I'm extremely upset by all of this.
In Ferguson, Missouri, a police officer shot and killed an unarmed, African American teenager while he was with a friend walking back from the store. The boy's name is Michael Brown. He was 18 and about to start college. The officer hasn't been punished, and the town was pissed. They took to the streets, looting, protesting and rioting to get their point across that this unjustified murder is not okay by any means.
The riots and looting were separate from last night's peaceful protests, but the police brutality was off the charts. A news reporter documented about half an hour of the police throwing tear gas and shooting rubber bullets at the peaceful protesters, who were unarmed and causing no harm. The video can be found here, along with 2 other livestream broadcasts:
new.livestream.com/accounts/90…What the police was doing here is illegal in every way. They cannot open fire against a peaceful protest. Adding on to this atrocity, though, is the clear demand from the police that everyone who was recording the police brutality would be arrested. Last I knew, the right to free speech and press was not illegal. The protesters went on documenting and suffered the consequences because of it.
Mainstream media, such as American television networks and newspapers, have hardly been reporting this, but I can see why. Three journalists were arrested when trying to document the police at a protest at McDonalds. This does not excuse them for turning this into a "media blackout", where nothing about this incident is being reported by the outlets that it should be reported from. This needs to be addressed and spread like wildfire. This is the United States of America, land of the free and home of the brave, but lately, there is no freedom to be found in the oppressed, and no bravery to see in the privileged.
Want to help? Spread the news. This is where Social Media comes in handy. Make sure everyone knows what injustices are happening at this very moment.
There is also a petition on Change.org requiring all officers to wear cameras while on duty:
www.change.org/petitions/st-lo…Michael Brown's friend's eyewitness account:
www.ksdk.com/story/news/local/…Read On:
www.nbcnews.com/storyline/mich…
