# Ferguson, MO **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 12, 2014, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354 "2014-08-12T04:51:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 51
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1001 "2014-08-17T19:31:24Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Oh, its been taken care of, the Guns 'R Us stores have a fifty percent surcharge for a “They’re Coming To Get You!” sales promotion. Surcharge? ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1002 "2014-08-17T19:36:16Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > …And a thief can yet be reformed, a corpse can only be buried. (post shortened) That’s something that every potential thief and looter should be made aware of. ---
**Author:** ![JEngelman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JEngelman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JEngelman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1003 "2014-08-17T19:40:25Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > I always wonder about the statement “I don’t believe their actions were justified, but I do think they are understandable”. To me, “understandable” means “justified” if you’re talking about someone like yourself. As in “I could possibly do the same (that is, justify it to myself) in the same circumstance”. > > The only way “understandable” is not the same as “justified” is if you’re talking about someone lesser, morally and ethically, than you. As in “Obviously I wouldn’t do that, but that kind of person, whatchagonnado?”. I do not believe the actions of the police were justified, but I believe they were understandable. How’s that? Actually, I believe the actions of the police were justified as well as understandable. There is no excuse for crime. There is no excuse for looting stores. Most of these stores are owned by families that have no other likelihood. They are frequently robbed at gun point, or by shop lifting. Whenever there is a black ghetto riot it is important for the police to crush it as quickly as possible. There is no nice way to do that. ---
**Author:** ![JEngelman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JEngelman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JEngelman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1004 "2014-08-17T19:56:27Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Young black men are getting shot and killed by the police for the same reason that they got lynched back in the Jim Crow days and were enslaved for centuries before then. > > Racism has never made sense, so stop trying to rationalize this shit away. Young black men are more likely to be murdered by other young black men than they are likely to be killed by the police. As long as blacks have a rate of violent crime that is over seven times the white rate, racism will persist. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1005 "2014-08-17T19:56:47Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > BTW - this is a bit of an off-topic, but what is with all the bottles of liquor in the supposed memorial on the site where Michael Brown was shot? Or is this a fake photo? There are flowers there - looks like a memorial, but I don’t get the liquor bottles. Is that something in “black culture” that I am not understanding? > > [http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/16517794/image/105792500-people-look-at-a-memorial-erected-on-the-site-where-michael-brown-was-shot-in-ferguson](http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/16517794/image/105792500-people-look-at-a-memorial-erected-on-the-site-where-michael-brown-was-shot-in-ferguson) And what’s the deal with stepping on the wine glass at a wedding? I mean, who are the ad wizards that came up with this gem? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1006 "2014-08-17T19:58:43Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > As long as blacks have a rate of violent crime that is over seven times the white rate, racism will persist. Racism was around long before crime stats were recorded, and racism was alive and well at the times in American history (i.e. _most of American history_) when white people committed far, far more crimes against black people than the reverse. So this is a bullshit statement that has nothing to do with reality. ---
**Author:** ![JEngelman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JEngelman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JEngelman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1007 "2014-08-17T20:02:11Z")
> [@Taber](#): > > The media/mainstream racist view of black men is that they are threatening and violent. A black guy doing something will be seen as more threatening than a white guy doing the same thing by many racists. Police officers tend to react violently towards people they view as threatening, so the stereotype of violent black men leads to more police violence against black men than against other races. Many newspapers refuse to report the race of criminal suspects. The image I see on Hollywood movies and television programs is of blacks behaving and performing as well as whites. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1008 "2014-08-17T20:02:13Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > BTW - this is a bit of an off-topic, but what is with all the bottles of liquor in the supposed memorial on the site where Michael Brown was shot? Or is this a fake photo? There are flowers there - looks like a memorial, but I don’t get the liquor bottles. Is that something in “black culture” that I am not understanding? > > [http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/16517794/image/105792500-people-look-at-a-memorial-erected-on-the-site-where-michael-brown-was-shot-in-ferguson](http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/16517794/image/105792500-people-look-at-a-memorial-erected-on-the-site-where-michael-brown-was-shot-in-ferguson) I’m an older white guy, but if I died tomorrow in a way that made a memorial likely, I can totally see my buddies putting crafte beer bottles at the shrine. Dude liked his mad dog, and his friends recognized it. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1009 "2014-08-17T20:15:26Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > Whenever there is a black ghetto riot it is important for the police to crush it as quickly as possible. There is no nice way to do that. Is Ferguson a “black ghetto,” per se? Asking honestly, because in the videos I’ve seen, it just looks like a fairly unremarkable small town. The 2010 census (by way of Wikipedia) says it’s 67.4% black and 29.3% white. Does that demographic alone qualify it as a ghetto? ---
**Author:** ![JEngelman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JEngelman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JEngelman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1010 "2014-08-17T20:18:49Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > Highly related to potential police brutality. > > And my point is simply that the rage being expressed in the protests (and riots) has a legitimate basis quite apart from whether this shooting went down as the witnesses say it did. It has been two generations since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, and the War on Poverty begun. What is that “legitimate basis?” ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1011 "2014-08-17T20:23:54Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > It has been two generations since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, and the War on Poverty begun. What is that “legitimate basis?” There are many aspects, but black people are still treated unequally by the justice system in many places. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1012 "2014-08-17T20:34:55Z")
Its performance art, he’s doing the “clueless white guy” _schtick_. Very droll. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1013 "2014-08-17T20:43:55Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > And what’s the deal with stepping on the wine glass at a wedding? I mean, who are the ad wizards that came up with this gem? [Why Break a Glass at a Jewish Wedding?](http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/542288/jewish/Why-Break-a-Glass-at-a-Wedding.htm) Now - why build a memorial to a black kid out of bottles of liquor? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1014 "2014-08-17T20:52:05Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > [Why Break a Glass at a Jewish Wedding?](http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/542288/jewish/Why-Break-a-Glass-at-a-Wedding.htm) > > Now - why build a memorial to a black kid out of bottles of liquor? I knew the wine glass stuff… I just thought you were doing a comedy bit and was responding in kind. As to the bottles of liquor, they probably have some sort of emotional value to the individuals involved. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1015 "2014-08-17T20:55:20Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I knew the wine glass stuff… I just thought you were doing a comedy bit and was responding in kind. As to the bottles of liquor, they probably have some sort of emotional value to the individuals involved. Was not a comedy bit, was a sincere surprise. If someone built a memorial to me out of bottles of liquor, I know I’d be (if I was watching, “from above”) and definitely my family members would be insulted. I just thought it was bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1016 "2014-08-17T20:59:02Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Was not a comedy bit, was a sincere surprise. If someone built a memorial to me out of bottles of liquor, I know I’d be (if I was watching, “from above”) and definitely my family members would be insulted. I just thought it was bizarre. Cultural practices, as well as individual preferences and idiosyncrasies, often appear bizarre to others. ---
**Author:** ![JEngelman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JEngelman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JEngelman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1017 "2014-08-17T20:59:52Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > There are many aspects, but black people are still treated unequally by the justice system in many places. As long as blacks retain a rate of violent crime that is over seven times the white rate, that will persist. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1018 "2014-08-17T21:05:40Z")
Because the ONLY difference between African-Americans and whites is the color of their skin. No class differences, no income differences, no poverty differences, nothing like that. Only the color of their skin. It’s their skin color that makes them “animals”, after all. Have to put 'em down, ya know. Only thing they understand, right, **JEngelman**? ---
**Author:** ![JEngelman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JEngelman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JEngelman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1019 "2014-08-17T21:08:28Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Racism was around long before crime stats were recorded, and racism was alive and well at the times in American history (i.e. _most of American history_) when white people committed far, far more crimes against black people than the reverse. > > So this is a bullshit statement that has nothing to do with reality. Even before accurate statistics were kept people knew from personal experience and the experience of friends and relatives that blacks had a crime rate that was much higher than the white rate. Stereotypes are over generalizations of what is really true. Even those who hate Jews do not complain that Jews are stupid and lazy. Their complaint is that Jews are “too bright by half.” There is no stereotype of the big fat, crack addicted Chinese woman on welfare with five illegitimate children by five different men. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1020 "2014-08-17T21:09:54Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Cultural practices, as well as individual preferences and idiosyncrasies, often appear bizarre to others. My question was - is memorializing someone by placement of bottles of liquor a black cultural practice or an “individual preference”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354.md?page=50) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354.md?page=52)