Protesters in Ferguson (including plenty of white folks who aren’t being shown as much on the news because white people shouting out for racial justice isn’t as titillating as ‘scary’ black people doing it) are protesting because they are angry. They are angry about racial inequality. They are angry because all too often black men/boys are shot down by law enforcement when unarmed. They are angry because white criminals are treated with more respect and courtesy by the press than black victims. They are angry a video of Michael Brown stealing a cigarillo was released to the press even though it is completely irrelevant to the shooting.
Moreover, they are angry because of the disproportionate police response to black protestors. Compare the police response at Ferguson with the response to the Bundy Ranch Standoff. A group of white “patriots” at the Bundy Ranch Standoff could aim sniper rifles at federal officers and local law enforcement without having teargas shot at them, so why are unarmed black and white protesters met with SWAT teams, tanks, teargas and rubber bullets?
The Ferguson protesters are angry because they have been given a curfew, as if their constitutional and civil rights end after sundown. The Ferguson protesters are angry because they are being teargassed without warning hours before the official “curfew” even begins. They are angry because the media are being threatened and assaulted by law enforcement in an attempt to keep what’s happening in Ferguson from being widely known.
They are angry because they are supposed to shut up and sit down and stop rocking the boat.
There is a reason why the rallying cry of Ferguson, MO and the support protests is “No Justice, No Peace”.