[TheVrist]

A St. Louis police officers' group called on the NFL to punish five Rams players who stood with their hands raised before trotting onto the field for pregame introductions Sunday.

The St. Louis Police Officers' Association said it was "profoundly disappointed" with what it called a "display that police officers around the nation found tasteless, offensive and inflammatory." It called for the players involved to be disciplined and for both the league and team to issue a "very public apology."


The so-called "hands up, don't shoot" gesture has been commonly used by demonstrators protesting the decision of a St. Louis County grand jury to not indict Officer Darren Wilson in the August 9 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in suburban Ferguson. Some witnesses said Brown, who was black, had his hands up before being fatally shot by Wilson, who is white.

Prior to kickoff of their game against the Oakland Raiders, Rams wide receivers Tavon Austin and Kenny Britt came out together and raised their hands, but the move was obscured by a smoke machine in the upper reaches of the Edward Jones Dome. Jared Cook, Stedman Bailey and Chris Givens then came out and stood together with hands raised in the fog.

"I just think there has to be a change," Cook said after the Rams' 52-0 win. "There has to be a change that starts with the people that are most influential around the world.

"No matter what happened on that day, no matter how the whole situation went down, there has to be a change."

Coach Jeff Fisher said he'd not been aware the gesture had been planned by the players, all of them black.

Cook said players have been too busy to go to Ferguson, plus "it's kind of dangerous down there and none of us want to get caught up in anything."

"It takes some guts, it takes some heart, so I admire the people around the world that have been doing it," he added.

SLPOA Business Manager Jeff Roorda was quoted in a statement released by the organization as saying " All week long, the Rams and the NFL were on the phone with the St. Louis Police Department asking for assurances that the players and the fans would be kept safe from the violent protesters who had rioted, looted, and burned buildings in Ferguson ... then, as the players and their fans sit safely in their dome under the watchful protection of hundreds of St. Louis's finest, they take to the turf to call a now-exonerated officer a murderer, that is way out-of-bounds, to put it in football parlance."

Across the street from the stadium, about 75 protesters gathered in the second half as about 30 police wearing riot gear watched from a distance. Protesters chanted "Hands up, don't shoot!" ''No justice, no football!" ''This is what democracy looks like," and "We're here for Mike Brown."

James Weaver of St. Louis was among the protesters outside the stadium and argued with two fans leaving. They were separated by police.

"People don't understand what this is about," Weaver said. "This is about a young man lying on the street for four hours. People are mad."

Weaver added that police are "clicking their boots like the Gestapo."

The Rams had additional security measures in place for the game, including armed personnel from the National Guard. The team has wanded fans outside entrances all season.

Roorda also played down the notion that the players were exercising their right to free speech, saying ""I know that there are those that will say that these players are simply exercising their First Amendment rights. Well I've got news for people who think that way, cops have first amendment rights too, and we plan to exercise ours.

"I'd remind the NFL and their players that it is not the violent thugs burning down buildings that buy their advertiser's products," Roorda added. "It's cops and the good people of St. Louis and other NFL towns that do. Somebody needs to throw a flag on this play. If it's not the NFL and the Rams, then it'll be cops and their supporters."

[niknik]

Breaking News :;

Evidence shows Michael Brown never put his hands up, and never said don't shoot.

So why is this lie being pushed as the truth? And why are there so many among the protesters that believe it's the exact way it went down?

Even many media figures know Michael Brown never attempted to surrender but don't dare bring that up during interviews of family or protesters. Cowards they are.

Instead they show hours of people marching through stores chanting "you can't stop the revolution"

[TheVrist]

Murica!!

The land, where only a thug can bring change.

I get dual citizenship in February, really starting to reconsider my future.

[niknik]

Originally Posted by TheVrist ↗

Murica!!

The land, where only a thug can bring change.

I get dual citizenship in February, really starting to reconsider my future.

I don't blame you. I would absolutely hate to leave America, but if I felt my kids would be better off leaving I would do so. If this so called revolution becomes successful in making its own form of justice, America would no longer be the same in my eyes.

They're talking about making new laws, one will be called the Michael Brown law

[TheVrist]

Originally Posted by niknik ↗

I don't blame you. I would absolutely hate to leave America, but if I felt my kids would be better off leaving I would do so. If this so called revolution becomes successful in making its own form of justice, America would no longer be the same in my eyes.

They're talking about making new laws, one will be called the Michael Brown law

Yea I read that

[niknik]

I do find it insulting for the police to use their many resources to protect that stadium and those players. And then a few of those players decide to use that platform to protest against the police.

The only reason that game was played was because the police secured it.

[TheVrist]

Originally Posted by niknik ↗

I do find it insulting for the police to use their many resources to protect that stadium and those players. And then a few of those players decide to use that platform to protest against the police.

The only reason that game was played was because the police secured it.

Even worse to me, is the Americans that are not in favor of the thug, who paid good money to support the team, the NFL etc, having that forces upon them.


There is a place, and a time, that wasn't one of them.

[niknik]

This is what hope and change looks like. Middle class paying for the poors health care. Allowing hundreds of thousands of immigrant minorities to simply walk into America. The executive orders to legalize illegals, give them our jobs and our benefits.

Obama says in his address we're all immigrants, we're a nation of immigrants. And that's true. But if they're going to use that logic, then let's bring the entire story. Europeans did immigrate to America, where the natives called home. Before America was even established 90% of the natives were murdered, or killed by disease brought by the immigrants. The remaining 10% or so were starved, forced from their homes, made slaves, and forced to conform to the immigrants culture.

Now we're told the American system is set up against minorities. So I wonder why minorities are flocking to America...

[TheVrist]

Originally Posted by niknik ↗

This is what hope and change looks like. Middle class paying for the poors health care. Allowing hundreds of thousands of immigrant minorities to simply walk into America. The executive orders to legalize illegals, give them our jobs and our benefits.

Obama says in his address we're all immigrants, we're a nation of immigrants. And that's true. But if they're going to use that logic, then let's bring the entire story. Europeans did immigrate to America, where the natives called home. Before America was even established 90% of the natives were murdered, or killed by disease brought by the immigrants. The remaining 10% or so were starved, forced from their homes, made slaves, and forced to conform to the immigrants culture.

Now we're told the American system is set up against minorities. So I wonder why minorities are flocking to America...

Most all countries were built by immigration, but there is a time that comes to close the doors, so not to shake the foundations that it was built from.

It is bad enough, America is so over populated, not by so much as in land mass, but by manageable numbers. But we're actually creating a new race, with no cultural roots that aligns with a social standard that built America in the first place.

[TheVrist]

Oh, and i hope Garth Brooks saved up on some retirement

Don't know what kind of message he was trying to send.