This is what we're afraid of when we don't report that the police have too much power and simply do not live under the same set of laws as the rest of American citizenry, despite having to undergo less schooling than someone who graduated from culinary school.

We're afraid that maybe if we write something about the police that law enforcement might single us out at the local level, or persecute us based on our prior coverage. We're afraid—us journalists, 90 percent white at the supervisory level—might be tailed simply for driving down the street, or, if there's an emergency at our homes, dispatchers will make no effort to help us beyond a late, procedural check-in.

We're afraid that we will be treated like black people by police.

That is how black people are treated every day by too many police forces in America, solely due to the color of their skin or the zip code on their mailing address.

It is not just in Ferguson, Missouri, where police arrested two journalists last night for sitting in a McDonald's, but that is certainly the worst of it.

There's a no-fly zone in an American town right now, and it's because police are worried about stray bullets coming from protestors, ones who have spent the last two days with their hands to the sky. That is what the Ferguson Police Department is saying, anyway: The PD and the FAA are worried commercial planes might intrude on "a safe environment for law enforcement activities."

Those law enforcement activities include four nights of tear gas canisters used to disperse people on the streets of an American city—including one that hit journalists last night. Those journalists then had their cameras disassembled by police.

Those law enforcement activities include shooting another man two nights ago, critically injuring him. A Ferguson Police Department spokesman says the man pulled a handgun on an officer at 1 a.m. yesterday and the officer fired.

There's no way to confirm this, by the way. There's no way to confirm that this is not just another cover-up like the first time, like the physically impossible police account that has been disputed by every witness and audio from the scanner itself.

There's no way to confirm this because law enforcement activities include arresting two journalists simply for sitting in a McDonald's and charging their phones, one night after not allowing them into the town.

The Washington Post's Wesley Lowery, the National Association of Black Journalists' journalist of the year, was one of the two arrested last night. Lowery was told to exit the McDonald's, complied by turning to an exit, but found the door blocked by a police officer. When he turned again to grab his computer bag, the following exchange occurred.

As I turned, my backpack, which was slung over one shoulder, began to slip. I said, "Officers, let me just gather my bag." As I did, one of them said, "Okay, let's take him." Multiple officers grabbed me. I tried to turn my back to them to assist them in arresting me. I dropped the things from my hands. "My hands are behind my back," I said. "I'm not resisting. I'm not resisting." At which point one officer said: "You're resisting. Stop resisting."

Lowery was released once the police chief was notified by other press.

"But the thing is, so many people here in Ferguson don't have as many Twitter followers as I have and don't have Jeff Bezos or whoever to call and bail them out of jail."

There's a no-fly zone in an American town because police are worried protestors might retaliate against police for shooting and killing an unarmed boy. So far, here's the headcount:

At least five reports of unconstitutionally detained journalists. Two civilians shot by Ferguson Police this month; one killed. Four nights of tear gas, a chemical banned in war. At least one family teargassed in its own backyard and home. Twenty-one thousand people who have no one to call in case of an emergency, like the man left to struggle for his life while police carted away two journalists last night for sitting in a McDonald's.

Zero shot or killed police officers. Zero names released for the shootings police committed in the last week. Zero apologies. No accountability.

There's not a no-fly zone in Ferguson, Missouri to provide "a safe environment for law enforcement activities." There's a no-fly zone in Ferguson, Missouri to provide a safe environment for law enforcement to carry out illegal, unconstitutional, and sometimes deadly activity—and not get caught.

It is not just in Ferguson, Missouri. It is in Staten Island, New York, where 43-year-old Eric Garner was choked to death by police on camera, an autopsy confirmed it, and charges still have not been filed against the officer. It is in Los Angeles, where officers shot and killed two men, one of whom was mentally ill, in one day this week. It is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a city of 500,000 people with 25 office-involved shooting deaths in the past four years.

It is all over America. It is not on CNN. It is not even above the fold on the front page of The New York Times today.

It is because we are afraid of being treated like black people are treated every single day.

The police have too much power in the United States. The police are lying about it. It's time we start reporting exactly that.

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