Ferguson protesters chanted, "Hands up, don't shoot!" Darren Wilson supporters replied, "Shoot!"

[kpete]

Sometimes, there are moments so stark that they have the power to encapsulate an ugly truth in a single frame. This is one such moment:

Today in Saint Louis, around 100 people demonstrated in support of Darren Wilson, the officer who gunned down Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The mostly white crowd gathered at a local watering hole popular with police, held signs and raised money for Wilson. Many suggested Wilson was the victim of a rush to judgement, and some insisted the episode had nothing to do with race, but rather with a police officer doing his job, as evidenced by this gem:

“They are saying it’s murder because a white officer killed a black man,” said Karen Kennedy, who attended the rally with her daughter Katie. “I don’t know where that comes from."

Despite the troubling implications of supporting a police officer who gunned down an unarmed teenager with six bullets, all was relatively peaceful.

And then came the moment. A counter protest developed in response to the gathering of Wilson supporters, and many of them began chanting, "Hands up, don't shoot," a reference to the fact that, according to both witnesses and an autopsy, Brown had his hand raised in the air when he was shot.

In response? Wilson's supporters began chanting, "Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!"

Here is The Washington Post's Wesley Lowery, who captured the moment on Twitter:

WesleyLowery ✔ @WesleyLowery
Follow
At one point tonight, Michael Brown protesters chanted "hands up, don't shoot!"
Darren Wilson supporters responded: "Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!"
7:05 PM - 23 Aug 2014

https://twitter.com/WesleyLowery/statuses/503362482883538945


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/24/1324173/-Ferguson-protesters-chanted-Hands-up-don-t-shoot-Darren-Wilson-supporters-replied-Shoot

[LisaLynne]

1. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about the pro-Wilson people, doesn't it? nt

[etherealtruth]

4. Yes it does!

It speaks volumes for them and for him

[Agschmid]

18. Yup.

[Laelth]

2. Lovely. (sarcasm) n/t

-Laelth

[FarPoint]

3. This racist element of American society is propagated by the teabaggers and right wing TV/radio.

I first felt their creepy emergence during the GOP 2004 Convention with anti Kerry/swiftboat campaign. This monster of hate has become a mushroom cloud of hate.

[Duppers]

10. exactly. nt

[VanGoghRocks]

13. 2004? Try 1980 and Philadelphia, MS where Ray-gun launched his campaign. You

cannot top that for symbolism.

Lest I appear too histrionic, flash forward to Ray-gun's visit to the SS cemetery at Bitburg. (Yeah, your average Republican has forgotten how Ray-gun cozied up to anti-semites as well as anti-black racists.)

[iloveObama12]

5. OMG How Racist Are These White Folks in Ferguson

[MohRokTah]

6. Wilson is supported by Nazis. eom

[VanGoghRocks]

14. Not to put too fine a point on it, but . . .

Fascism: Then and Now

[Cha]

7. Darren Wilson, your supporters are coming off as mean vicious assholes trying

to emulate you.

Thanks Wesley Lowery.. thanks kpete

[IDemo]

8. That brings to mind this -

[Duppers]

9. sick, sick, sick

[Iggo]

11. Kill! Kill! Kill!

Remind me, who's the good guys again?

[logosoco]

12. I wish someone had taken a poll to see if they were prolife, too. nt

[VanGoghRocks]

15. Brilliant! Sincere hat tip!

[mcar]

16. Disgusting

It's just all out in the open now, isn't it?

[pintobean]

17. Are there any other reports of this

other than Wesley Lowery's tweet? I live in St. Louis, and haven't seen any reports of Wilson's supporters chanting, "Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!". Was Lowery even there? Did he shoot any video? Does any video exist?

[rock]

19. Well right there's the problem!

Like we didn't already know the DW supporters were assholes!

[Bobbie Jo]

20. Disgusting people

This was nothing but a Klan rally, sans hoods and robes.