Thread by @KillerMartinis

So yesterday I damn near got hit by a car, driven by a police officer, who recklessly endangered at least dozens of people if not more.

What happened next was: protesters - the front-line Ferguson crew, specifically, de-escalated the situation while police did the opposite.

And with NO MENTION of that car incident, the police in #STL are now saying that protesters were just weirdly angry! Nearly spontaneously!

Last night, they arrested media wearing obvious hard passes. Legal observers who were in LO uniform. Some protesters.

Before this all started, I told my editors that whether it caught and turned into more than a few days' protest would depend on police.

You know, the police who marched around last night chanting "whose streets? our streets" as though the APCs didn't do that for them.

Well. If you were here watching these events unfold, you'd probably understand why people are very unlikely to go home in STL anytime soon.

I mean, even white people are out en masse. Police are gassing rich people on their doorsteps. It's not going to go away easily now.

I get that it's 2017 and there's a million hurricanes both literal and metaphorical, but this problem predates 2016. So pay attention.

What's happening in St. Louis is a big part of the REASON our politics have veered off into fear and rage and madness lately.

This is a place where safety and security are very palpably and provably only meant for certain sorts of people. Pretty much the white ones.

Here's a picture of St. Louis from two days ago. Open it and see if you can spot the dystopia.

When a democratic society is this completely bonkers its politics will be too. This kind of tension and inequality of station can't last.

Officials here are in a full-on display of gleeful power. Anyone who's been front-line in STL for long will know what that'll look like.

I've watched police break multiple laws and ignore a lot of the Constitution in the last couple days. One time, they've shown restraint.

So feel conflicted about property damage all you like, but do understand that's the least of the worrisome things in St. Louis right now.

And also, it's the narrative officials would like you to be debating. In this and everything, look at the whole picture before judging.