Finally this thread appears to be touching on the root of the problem. In the hopes this will NOT offend, but from where I sit America IS obsessed with race, anytime there is a black-non black confrontation, the headlines are soon filled with it.
The details of this have been hashed, re-hashed and hashhished to death, nothing changes and nothing will change by arguing them further.
This is far greater a problem than the single incident of a white cop shooting a black kid. This strikes at the soft underbelly of the growing distrust in the nation's institutions, from the civil service, to the police, to firefighters [who were attacked trying to fight the fires] to the courts and ultimately to the presidency. The trust isn't just gone, it's rotting in grave.
Why is this "no surprise"? Weeks and weeks have been spent with civic leaders, clergy, and the president himself have spoken to the community to "remain calm" in their legal protests, and in minutes all that evaporated. The situation was as raw as the day it happened, ripe for manipulation. How in the name of God could no one see this coming? No one in DP has even expressed surprise.
That instigators and activists have exploited the tension is no surprise either, at least it shouldn't be, but there again we see the enormity of the issue, and the complete disconnect of the community, the police, and the president.
The sad news is I don't see Ferguson as the last one of these either. Noting is being resolved here.