What's happening in Ferguson right now should be unbelievable.
Should being the operative word.
Horribly, it's not.
Tear gas. Riot gear. Swat teams. Snipers. Mace. Dogs. Tanks. All against a group of unarmed protesters fighting for justice against the murder of an innocent child.
And what does the national media say about this?
Nothing.
We are in the dark.
It's only because of heroic citizens on social media that we know anything at all about what's happening right now. And make no mistake, heroes they are. They're risking arrest and their very lives to report the truth... which is far more than any traditional media is willing to do. The television, the newspapers, the radio reports? They're lying to us. They've been bought and sold, and they don't dare question their orders... but the truth is spreading on the Internet. One look on Twitter, Tumblr, or Instagram should tell you all you need to know.
The stories and pictures coming out of Ferguson are horrifying. They should be horrifying beyond belief for anyone with a conscience.
But beyond belief, they're not.
After Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, John Crawford, and Ezell Ford, it's become all too easy to believe.
This is reality. This is the country we live in.
A country where the police can prohibit our constitutional right to freedom of speech. Where they can murder children and get away with it. Where they can lie to the media without being called on it. Where they can commit atrocity after atrocity, and only outrage a select few.
We should be outraged. If there's anything that should cut through the veneer of apathy that's settled over this country, it's this.
We need to wake up.
We need to stop this madness.
We need to stand in solidarity with the heroes in Ferguson.
There's a national moment of silence tonight at 7:00 EST. I'll be placing candles in our windows. It tears my heart apart that I can't be there, that I can't escape my home and do something about this... a candle and this article are all I can do.
May it cast a light into the darkness.
5:25 AM PT: Thank you to everyone informing me of the arrested reporters from the Washington and Huffington Post, and the other brave journalists who are willing to do their jobs. I apologize for belittling their efforts.