Aug. 12, 2015
Ferguson: One year later
by THS Media Jazzmin Matchette
On Aug. 9, 2014 unarmed African American teenager Michael Brown was unlawfully shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson. The event sparked a boom of national protests, most prominently in Ferguson, Mo. where Brown was killed.
As the one year anniversary of Brown’s death came, the day consisted of political leaders, national activist, and regular people peacefully protesting in Ferguson throughout the day. They all felt a personal connection with the death of Brown.
Beldon Lane, a 72-year-old white man, held a sign that read, “These are my sons too… dying in the streets.”
“I don’t have to worry about that, because my kids are white. So I’m here to witness to what needs to be changed,” Lane said. “It’s not just black men dying in the streets, but it’s white people losing beloved black men dying in the streets, and our need to stand together and say, ‘No.’”
Demonstrators are calling for more action to be taken to release a report stating the racial bias amongst the St. Louis Police Department.
The beginning of the of the year anniversary of Brown’s death began with a group of about three hundred protesters marching a mile and a half to Greater St. Mark Family Church for a service, where rows of teddy bears, flowers, balloons and other items lay in the street in memory of Brown. There was a four and a half minute silence to represent the four and a half hours that Brown’s body was left in the street after he was shot and killed by officer Darren Wilson.
Afterwards, Mr. Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., declared, “This moment was sponsored by Darren Wilson.”
There were several important speakers during the day’s protests. Yonasda Lonewolf, granddaughter of Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam exclaimed, “Mike Brown was murdered here. This was the epicenter of the movement of ‘black lives matter.’ We still cannot get justice,” she stated. “It’s time for us to not seek justice but to demand justice.”
Bree Newson, who climbed the flagpole at the South Carolina Capital to remove the confederate flag in June spoke in Ferguson, a place she believed people thoroughly began to fight back against a newly defined common enemy. “A lot of the movement has been reactionary – there is an event, someone is killed, there is a protest,” she said. “These are reactionary things to bring attention, to create enough disruption that the problem can no longer be ignored.”
Another speaker included the daughter of Eric Garner whose killing by the New York police sparked protests there.
Ferguson’s police department has a history of discriminating against people of color due to a strong history of racial discrimination, economic inequality, along with a law enforcement that has been known for abusing its authority in inner city areas. This underlying systemic racism has been what’s caused a lot of tension amongst St. Louis Police and the citizens of the city.
Due to African American’s not being able to purchase property up until the late 1940s, many blacks were forced to reside in inner city areas. This was a result of citizens being kept out by restrictive covenant that the supreme court prohibited in 1948. Many blacks were forced to reside in lower income apartments as opposed to suburban St.Louis county towns. In the '50s and '60s, whites began fleeing the city for the St. Louis county towns. The city used exclusionary zoning tactics which included large single family home lots to restricted apartment buildings to prevent people of color from moving in, as a result poverty grew, and continued on for the next several generations.
In the ‘70s many blacks began leaving St. Louis as well and resided in the suburb of Ferguson Mo., and as a result the whites fled. In 1980 the population of white’s was 85 percent white and 14 percent black. In 2010, the town consisted of 29 percent white and 69 percent black. Despite the African American’s growing population they did not gain political power within the city. In Ferguson today, the mayor and police chief are white, along with the five of the six city council members.
Colin Gordon, a professor at the University of Iowa stated that many black residents lacked the wealth to buy property so they had to move from apartment to apartment and did not get the opportunity to build themselves into a political power position.
The pastor of Greater St. Mark Family Church and state representative, Tommie Pierson, stated, “If we’re going to to change the system to work for us, we need to run for office and vote for ourselves. Protesting is good, but it only brings attention to the problems. Solving the problem requires doing other things.”
As a result of this racial prejudice there has been a copious amount of racial tension between the black residents and the white police officers, leading to now, a full year of protests against the law enforcements abuse of power.
While the day’s events were peaceful and organized, the atmosphere changed when police officers and state troopers began making arrests when demonstrators did not clear West Florissant Avenue. A drive-by shooting occurred later that evening, along with two groups of people that exchanged gunfire shortly after 11 p.m, following another shooting that took place that night, when a man, identified as 18 year old Tyrone Harris Jr. shot at St.Louis County police.
Police Chief Jon Belmar stated the people doing the shootings were criminals, not protesters. Although, Harris’ father, Tyrone Harris, said that Michael Brown Jr., and Harris “were real close.”
After a day of protest, officers threatened to use “chemical munitions” against protesters if they did not disperse late in the night, despite that the protesters were heavily outnumbered by the media. Smoke bombs were fired by 2 a.m. This string of chaotic events caused Ferguson to go into a state of emergency later Monday morning.
Many protest leaders all agreed on the fact that many of the young people causing the protests to turn into looting, and more violence had no affiliation with the rest of the demonstrators.
“We continually talk and engage folks and try to help them understand what it is to actually be in confrontation, what resistance looks like, and what organized resistance looks like versus like some of what happened last night,” said Montague Simmons, the executive director of the Organization for Black Struggle.
Despite this, Simmons still did not agree with the county’s decision to declare a state of emergency. He warned that an overly aggressive police force might provoke new unrest.
Brown’s death provoked hundreds of protests against police violence across the country over the course of the last year, that is still continuing at full force one year later.
As the one year anniversary of Brown’s death came, the day consisted of political leaders, national activist, and regular people peacefully protesting in Ferguson throughout the day. They all felt a personal connection with the death of Brown.
Beldon Lane, a 72-year-old white man, held a sign that read, “These are my sons too… dying in the streets.”
“I don’t have to worry about that, because my kids are white. So I’m here to witness to what needs to be changed,” Lane said. “It’s not just black men dying in the streets, but it’s white people losing beloved black men dying in the streets, and our need to stand together and say, ‘No.’”
Demonstrators are calling for more action to be taken to release a report stating the racial bias amongst the St. Louis Police Department.
The beginning of the of the year anniversary of Brown’s death began with a group of about three hundred protesters marching a mile and a half to Greater St. Mark Family Church for a service, where rows of teddy bears, flowers, balloons and other items lay in the street in memory of Brown. There was a four and a half minute silence to represent the four and a half hours that Brown’s body was left in the street after he was shot and killed by officer Darren Wilson.
Afterwards, Mr. Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., declared, “This moment was sponsored by Darren Wilson.”
There were several important speakers during the day’s protests. Yonasda Lonewolf, granddaughter of Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam exclaimed, “Mike Brown was murdered here. This was the epicenter of the movement of ‘black lives matter.’ We still cannot get justice,” she stated. “It’s time for us to not seek justice but to demand justice.”
Bree Newson, who climbed the flagpole at the South Carolina Capital to remove the confederate flag in June spoke in Ferguson, a place she believed people thoroughly began to fight back against a newly defined common enemy. “A lot of the movement has been reactionary – there is an event, someone is killed, there is a protest,” she said. “These are reactionary things to bring attention, to create enough disruption that the problem can no longer be ignored.”
Another speaker included the daughter of Eric Garner whose killing by the New York police sparked protests there.
Ferguson’s police department has a history of discriminating against people of color due to a strong history of racial discrimination, economic inequality, along with a law enforcement that has been known for abusing its authority in inner city areas. This underlying systemic racism has been what’s caused a lot of tension amongst St. Louis Police and the citizens of the city.
Due to African American’s not being able to purchase property up until the late 1940s, many blacks were forced to reside in inner city areas. This was a result of citizens being kept out by restrictive covenant that the supreme court prohibited in 1948. Many blacks were forced to reside in lower income apartments as opposed to suburban St.Louis county towns. In the '50s and '60s, whites began fleeing the city for the St. Louis county towns. The city used exclusionary zoning tactics which included large single family home lots to restricted apartment buildings to prevent people of color from moving in, as a result poverty grew, and continued on for the next several generations.
In the ‘70s many blacks began leaving St. Louis as well and resided in the suburb of Ferguson Mo., and as a result the whites fled. In 1980 the population of white’s was 85 percent white and 14 percent black. In 2010, the town consisted of 29 percent white and 69 percent black. Despite the African American’s growing population they did not gain political power within the city. In Ferguson today, the mayor and police chief are white, along with the five of the six city council members.
Colin Gordon, a professor at the University of Iowa stated that many black residents lacked the wealth to buy property so they had to move from apartment to apartment and did not get the opportunity to build themselves into a political power position.
The pastor of Greater St. Mark Family Church and state representative, Tommie Pierson, stated, “If we’re going to to change the system to work for us, we need to run for office and vote for ourselves. Protesting is good, but it only brings attention to the problems. Solving the problem requires doing other things.”
As a result of this racial prejudice there has been a copious amount of racial tension between the black residents and the white police officers, leading to now, a full year of protests against the law enforcements abuse of power.
While the day’s events were peaceful and organized, the atmosphere changed when police officers and state troopers began making arrests when demonstrators did not clear West Florissant Avenue. A drive-by shooting occurred later that evening, along with two groups of people that exchanged gunfire shortly after 11 p.m, following another shooting that took place that night, when a man, identified as 18 year old Tyrone Harris Jr. shot at St.Louis County police.
Police Chief Jon Belmar stated the people doing the shootings were criminals, not protesters. Although, Harris’ father, Tyrone Harris, said that Michael Brown Jr., and Harris “were real close.”
After a day of protest, officers threatened to use “chemical munitions” against protesters if they did not disperse late in the night, despite that the protesters were heavily outnumbered by the media. Smoke bombs were fired by 2 a.m. This string of chaotic events caused Ferguson to go into a state of emergency later Monday morning.
Many protest leaders all agreed on the fact that many of the young people causing the protests to turn into looting, and more violence had no affiliation with the rest of the demonstrators.
“We continually talk and engage folks and try to help them understand what it is to actually be in confrontation, what resistance looks like, and what organized resistance looks like versus like some of what happened last night,” said Montague Simmons, the executive director of the Organization for Black Struggle.
Despite this, Simmons still did not agree with the county’s decision to declare a state of emergency. He warned that an overly aggressive police force might provoke new unrest.
Brown’s death provoked hundreds of protests against police violence across the country over the course of the last year, that is still continuing at full force one year later.