# 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:** 52
**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, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1021 "2014-08-17T21:13:18Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > 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**? Do you really believe that the only difference between Negroes and whites is cosmetic, or are you being factious? ---
**Author:** ![7e42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/7/51bf81/32.png) [@7e42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/7e42)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1022 "2014-08-17T21:15:19Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Friggin’ awesome. I like to know how its received by the black community, particularly in Furgeson. well the black viewers on youtube didnt like it ---
**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, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1023 "2014-08-17T21:16:24Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Cultural practices, as well as individual preferences and idiosyncrasies, often appear bizarre to others. Some cultural practices are superior to others. ---
**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, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1024 "2014-08-17T21:19:50Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > 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. Back when black people were, for centuries, bought and sold like cattle, routinely brutalized and raped, and then afterwards when they were exploited and oppressed by government and society for another century, there were a lot of things that people “knew from personal experience” about black people that were 100% bullshit. > [@](#): > > Stereotypes are over generalizations of what is really true. No they’re not. They’re, in many cases, just racist remnants of past brutality. Hordes of black men do not plot to slake their lusts by raping white women. > [@](#): > > Even those who hate Jews do not complain that Jews are stupid and lazy. Their complaint is that Jews are “too bright by half.” They also complain that Jews use the blood of Christian babies for their rituals, and that Jews plot in secret to control world finances, and that Jews cannot be trusted. > [@](#): > > There is no stereotype of the big fat, crack addicted Chinese woman on welfare with five illegitimate children by five different men. Who gives a shit? There’s a stereotype of rural white men as dressing up in white sheets and lynching young black men for made-up crimes. This stereotype has no actual bearing on the real world today. ---
**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, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1025 "2014-08-17T21:19:59Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > 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? In Washington, DC Anacostia looks like Georgetown before it was gentrified. The difference is the neighbors. Georgetown is a nice to go on a date. Don’t try that in Anacostia. :eek: ---
**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, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1026 "2014-08-17T21:21:51Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > Do you really believe that the only difference between Negroes and whites is cosmetic, or are you being factious? There’s no reason to believe that race is any more than a social construct. There are many black people that are, biologically, more closely related to various white people than other far flung black people. But, please, enlighten us. How do you believe black people are different from white people? And why do you use an archaic term like ‘Negroes’ to label them? ---
**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, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1027 "2014-08-17T21:22:12Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Back when black people were, for centuries, bought and sold like cattle, routinely brutalized and raped, and then afterwards when they were exploited and oppressed by government and society for another century, there were a lot of things that people “knew from personal experience” about black people that were 100% bullshit. Blacks were enslaved by other blacks and sold to white slave traders during a time when black slaves in Africa were often the victims of human sacrifice and cannibalism. ---
**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, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1028 "2014-08-17T21:23:22Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > My question was - is memorializing someone by placement of bottles of liquor a black cultural practice or an “individual preference”? A bit of both, from my understanding. But it’s not just a black cultural practice, from my understanding. If a friend dies, and he loved to drink bottles of X, his friends might put bottles of X at his memorial. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1029 "2014-08-17T21:23:51Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > Blacks were enslaved by other blacks and sold to white slave traders during a time when black slaves in Africa were often the victims of human sacrifice and cannibalism. …is that supposed to make it OK? ---
**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, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1030 "2014-08-17T21:24:28Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > Blacks were enslaved by other blacks and sold to white slave traders during a time when black slaves in Africa were often the victims of human sacrifice and cannibalism. The “human sacrifice and cannibalism” bit is mostly bullshit. And the fact that there were black slave traders is irrelevant to the crimes of white slave-owners and slave-traders. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1031 "2014-08-17T21:31:50Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > The “human sacrifice and cannibalism” bit is mostly bullshit. And the fact that there were black slave traders is irrelevant to the crimes of white slave-owners and slave-traders. Sure, but “black people were sold into slavery by other black people” is on the list, right after “black on black crime.” You don’t expect the dude to just skip the items that don’t work as well, do you? What’ll he do when he gets to “blacks aren’t disadvantaged in this country anymore because black POTUS,” if he has to prescreen? ---
**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, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1032 "2014-08-17T21:32:10Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > Do you really believe that the only difference between Negroes and whites is cosmetic, or are you being factious? I AM being facetious, actually, but I’m curious what YOU think the differences are and what those differences stem from. My take is that they’re mostly social differences and those differences stem from the historical treatment of people of color by the majority American society and culture. ETA: A “history” that is certainly not complete or final. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1033 "2014-08-17T21:33:17Z")
Reddit and other sources have been discussing some spontaneous witness comments. It’s hard to make out but this transcript seems accurate. [http://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/2dszhk/a\_witness\_conversation\_unknowingly\_captured\_at/](http://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/2dszhk/a_witness_conversation_unknowingly_captured_at/) It sounds like this guy charged right at the cop. Even being fired at he didn’t stop until he went down. That video of him strong arming the store clerk showed how big and aggressive this guy was. He wasn’t going down with just one shot. Who knows if this ever makes it into court. But it is interesting. Video. listen for yourself at the 6 min mark and confirm the transcript. CNN has the same video. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdL9dqkyjhM) [http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2014/08/16/nd-ferguson-cell-phone-video-mike-brown-body-on-ground.cnn&hpt=hp\_t1&from\_homepage=yes&video\_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F](http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2014/08/16/nd-ferguson-cell-phone-video-mike-brown-body-on-ground.cnn&hpt=hp_t1&from_homepage=yes&video_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F) > [@](#): > > This is the transcript of the witness’ comments as I hear them; you have to watch the video too in order to get the context. Raw video (witness description of shooting happens a little after the 6 minute mark): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdL9dqkyjhM#t=357](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdL9dqkyjhM#t=357) > > Man1:“that’s the one that ran behind this one right here, cuz he ran up there where we was at - where we live at! Y’all, when I came back outside all I seen was that truck right there and dude was - I don’t know what happened…” [he is referring to the police “truck”] > > Man2: “whose hat is that right there?” [referring to Brown’s hat in the street] > > Man1: “that’s his hat…I don’t know what happened…” > > Man2: “How’d get get from there to here?” [from the cop vehicle to down the street, or from where the hat was laying] > > Man1: “Cuz he ran. The police was still in the truck” > > Man2: “They came this way?” > > Man1: “No…he was right there, the police was still in the truck…he was like…I don’t know what was in his head…”[crosstalk] > > Man2: “why his body come this way, though?” [why is Brown’s body facing the cop vehicle] > > Man1: “…in the truck…yeah, him and the police…[puttin] him in the police truck…he was like over the truck right now…but then he ran…police got out and ran after him…and then the next thing I know, he coming back towards the police…police had his gun drawn up already…” > > Man2: “oh, the police got the brother [crosstalk]??” > > Man1: “the police shot him…the police kept [dumping?] on him…I’m thinking that the police missing, like he like…police were like at this far corner[?]…[crosstalk]…police fire shots…next thing I know I think he’s missing…” > > Man2: “The police shoot him?” > > Man1: “The police shot him…next thing I know, I think he’s missing…and the the dude started running, coming TOWARDS the police!” ---
**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, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1034 "2014-08-17T21:35:37Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > No they’re not. They’re, in many cases, just racist remnants of past brutality. Hordes of black men do not plot to slake their lusts by raping white women. Unfortunately, many of them do. According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics from 1976 to 2005 the black murder rate fluctuated from 6.3 to 9.5 times the white rate. [http://www.columbia.edu/~rs328/Homicide.pdf](http://www.columbia.edu/~rs328/Homicide.pdf) The murder rate is a good way of evaluating the entire crime rate because murders are more likely to come to the attention to the police. ---
**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, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1035 "2014-08-17T21:37:45Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > They also complain that Jews use the blood of Christian babies for their rituals, and that Jews plot in secret to control world finances, and that Jews cannot be trusted. My point is that there is no legitimate reason for hating Jews. Blacks really do have a very high crime rate. After being the victim of several black criminals many non blacks begin to hate the entire race. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1036 "2014-08-17T21:38:28Z")
> [@xenophon41](#): > > Yes, a black person has recorded an opinion! On YouTube!! The _black community_ must provide a response to this! > > Um… who do we call for that, exactly? And, just so we can compare that response to the reasonable and expected baseline, who’s got the _white community_ response duty this week? I believe that the Right Reverend Sharpton is the normal Go To guy for this. As for a white response, we need someone of commensurate whiteness and intelligence. I’m thinking Dan Quayle if he’s available. ---
**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, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1037 "2014-08-17T21:39:41Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > Unfortunately, many of them do. Got it. You think many black men are rapists. Do you think many Jews are a danger to Christian children? > [@](#): > > According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics from 1976 to 2005 the black murder rate fluctuated from 6.3 to 9.5 times the white rate. > > [http://www.columbia.edu/~rs328/Homicide.pdf](http://www.columbia.edu/~rs328/Homicide.pdf) > > The murder rate is a good way of evaluating the entire crime rate because murders are more likely to come to the attention to the police. Crime rates tells us nothing about how individuals of various backgrounds are treated by society and by the justice system, nor anything about the history of how various groups have been treated. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1038 "2014-08-17T21:41:10Z")
Just realized the dumb asses at cnn choose to edit out the last 6 mins of the Mike Brown eyewitness video. Gee I wonder why? :dubious: Fot now at least the uncut video is on youtube. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets taken down. The narrative of the racist murdering cop has to be protected. ---
**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, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1039 "2014-08-17T21:41:15Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > My point is that there is no legitimate reason for hating Jews. So you’re saying that there is legitimate reason for hating black people? > [@](#): > > Blacks really do have a very high crime rate. After being the victim of several black criminals many non blacks begin to hate the entire race. I’m sure this is true. I have no doubt that many racists have had bad experiences with black people (or white people, or Japanese people, etc.). That doesn’t excuse racist statements or racist behavior. ---
**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, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1040 "2014-08-17T21:42:28Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > My point is that there is no legitimate reason for hating Jews. Then why did you say stereotypes have a basis in truth? Is it only black stereotypes that have a basis in truth? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354.md?page=51) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354.md?page=53)