Says it all about what it means to have a black President: It don’t mean shit. Whitey still on top, keeping the Black man from even GROWING UP AND GOING TO COLLEGE.
This is where Whitey wants the Black man and Whitey will FIGHT to keep him DOWN.
Apparently, in Ferguson, the penalty for jaywalking while black is death.
Something seems off about this photograph.
The thing that stands out most for me is the strange combination of garments. We’ve got desert tan tactical boots of some sort, woodland MARPAT Marine Corps camouflage BDU bottoms, olive drab tactical shirts, and matte black helmets. There’s also the fact that aside from the shoulder patches and backplates that read “Police”, there are no badges or nametags or other individual identifiers.
The photograph caption describes these as officers in riot gear, but this is NOT riot gear. I even checked to see if it was some regional district-specifc quirk, and Google image search quickly reveals that Ferguson Police employ actual riot gear, with the unified black and blue outfits and the riot shields and vests you would expect.
What’s going on here? Why the hodgepodge gear that looks like someone raided a military surplus store? Why do they have rifles (seemingly the Ruger SR-556?), but lack holstered sidearms? Why is the photograph set a good distance away from police lights in the background, on the other side of a fence? Was this perhaps staged? The SR-556 is popular with police and military forces, but it’s equally popular with Airsoft enthusiasts.
I honestly don’t know what to think. There are a lot of odd inconsistencies here that I find to be unpleasantly niggling. Can someone help me look into this more?
I’d really like this to just be a case of unusual equipment choices of the same gun-crazy police force that allowed the event that sparked this civil unrest to happen in the first place, but I’d rest easier knowing the truth about this photograph rather than take it at face value.
Now do any of you understand why Cory’s embrace of this racist caricature of Obama was so completely fucked up? Or still just going totally over your heads? This crap literally gets Black men killed in this country.
We are only seeing there left hand sides, most people are right handed and thus wear their pistol on the right hand side.
The barrels on the AR style rifles appear to be too short to be Ruger SR556s they are also lacking the adjustable gas plug, These rifles and some kind of short barreled NFA affair.
Edit - Meant to reply to funruly, but lord_geekington’s observations also are sound.
Nice find on that picture! It removes pretty much all of my doubts that these are, in fact, police officers. I’m still somewhat confused by the mish-mash of gear, but that’s a minor concern at this point.
Now to hope this whole mess ends well enough with no one else dead on either side. Then we can talk about reforming the system, as it so badly needs it.
(And you’re correct about the rifles - I now suspect they might be modified AR-15s, given the shape of the front sight.)
[quote=“Glitch, post:10, topic:38899”]
Nice find on that picture! It removes pretty much all of my doubts that these are, in fact, police officers. I’m still somewhat confused by the mish-mash of gear, but that’s a minor concern at this point.
[/quote]The mishmash of gear is probably because it’s all bought (practically given away I should say) secondhand from the military, which is where most all tactical/SWAT/riot type stuff comes from nowdays. Especially in these smallish towns.
Do you know this for a fact, or are you speculating?
Because I’m not at all personally familiar with police equipment acquisitions procedures, but in order to take your word on the subject I need some sort of evidence that you do know what you’re talking about. (No offense!)
Reserve. Deputy. Sheriffs.
Many counties have them, especially the larger departments, and Ferguson is in St. Louis County.
If it turns out that face value and truth are exactly the same in this case, will that let you rest easier?
niggle (v.)
1590s (implied in niggling), possibly from a Scandinavian source (compare Norwegian dialectal nigla “be busy with trifles”), perhaps related to source of niggard. Related: Niggled; niggling; niggler.
But please, by all means call me a racial slur like “cracker” (and assume my ethnicity in the process!) because you took mistaken offense at my choice of an accurately descriptive word that is entirely unrelated to a quite separate racial slur.
Interesting. That’s a topic for me to research. Thanks.
Yes, it will.
I seek truth and facts in all things, because without them I cannot make any sort of rational judgement. If I cannot judge rationally, what value is there in my opinions or beliefs? Without logic, I am little better than a raving lunatic.
It’s a natural human reaction to respond with fear, outrage, violence, or resistance to things which offend our sensibilities, but humans are incredibly fallible creatures, and I prefer to check my biases against reality before letting myself become emotionally or judgementally charged one way or another. I don’t always succeed, but I at least try to promote logic over emotion within my own life and views.
Interesting article! Thank you for the citation! It’s much appreciated.
Those are St. Louis County police (you can sorta read the bottom of the shoulder patches in the full size photo).
Ferguson is a small city; the St. Louis metro area consists of dozens of small cities whose police departments sort-of-coordinate in an awkward way. County police and some from neighboring cities have been part of the thing.
Just talk to the Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services Law Enforcement Support Office. Ask about the 1033 program.
It’s possible that some of it is just officer tacticool being tacticool; but the LESO and 1033 surplus disposition are real enough.
Speaking of Officer Tacticool; what possible reason would there to be bringing that sort of rifle to a protest? Shotguns have a variety of (not always) less-than-lethal options; but 5.56 not so much. Either you are waving one of those because you actually were considering abundant lethal force or because you are bluffing. That seems like appallingly shoddy practice.
Good information! Just want you to know I value this kind of fact checking. Please be patient with my ignorance!
You left out “niggardly.”
