urbanSTL

arch city wrote:

robertn42 wrote:To personalize this, if these protests and riots were happening in my neighborhood I would be concerned with my family, my property, my neighbors, and the businesses that make up my community...In that order. I could give a sh*t less what national reporters or the alderman from another city think or are experiencing because once the dust settles they no longer have skin in the game.

At the end of the day, people have the right to free assembly, press and protest in Ferguson. They don't have the right to riot and loot. BUT Ferguson is not an island. If you lived in Ferguson, you'd have to deal with it until it was over.

That's my point, the protestors and reporters that are not from Ferguson can step away at anytime and it is over for them, yet they are the garnering all the attention. The focus should be on the residents of Ferguson...

We went through some pretty bad areas of Afghanistan, but we didn’t wear that much gear

Finally, what about the officers that are suffering because of the potentially heinous acts of another officer? I guarantee that the majority of the officers on the front line of this are good people and are doing nothing more than following orders.

roger wyoming II wrote:major props for Sen. McCaskill... addressing the militarization of policing and need to deescalate head on.

arch city wrote:

goat314 wrote:Its mostly hype. If one African-American says something negative about an Asian then everybody thinks that defines the relationships between all Asians and African-Americans? What are the tensions? If there were tensions half of the Chinese restaurants and hair shops in St. Louis would be out of business, because most of their patrons are African-American. What I will says is that many Asian and Arab store owners treat African-Americans badly when they come in their stores and this is a nationwide phenomenon. I personally think the solution to many of these problems is to promote entrepreneurship and real economic development in African-American communities, people are less likely to riot if they feel they have a legitimate stake in their communities.

SPOT ON!! But I would like to add that St. Louis consistently has one of the highest-percentages of black-owned businesses and start-ups in the country besting some of the larger metros - according to Black Enterprise Magazine's measurements.

The largest African-American business in the nation is HQ'd in St. Louis (Maryland Heights), which is World Wide Technology. The problem in St. Louis is its piss-poor economy. It has seen working-class jobs dwindle due to de-industrialization and poor local leadership that did not plan wisely for the global economy - likely because of the good ol' boy business mindset in St. Louis.

Also, although I think some of this discussion (not you personally, goat314) is a deflection (or deflects) from the overall unrest in Ferguson, why do some people suggest African-Americans have issues with Asians instead of Asians having issues with African-Americans, when in fact African-American/Asian tension is a two-way street. Actually, African-Americans are not jealous of Asian success and economic power. However, it is about how some Asian business owners treat African-Americans patronizing some of their businesses. I am solidly middle-class and I have been mistreated a few times, which I won't get into, at different Asian businesses. For the most part, I have had no problems. And I am sure most blacks could say the same.

Nonetheless, it's amazing to me how African-Americans seem to be the group always pegged to be the "antagonists" in interracial (or even gay) relationships tensions. Unfortunately, members of every group - including religious groups - brings bias of other groups to the table.

leeharveyawesome wrote:It's a good thing the media is making it clear that this is happening in Ferguson, Missouri otherwise the world would think St. Louis is a city of crappy ranch houses!

that's a bizarre and kind of troubling statement by McCulloch. What was he thinking? Almost sounds as if he was the one giving orders... what's the procedure for taking him off the case? Is that a plausible scenario?