I don’t even know what to say about this amazing report from CBS News where they go and interview Ferguson residents about the “underlying issues” beneath the recent riots. Watch for the enormous elephant in the room no one talks about.
Watch below:
Here’s a transcription from as far as I could figure it out, from the residents talking about the looting:
Luciano: “I don’t condone it, but i understand why they doin’ it. They throwin’ stuff at the police because they throwin’ stuff at us!”
Trey: “I wanted to go down there and loot too, I saw people getting TVs… I wanted to go! But i held my ground.
Luciano: “I wanted to make money!”
Luciano: “It ain’t no black and white thing it’s a police versus the people thing.”
The first two residents are “working musicians,” which means about as much no matter what race you are – unemployment basically. At least Luciano says he’s in a technical school. The reporter goes on to report that the unemployment rate in Ferguson among 20-24 year old black men is an incredibly 46%.
Finally Luciano contributes his opinion that if they don’t restore neighborhoods and the community, that “is gonna be hell to pay!”
The elephant in the room? Destroying businesses is not how you get a job. Applying for a job is how you get a job. Getting marketable skills is how you get a job. It’s amazing that they equate “making money” with “looting.” I equate “making money” with having a job, not committing a crime. The real underlying issue is the attitude that “they” have to come restore neighborhoods – someone else has to come and do stuff for them. Someone else has to come and provide jobs for them.
And of course the reporter ends with saying they don’t want a handout but a hand-up. Because that’s what he wants to believe.