The person or people who shot two police officers Thursday during a protest in Ferguson, Missouri, are "injustice collectors" looking to capitalize on the discord there, community activist John Turnipseed said Friday on Newsmax TV’s "America’s Forum."
Turnipseed, author of
"BloodLine: You Spend Enough Time in Hell and You Get the Feeling You Belong," explained that an injustice collector is "a person that waits for an opportunity where people are enraged to do something."
Story continues below video.
Note: Watch Newsmax TV now on DIRECTV Ch. 349 and DISH Ch. 223
Get Newsmax TV on your cable system — Click Here Now
"Some coward took advantage of a very heated situation to just stir the pot," he said.
"Protesting without clear objectives and without a clear plan is just a heated argument and things like this could happen."
The anti-police sentiment touted by protesters in Ferguson is permeating other parts of the country, according to Turnipseed, and particularly impacts children.
"People that are basically injustice collectors will get into the minds and heads of our kids and make America an enemy of ours and make the police an enemy of the world," he said.
"When you do that, things like this happen. The problem starts at home. I have to teach my kids every day how I want them to act in the world and we're not at home taking enough responsibility to make sure our kids are properly trained to come out and act in the world."
Distrust of police in communities that already feel disenfranchised is not helped by law enforcement doing things like setting up speed traps where police are just waiting to ticket someone, he added.
"They raise a lot of revenue that way, but it's on the backs of poor folk," he said. "People that don't have the money, extra money to spend on the traffic ticket, I don't think law enforcement should ever be used as a fundraiser. That tarnishes the image of the police department and they should take a serious look at that."
In order to diffuse the current protests taking place, Turnipseed recommended community leaders present a united front and join the protesters.
"They're out there when the news cameras are not out there, diffusing the situation," he said. "If I was doing a protest, I have my own security force made up of men and women that I've known for years that don't carry guns and are not police officers, but they're in the crowd, they're making sure that we're not going to do anything that disrupts the positive flow that we're trying to have.
"The protesters have a responsibility to make sure that their protesters are doing the right things and that there's no enemy in the camp. Police have to show some restraint, but the protesters need to be in control."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.