Ferguson : Proof That America is Turning Into a Militarized Police State
Equipped with fatigues, assault weapons and armored vehicles,
the police response in Ferguson, Missouri was proof that America is
quickly becoming a militarized police state.
The shooting and killing of 18 year-old Michael Brown by a police
officer sparked outrage in Ferguson, Missouri – a city that is
predominantly Black but where the police force is overwhelmingly White.
According to eye witnesses, the young man was shot about eight times,
even though he was unarmed and had his hands in the air. Ferguson police
officials stated that Brown was attempting to take a police officer’s
weapon – a version of the story that was contradicted by various eye
witness accounts.
The death of the young man at the hand of police caused protests
which degenerated into looting and rioting. Far from attempting to calm
the situation, local authorities turned Ferguson into an occupied war
zone as police showcased its vast array of military equipment. Ferguson,
an inner-suburb of the Midwest suddenly occupied by soldiers equipped
with military fatigues, kevlar vests, helmets, tear gas and assault
weapons, followed by armored vehicles topped by snipers. Some war
veterans even noticed that “police officers” were better equipped than
they were while serving in Iraq.
This kind of upsetting scene is becoming increasingly common in
America as police forces across the country have been actively
purchasing military equipment in the past few years.
Walter Olson from the Cato Institute stated:
Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb? Why would cops wear camouflage gear against a terrain patterned by convenience stores and beauty parlors? Why are the authorities in Ferguson, Mo. so given to quasi-martial crowd control methods (such as bans on walking on the street) and, per the reporting of Riverfront Times, the firing of tear gas at people in their own yards? (“‘This my property!’ he shouted, prompting police to fire a tear gas canister directly at his face.”) Why would someone identifying himself as an 82nd Airborne Army veteran, observing the Ferguson police scene, comment that “We rolled lighter than that in an actual warzone”?