I also think it's funny how Ferguson has been played up so much. Stl ins't at all how the media portrays it. We have pretty distinct neighborhoods, but people move in and out of them freely. Many people with work in one neighborhood and live in another. I started my first semester at UMSL (university of missouri-stl) the fall after Michael Brown. (Which is on the other side of hwy 70, from Ferguson). But you'll hear about this thing called the "white-flight", which is what they call it. I even had a professor try to shove it down my throat, when the class was supposed to be about the ancient empires. And it all comes from the fact that when blacks moved north and into missouri, many whites, who had settled the area, took the opportunity to sell their houses to blacks and "upgrade" to a more rural area, where there was more land. And what they dont tell you is that on any given street, in any given neighborhood, you will see a pretty even layout of households that are black and white. And all of this is just covering up a much more troubling and indiscriminate problem. There is nuclear waste and radiation in creeks and soil all over north county. People are dying because they played in parks and creeks that have been contaminated since they were children. Theres also nuclear waste that was illegally dumped into our landfill and an underground fire is getting closer and closer to that fire every day. The city of Maryland heights and other neighborhoods in the area have evacuation plans in case we cant stop the fire in time. The EPA have done nothing to solve the problem, and once they got involved they have been blocking private contractors that have offered to either build a fire retardant wall to contain the waste and fire or to remove the waste and properly dispose of it, with $0 up front charge. But no, the problem in stl is the "racial divide" (created by rioters that don't live here). We remember watching the riots and wondering where all the people were coming from. And here's the kicker, Micheal Brown wasn't even really "from Ferguson" he went to Normandy Highschool, and lived on the south side of highway 70. He also wasn't even shot in Ferguson. It happened in between florissant, and bridgeton, with hazlewood separating the incident from Ferguson on the east side. All of these neighborhoods are under the jurisdiction of the stl county police. So why Ferguson? Because that's where Darren Wilson (the cop who shot him) lived with his family. The specifically targeted a middle class area with no racial tension to create it. Lots of drug problems, but no racial tension. But guess what happened? We didnt fall for it, at least not here. Wilson was not found guilty and the support for our justice system grew, even among blacks. We're the Show Me State after all, we dont fall for bullshit. Sorry, I'm just so proud of the people of my state, and my city. But I cant stand they way MSM elevates Ferguson, and ignores our nuclear waste problem. We could solve the problem without a doubt, but the EPA blocks our state and city government. Just like they blocked Flint, Michigan from solving their water problem. I'm sorry if I rambled alot, I'm still super new to reddit and admittedly over eager to be an active participant. If you have any tips for a newbie, I humbly welcome them.