We’ve Seen These Before and it Never Gets Better
For the past three days the city of St. Louis has been in a chaotic state. Since Friday September, 15 after former police officer(Jason Shockley) was acquitted in the killing of a black man(Anthony Lamar Smith). In an ongoing case from 2011, where the officer was on trial for not only killing the black driver, but for also planting a weapon on him. Evidence presented shows Stockley’s DNA only on the gun and an internal video camera capturing a moment when Stockley tells his partner he intended to kill Smith. St.Louis circuit judge, Timothy Wilson decided not to convict Stockley because he had murdered Smith, but was defending himself.
As soon as the case was over and Stockley was acquitted demonstrators took to the streets to protest holding “Black Lives Matter” signs. Since then it’s has been nonstop protesting day and night. From as peaceful as it can be to as violent as it has got. Protestors have gone to the Mayors house and have thrown objects at it breaking windows before riot police had been able to disperse them. Although these riots have not yet to be as violent as the Ferguson riots, interaction between officers and civilians have not been so peaceful either. As it has been shown that some officers beat an elderly woman that was protesting. Also, reports from an undercover cop car reversing into protestors and then being protected by riot police have been seen. According to police Chief Lawrence O’Toole the protestors have also been peaceful — for example there was a six minute moment of silence for the six years of wait to end up with no justice — but are out numbered by violent protestors the darker it gets.
Something that has caught my eye is how the St.Louis PD has tried to gain sympathy and make it all about the protestors being aggressive towards them on social media without mentioning what they have done. For example, there is video evidence of a cop breaking and vandalizing a store front, but then they are blaming it on the protestors. They keep posting pictures of weapons and bottles of “unknown chemicals”. Which has been apple cider used to treat the mace being used against the protestors by the riot police. The biggest problem with all of this is that news channels are shadowing and putting all of this aside, in my opinion to put all the attention on the “aggressive” protestors and take some attention off the case itself and the police brutality happening. For example, video has surfaced of riot officers randomly shooting protestors with non-lethals. A fund has been set up for the citizens risking arrest, that have faced unjust repression by police.
