The growing tension between protesters and a horrifically over-militarised police force in Ferguson – in the wake of the (let’s call a spade a spade here) murder of Michael Brown – is, frankly, terrifying. And it’s all perhaps best summed up by one key photo.
An innocent citizen in what’s supposed to be a peaceful US suburb, being confronted by a throng of police in military gear – all with guns raised – and a postbox with the message “Fuck the police” scrawled on it. That about sums up the heavy-handed chaos being inflicted upon the town by the St Louis police force.
We all know John Oliver and the Last Week Tonight team to be a phenomenal handler of below-the-radar issues that have been simmering away for months, even years. But it was a mere matter of time before a breaking – and constantly developing – story appeared that the show would not be able to ignore. The question remained: How would they handle a breaking news story within their format?
The answer, of course, is “far better than anyone else in the media can.”
This segment on the Ferguson issue is absolutely must-watch footage, and is as completely hilarious (and it really is very funny) as it is completely terrifying (and it really is scary as shit).
If you’ve got friends who are curious about the situation, but haven’t been able to wade through the mass of media coverage to figure out what’s going on – show them this.
If you’ve got friends who don’t even know there was something happening in Ferguson – show them this.
In fact, if you’ve got any friends at all – show them this.
Forget whatever it is that you’re doing right now, and focus your next fifteen minutes worth of attention on this instead. This is extremely important. Watch it now, watch it twice.
Photo: Scott Olson via Getty Images.
