I grew up near Ferguson and after moving around have now moved back to where I grew up. So I've been watching events in Ferguson with the experience of having lived here and having lived in other parts of the country that are very different.
The biggest problem in reporting and social media is the desire to reduce the situation to a black and white picture. No pun intended. It's shades of gray.
Brown was not a perfect teen. First of all he was a teen, not a child but not an adult yet either. I did some of my stupidest stuff at his age. Brown had flaws. In my opinion that does not justify his being shot to death. A lot of people agree with me.
Not all police are racist, violent or pretend soldiers. Some are.
Not all protesters are looters. Some bad people take advantage of the situation.
Not all police are trained in crowd control. Lack of training makes some of the decent cops do dumb things. But not all are decent regardless of their race.
Race has a lot to do with this. I grew up here. Some white people are very racist around here but usually it's hidden from public view. Perhaps some black people are racist. I have less experience with that.
The most important word in what I wrote this morning is SOME. There are no absolute statements that are true.