Ferguson

Hi.

Tell me, when did life get so complicated? I mean, I am a very optimistic person, I try to stay positive, but sometimes the world is just so full of shit that I just want to crawl into my bed and sleep until the world is a less terrible place. Of course I can't, and turning a blind eye just makes the problem worse in the long run. "Be the change you wish to see in the world", but it's so terribly hard sometimes. I feel so inadequate because I'm not in a position of power, I'm young and not very charismatic or a good speaker (not to mention I'm a woman, and women are historically taken less seriously when talking about serious things) and it's so flipping hard to make any kind of lasting impact on anything let alone real, big, terrible issues of inequality.

But this is not about me. This is about Ferguson.

Now, I don't know how much media coverage there has been about this in Finland, but I doubt there's been a lot since there's barely been coverage here in the US.

Ferguson is a city(town?) somewhere in Missouri and it is not a happy place right now. It all started, I believe, with the police killing a young black man called Michael Brown last Saturday. He was unarmed and walking home with a friend from a convenience store. The police say there was a scuffle, but eyewitnesses tell that he was shot while attempting to surrender. I do not know why they apprehended him in the first place, but I think it was because they thought he robbed the store. I don't think he did.

The next day there is a candlelight vigil to honor his death, but it escalates into looting and vandalizing local businesses. More than 30 people are arrested. The following week is filled with protest with varying amount peacefulness to bring justice to Brown. Police use excessive force, including teargas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds. Wednesday evening the police force media out of the city and arrest two reporters who refuse to leave. Yesterday night's protests were peaceful, with officers of the Missouri Highway Patrol joining the marches. Most of the changed atmosphere can be credited to Ron Johnson, who is the commander of MHP. The local police have been accused multiple times of inflaming the situation on purpose and the state police have taken control of the situation, with Johnson in charge. The name of the police officer who killed Brown was finally released this morning.
(Here is a more detailed time line of what's happened.)

Basically the police are being racist and it is terrible. Because the reporters were kicked out there has been little media coverage, but this thing is all over social media. Twitter, vine, tumblr, idk facebook probably. There was also another incident during a protest where another African-American young man was shot in the head. He is in critical condition at the moment, but he might pull through. The officer who shot him claimed that he was carrying a firearm in the protest and Jon Belmar, the St. Louis County Chief of Police, stated that he had no reason to doubt the officer's version of the story.

And it just, UGH. I'm so angry and sad and disgusted that something like this can honest to god happen it's 2014 people WOULD YOU PLEASE GET IT TOGETHER!!! That's basically what happened, but here's a few links to some articles and stuff. (Also a petition against police brutality, in case you wanna sign it idk.)

I'm gonna go look at some cat gifs now, before I get even more depressed.

Pie out.

P.S. I have a plan for the punishment posts, but I request that I get some more time to do them (they will involve a lot of pictures I have yet to draw you see). And you know, I was offline for two weeks, so maybe they didn't count?

P.P.S. In case you didn't do it already, watch Firefly. You will like it and then love it and grow terribly attached to the little fucks just in time to haVE IT STAB YOU IN THE CHEST. I'M A LEAF IN THE WIND DON'T TOUCH ME.