The news media is guilty of stoking racial tension and unrest

[billydaman]

Originally Posted by greywar

Sigh. No, the media is not to blame. Institutionalized racism, inequality, hopelessness, etc etc.

Without any of that the media wouldn't be enough to "cause" any of the things you are complaining about. The DOJ report made it quite clear whats been occurring in Ferguson for decades.

Listening to you its "Theres no underlying problem, its all the medias fault!". Thats just sad. Seriously, the DOJ report is pretty bad.

Show me the evidence that demonstrates brown's shooting was race related. There is none, yet because the cop was white, he is suspected of being a racist. no one is saying there is not issues but to say the media is accurately reporting these events is absurd.

[billydaman]

Originally Posted by greywar

Not just a minor revenue source....
Ferguson has a population of 21,111. They had ticket revenue of over 2 million in 2012.

In other words an average of almost $100 per person....in 2012. The 2015 budget estimate upped that to almost 150/person. With the vast majority of that paid by people of color. So if you were black, and of working age you probably faced average fines of about 500/year.

Additionally...many of the people within the system had tickets fixed.

I could go on, but surely you can see how some might get....oh I dunno...angry?

A all white police force....

Policing for profit: How Ferguson's fines violated rights of African-Americans - CNN.com

And this city? the average income 37K/year. 2/3 of the city is black...the entire police force is white. hmmmmmm

But of course to you...thats nothing at all right? Nothing to see here?

How many in the city vote? How many black people apply for jobs at the PD? How many black candidates run for office? What does the race of the police force have anything to do with anything? How much of the ticket revenue was paid for by citizens of Ferguson? What evidence is there of the police targeting minorities. It does seem they were rather aggressive in citing traffic offenses, probably too aggressive...I did not read any evidence of racial profiling. The only evidence is a high amount of minorities which can be an indicator of racism but not by itself. CNN did not investigate other possibilities for a high number of AA being cited. The CNN article missed the boat on real investigative journalism and perpetrated racial tension by sensationalize a few stats that were not put in any kind of proper context. There may have been racism involved but we cant tell by that article as it has an obvious narrative its trying to tell which has little to do with objective reporting.

[Ih2puo]

Originally Posted by TheMoreYouKnow

In case you missed it ..... Micheal Brown is why Michael Brown got shot and killed.

Who cares. There are a bunch of racists in uniforms with badges rabble rabble rabble!

[diva360]

In my opinion, it's not necessarily the media's fault for doing what the OP says. (See, for example, how the OP's tagline assigns guilt and blame).

What prevents us from talking clearly about problems with police brutality and how purported criminals might be targeted is our insistence on narratives with clear innocent victims and vicious brutes. Was Michael Brown a choir boy? Of course not, but that should be beside the point. The fact that he was not did not warrant his death sentence. Was the cop who shot him an evil, baby-eating monster? Of course not, and that should also be beside the point. Darren Wilson did what he did; unfortunately, it's likely that his perceptions about black masculinity affected what he did with tragic results all around.

Getting over the hero/villain narrative that so many seem to prefer would go a fair distance in allowing us to discuss problems about any number of things intelligently, whether such problems have to do with race or not. By saying that, I'm certainly not saying that problems with race aren't important, but rather that the discussion here really reveals the extent to which many prefer narratives involving ascribing either complete innocence or guilt upon cultural actors. Can't we discuss real problems that we have that go beyond putting white and black hats on people because being a grown up means outgrowing the need for vaudeville narratives?