Close to 100% of my Twitter feed is about police violence against non-violent protesters in the town of Ferguson, Missouri. It’s been that way all night. They’ve also been arresting reporters, aldermen, perhaps even a state Senator. I’ll have more to say about it in the morning because too much has gone on for me to try to summarize it this late in the evening.
The one observation I have tonight is that this is an incredibly odd way for the police department of St. Louis County to behave. When there is civil unrest because the local police killed an unarmed 18 year old in cold blood for no reason, the smart response is to do community outreach. But they turned the whole thing over to the county and then the decision was made to use terror on the populace. There has been one store looted and one store lit on fire, but it’s not like there was a total breakdown of law and order. Breaking out mine-resistant vehicles, sniper rifles, and full-on riot gear and firing stun grenades, tear gas, and rubber bullets at peaceably assembled people is not how you overcome the overzealousness of one bad cap and repair your reputation with the community. Telling people to stop filming in the age of the smart phone is ludicrous from every perspective you might choose to view it, and so is telling people that they aren’t being denied the right to assemble as you gas them.
What’s more, I had never even heard of Ferguson, Missouri until this boy, Mike Brown, was murdered by the police. Now it’s got a reputation right up there with Selma. How is that helping the local merchants?
The president was briefed tonight by Valerie Jarrett and Eric Holder. The three of them better put their heads together tomorrow morning and figure out how to put a stop to this nonsense. And Governor Jay Nixon might want to get off his ass, too.
