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FERGUSON, MO: Eighteen-year-old Michael Brown, recent high school graduate, should have begun college August 11. Instead he is now a statistic. Stopped as he walked in the street with a friend on his way to his grandmother’s home, he was gunned down by a “thug.” The thug wore a badge. A police officer, sworn to “Serve and Protect,” decided Michael and his friend were in his way as they walked in the street. Witnesses claim Michael did nothing to provoke his murderer. After the execution, he lay in the street for four hours in a pool of his blood in open sight of friends, family, and community members.
The community erupted with cries of “killer cops have got to go!” They took to the streets. There was property damage, some looting, a convenience store was burned. One protester interviewed on KMBC 9 News said, “I believe it needed to happen. I believe they’re too much worried about what’s going on with their stores and their commerce . . . They’re not worried about the murder. They’re not worried about the senseless death. That’s what I’m worried about.”
Ferguson police were pulled off the streets. St. Louis County took over and the area became occupied by police from surrounding areas as well as SWAT teams and sheriffs’ deputies. Witnessing “Command Central” at a mall near the scene on Monday, August 11, we saw dozens of police and SWAT teams lined up waiting for action. As people filmed the police in the parking lot, some women drove up and told us the protestors were back out on the streets. A SWAT team left shortly after.
We proceeded to the Murchison CME Church in Normandy for a meeting led by the NAACP, members of the clergy, and elected officials. The streets were blocked by police. We made our way on foot joining several hundred people in an overflow crowd.
The new president of the NAACP spoke, as well as local board members. They spoke of the lack of parental guidance, youth police records, drug use, and lack of education. They seemed more than willing to put the blame on the victims of poverty. One NAACP member said that parents should work four or five jobs to put their children through college so they could “compete” to get a position as a CEO. They spoke of “justice” but appeared to be more concerned with what was referred to as a “subculture” within the poor community!
Finally, the mayor of Berkley, MO spoke, “This is not complex! One person died, one person shot him. That’s it! You don’t forgive this. If you forgive this, you’re next! I can understand about “turning the other cheek” and all that . . . but this is 2014. This ain’t 1968. And they don’t care about what we think. All we want is justice for the life and the death of Michael. That’s it . . .We don’t want to talk about nothing else! When you leave here you want justice, only! Let’s talk about justice only. And if you talk about anything else, you miss the boat!”
We must demand justice for all the victims of this impoverished, dying system. United around a vision of a better world. a new tomorrow, we become the unstoppable force.
Cathy Talbott is a former telephone operator, a job lost to automation. She was a homeless mother of two and fights for welfare rights. A former co-host of a weekly community radio program out of Carbondale, IL, “Occupy the Airwaves,” Cathy is the Environmental Desk for the People’s Tribune.
