other words, I didn't have to live in a ghetto to know what it was like to live in a ghetto. But I have-albeit only for several years of my life-lived in a ghetto. I lived on The Lower East Side in New York City in my early 20's. For about six years. One tenement building in which I lived was so awful that there were not only cockroaches, but bedbugs, in the apartment. The exterminator came regularly, but he told my roommate and me that he couldn't get rid of them because they were in the walls. This was back in the early 1970's before everyone had bedbugs.

Because I was a university student I had the ability to move out of that tenement and into another apartment (albeit in the same neighborhood, since that's where my school was). One of my best friends was raped at knife point in the alley behind her apartment after she left my apartment one night. Oh, and not by a black man.

So I would say I have experienced enough to know what I am talking about and that I know what I am talking about. And I maintain that black people do not have a corner on criminal behavior, but that they do get a disproportionate amount of attention from law enforcement.

I also think you should be ashamed of saying you a racist.

AGBF

 

[distracts]

TC, your comments are ignorant and show a lack of understanding of the societal influences which caused ghettoes to form and keep blacks as second-class citizens.

Start here: http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/ (and please don't let the title dissuade you - even I might not have read it if I hadn't been reading Ta-Nehisi Coates for years. For my money, he's one of the best writers on race there is. Buy his book. Read his blog. Absorb. This article particularly covers some of the cities you mentioned.)
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations-a-narrative-bibliography/372000/
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/06/home-is-where-the-hatred-is/373510/

And guess what? I grew up in a neighborhood that was considered to be a ghetto by those who did not live there. Because of my work I am often on foot going door-to-door in all kinds of neighborhoods, including the poorest, most dangerous neighborhoods. All day long. I have spent months of my life doing this, talking to people all over about their concerns. Thousands and thousands, by this point. So, idk, i feel reasonably qualified to say I have experienced these neighborhoods.

 

[azstonie]

I watch and observe the incidents in Ferguson and any where else they happen in America because I have experienced two incidences of police harassment in my lifetime. I completely agree that people of color, homeless people and the mentally ill are the objects of racism and over-policing up to and including murder. I know from experience that being white or female can also mean trouble when it comes to most of the police forces in our cities and towns. Its my observation/experience that the police have an "Us versus the public" mentality and when you put that together with the power of the law and having guns/tasers and limitless backup, you better be on your toes and best hopes when out in public.

I'm a white, college-educated teacher and environmental science project manager. i'm female and over 50. I live in an upper middle class suburb of Phoenix that is considered the high tech corridor of the West Coast and is thus populated by tech nerds who work for Intel and other smaller companies. i'm not a threat to ANYONE. I never use profanity in public. I am quiet and nonconfrontational in my demeanor.

And I still had a 6-foot 3-inch body builder of a young policeman menace me in the street in front of my house to the point that I ran for the door and called my husband to come from work because the policeman was pounding on our door and sticking his business cards into the door jamb. He called another unit to come to my street.

How did this happen?

I called the police earlier in the day because the neighbor next to us was arrested the prior evening in a swat situation for drugs; there were 2 dogs in the backyard, the temps were in excess of 110, no food or water for the dogs other than what I tossed over, and I wanted the dogs to be taken care of but wanted to involve the police/county humane society. The sargeant on duty that day said he would send an officer out to check on the dogs and talk to me afterwards.

What I got was the second police scare of my LIFE. Unjustified. I asked the officer one question and while I asked the question (when can animal welfare be called and can me and the other neighbors go in the backyard to put food and water out?) he freaked when he thought I was looking at his name tag. So what I'm looking at his name tag, isn't that what it is there for? I like to know I'm talking to! He knew *my* name and addie. He was visibly checking out all the bling I had on (diamond pendant, several rings, and a tennis bracelet), he clearly thought I was some overprivileged dog-loving pain in the ass.

So when my husband got home, we talked about what to do. My husband also works for the City same as the policeman, different departments. We agreed that while the policeman in question was out of line, bullying and a NUTCASE of the Police versus anyone else variety, it could only harm us to grieve the contact. The guy has all day/every day to harrass us further and scare us right out of our community. He could harm our two beloved Westies.

So we did nothing. And that officer got away with it and is most likely doing this to other people/women in our community.

And because I love my husband and my two dogs, I kept quiet and was glad the officer did not get physical with me and only scared the living garbanzos out of me.

I speak up about this because I want to be heard that its not only people of color or men that can get on the wrong side of the police. I feel like I'm always in a war zone where I live and I would no sooner call the police if something were wrong at my house than I would expect my dogs to fly.

There are good police people out there, I know there are. But I'm afraid of all of them until proven otherwise due to my experiences with them and its better to be safe than sorry. Packrat, I'm betting that JD is one of those good ones, and I respect you both. Nothing I'm saying here is to offend any PS people who are law enforcement, married to law enforcement, or somehow related to/caring about people in law enforcement. I just wanted to have a say in this thread because it resonated for me due to my experience with the police.

Policing in this country has got to change. I want the police to be as safe and I want the public to be able to count on a basic level of safety when in the presence of law enforcement.

 

[movie zombie]

azstonie, here in California i have been harassed twice by police: once in my 40's and once in my 50's.
first time it was for sitting in a car and talking to a black male friend of mine...i'm white. this was in san Joaquin county.
second time was waiting at a bus stop with the man who is now my husband. this was in santa cruz county.
i regret to this day that i did not report the second instance in particular.
i still remember his name: Deputy Rodriquez.
a few years ago i was called for jury duty here in santa cruz county and in which a Deputy Rodriquez was involved.
luckily, the jury was filled before i was questioned for suitability.
had that happened i would have told the judge there was no way, absolutely no way, i could believe one word of what that deputy put forth as "truth".

 

[azstonie]

Hi Mo Zo: I thought there might be others here with similar experiences.

a year after this, I was asked by the police chief to be on the city's Citizens Advisory Board to the police department and I had to say no, just like you would have been tossed from your jury pool had you been queried, same reasons.

I see this officer at the City picnics (employee recognition kind of thing) and I wrestle with myself all over again for making the choice I did...