Violence overshadows Ferguson protests: #tellusatoday

On Monday, a state of emergency was declared in St. Louis County as protests marking a year since the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., turned violent. Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

I’m sorry that Michael Brown lost his life and his parents lost their son. However, if Brown had complied with the officer, he would be eating and breathing today.

— Judy Canup

If people lived near Ferguson, they would understand the need to act on certain biases or stereotypes. For the health and safety of my kids, I have no problem with that.

— Ward W Morris

Many of us stereotype and profile people, which is OK as individuals. If I see young men or women who look a certain way, I make assumptions regardless of color. However, it is not OK for law enforcement agencies to do so. I’m a college-educated, successful black man. Is it OK for police to profile me in my own neighborhood because I might look out of place? No, it is not.

— Rick Baker

These protests that turn violent are useless! Too many thugs are just causing trouble for the sake of trouble! They don’t care about Brown; they just want a reason to shoot at the police.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There are real cases with evidence showing how out of control some cops are, but that doesn’t mean all cops are bad.

— Rick Neal

Sure, black lives matter. All lives matter. But you have to make your own life matter.

No matter what color you are, if you live the life of a thug, then someday you will pay the price. You can’t blame the police for protecting themselves and citizens.

— Sharon Brooksbank

Letter to the editor:

The promoters of the “all lives matter” movement don’t get it.

African Americans sponsoring the “black lives matter” movement are not saying other lives, particularly white lives, don’t matter. White lives already matter. It’s black lives that still don’t matter as much in our society. That’s their point.

Babu G. Ranganathan; Boyertown, Pa.

A year after the Michael Brown shooting, what progress has been made in relations between police and the black community? Comments from Twitter are edited for clarity and grammar:

The only progress is more use of body cameras. Police, district attorneys and grand juries still protect bad cops.

— @ArtisThe

Very little progress, because it’s a failure-to-obey-the-law thing, not a race thing. Many blacks refuse to see that.

— @pstmstr

There’s been no progress. Police unions are anti-American, more fascist than freedom loving! They protect bullies.

— @boyermarcMI

Racism should stop in the U.S. This is supposed to be the leading country in the world!

— @amalfad2006

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