So, what do those Ferguson protesters want, anyway?

[eridani]

http://www.upworthy.com/the-part-of-the-feguson-protests-that-no-one-wants-you-to-see?c=upw1

He told me, "The protestors apparently leave them on EVERY CAR, EVERY TIME they protest."



It's been really weird hearing the national news talk about protesters who don't know what they want when I'm sitting here in my kitchen in St. Louis looking at a flyer that spells it out so clearly. I don't get it.

Based on the amount of retweets these flyers got, I'm not the *only* one who doesn't get it...

Maybe if enough of you see their flyers, the news might start feeling left out and join the "noticing the flyers protesters bring to every protest" party!

[Liberal Veteran]

1. What language is that? It is so hard to understand the meaning.

Joining us now is a Faux News cryptologist on loan from the Koch Brothers to help us decipher this mysterious message found around St. Louis.

[Iris]

2. They don't really want to know. Why won't people listen to black people?

That's what this boils down to for me. The black community is clearly suffering and they are trying to explain their experience yet no one will listen. It makes me angry and sick. It's so clear that this is institutionalized racism at every level.

[Dustlawyer]

7. They have made black people, other minorities, the sick and the elderly into the scapegoats to

use to direct or displace the anger of the middle class and poor whites for why they are not doing well. That is why they get so angry and hateful, they truly believe these groups to be responsible for the sorry state of the country.
The real cause of it all is the take over of our whole political, banking and media by the greedy oligarchs like the Kochs and Wall Streeters. They continue to do a masterful job in having us fight each other and fight the symptoms of their control such as our inability to get anything done on the racialized police and court system, women's rights, public education, climate change...
If we want REAL change in this country we are going to have to attack the method by which they are able to continue their control over our (their) Representatives. We must end campaign contributions and have Publicly Funded Elections. Then you will find the road to rectifying the police brutality and racism much easier to travel!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. Younger people get what's going on....

The problem is getting intelligent, reasonable people hired in the police when the guys who look at applications are like this guy:

[Cal Carpenter]

3. Meh. It misses the point

The cops kill and maim with impunity - disproportionately against people of color, the poor, the powerless.

The 'justice system' is a sham.

The problems are deep and systemic. NO ONE with any power will recognize that publicly. The system itself will NEVER alleviate that.



The New Jim Crow is becoming in-your-face lynching at the hands of the state.

And the only thing exceptional about the current news about all this is that it is actually getting national attention.

[daredtowork]

4. Some local protests aren't communicating well

The Berkeley protests have gotten a lot of media attention without being clear on what they want. I go into part of the problem here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025949244#post42

I have a feeling that one reason the goals of the protest aren't clearly stated is that there is a divide between the main student group leading the protests, and the population they are gathering mainly "peaceful protesters" from.

Most of the people participating in the protest only have the vaguest notion of the goals in mind: it's something about being against what happened at Ferguson, it's something about #BlackLivesMatter, it's something about the unfairness of the Grand Jury System, it's something about the abuse of police power, it's something about social justice/change...but there are no specific goals that are laid out at the protests.

If you go to the web site of the student group leading the protests, they append to the vague ideas (Down with the New Jim Crow!) some specific demands that would be untenable to the people they are gathering/leading:
1) Free all the jailed protesters (What - you mean the vandals and looters and those guys who beat up the Divinity student for trying to put fires out...?)
2) Overthrow the Democratically elected Mayor (for allowing tear gas to be used at a protest). (Sorry kids, not going to happen. Shades of the fall of the Weimar Republic there...).
3) Overtures about white people "not policing tactics". (Like vandalism, looting, and burning the city down...).

Well, you get the drift.

I'm not going to debate these tactics. I'm at the very least philosophically interested in the problem of white people demanding that a protest to address black problems be conducted according to white terms. (White Saviors, much?)

However...I do think it's wrong to gather protesters under false pretenses, and I think that notion will only grow as long as the leadership of the protests don't lay out their principles and demands in the way St. Louis did.

The media can talk about muddled protesters not knowing what they want because some protests, such as Berkeley's, pull huge stunts that get media attention: but once they grabbed the megaphone they did not have a unified voice to speak into it.

[Scootaloo]

5. This happens with every long-lasting protest. it happened with OWS.

The media seeks to portray the protestors as mindless rabble who have no cause or goals other than "being obnoxious."

Which is funny because when these protests start, the media usually reports exactly what the protests are about and what the people engaging in them want.

[Electric Monk]

6. I've become convinced that there are some people who have a vested interest in not understanding.

Occam's razor, etc

[Cha]

8. "A New NOrmal"! Yes.. thanks eridani

[marym625]

9. They are demanding humanity

And have been vocal about what the demands from the beginning.

These are organized, intelligent people.

http://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/248643832?width=360