[jyl]

These events don't become flashpoints in isolation. They become flashpoints because they are perceived to be part of a pattern.

When a unarmed young black man is shot dead by a police officer, that alone isn't a flashpoint. But when dozens or hundreds of unarmed young black men are shot dead by police every year for years and years, then at some point the next one becomes a flashpoint. If not Michael Brown, it would have been another one.

If police were gunning down white male hostages every week or every month, for years and decades, then there might be the "outrage" you want. But they aren't, so it is just a tragic, bizarre, and isolated accident.

The fact that you, the OP, don't grasp the difference shows how little you understand the emotions and anger surrounding the Brown shooting.