Ferguson

Popular Resistance Newsletter – Ferguson And Global Struggle For Justice

August 23, 2014 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Climate Change, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Ferguson, Fracking, Gaza, Israel, Oil Trains, Palestine, Police abuse, Wars and Militarism

Since the killing of Michael Brown, Ferguson, MO has been the epicenter of struggle and resistance. The same city where Dred Scott challenged slavery has become the place of awakening for current racial oppression. Ferguson exposed the reality of militarized and racist policing and created a teachable moment for the nation. The sad reality for many who have studied or lived US history is the killing of African Americans is not new. For decades it has led to both protests and more police violence. The failure to confront this reality is a critical example of a what Thomas Adams describes as a dysfunctional nation in political decay. But, Ferguson is an epicenter for a global struggle as we see in Israel, Gaza, over climate justice and over weapons and war. There is a lot happening on all fronts as we report here.

Oakland Protesters Hold Mirrors Up To Police

August 23, 2014 Nadia Prupis, www.commondreams.org Resist! Ferguson, Police, Protest

Demonstrators in Oakland, California marching in solidarity with Ferguson, Missouri on Wednesday held up mirrors in the faces of police officers as a creative protest tactic. "I was holding up the mirror because I wanted the police to just look at themselves," one protester, Nichola Torbett, told KPIX 5. "Especially if they were about to take some kind of action just so they had to acknowledge what they were doing." Demarco Robinson, who also took part in the demonstration, said, "We want that person to look at themselves so that they can realize they’re not a badge. They don’t have to follow the system that they don’t agree with." Peace soldier in Oakland supports #nonviolence & #Ferguson by holding a mirror in front of an #overdressed officer. * pic.twitter.com/pqkhTSBbwD — Ferguson News (@Ferguson_News) August 21, 2014

Ferguson: 210 Arrests, Father Visits Memorial, Two Officers Suspended

August 23, 2014 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Ferguson, Police abuse, police murder, Racism

Michael Brown's father, visited the street memorial people have created for his son at the site of his 18 year old son's death. Th St. Louis Post Dispatch reports: "Michael Brown Sr. hugged well-wishers who recognized him and came to share words of encouragement or brief prayers. Anthony Shahid, an activist who was accompanying Brown Sr., said he didn't want to speak to the media. He was exhausted, Shahid said, and just wanted to see the memorial to his son." The visit marked Brown Sr.'s first visit to the site since a candlelight vigil not long after the shooting.

Ferguson Highlights The Black-White Housing Gap

August 22, 2014 Andre F. Shashaty, www.newamericamedia.org Educate! Ferguson, Finance and the Economy, Housing, Poverty, Racial Justice

On the surface, the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., was about local police using deadly force on an unarmed young man. But on a deeper level, it reflected the increasing poverty and economic decline that affects ethnic communities all over America. Despite rosy reports in the media about the end of the national foreclosure crisis and the recession that followed, all is not well in our inner cities and suburbs with largely minority populations, like Ferguson. The foreclosure crisis was hard on many Americans, but it was a disaster for communities of color, including the citizens of Ferguson. Half of Ferguson Homes Underwater In the zip code that encompasses Ferguson, half (49 percent) of homes were underwater in 2013, meaning the home’s market value was below the mortgage’s outstanding balance. This condition (also called “negative equity”) is often a first step toward loan default or foreclosure, according to the recent report, "Underwater America," from the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at the University of California, Berkeley.

The Occupation And Ethnic Cleansing Of Africa-America

August 22, 2014 Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo and Kevin Berends, www.blackagendareport.com Educate! Civil Rights, Ferguson, History, Police, Racial Justice

"Ferguson has already waged a good fight.” There is always context – the larger gestalt of any given time. The sixties are symbolized by Birmingham, Selma, Little Rock. Both racial divides and historic photographs are frozen in black and white of menacing police, German shepherds, water hoses. Whether we add Ferguson, Missouri, to this lexicon of moments defining African-America—and America—will depend largely on whether or not the courage on display in Ferguson is isolated or is conveyed through progressive action to the wider population. The persistence of the Ferguson uprising has the signature of something larger and deeper, with hundreds of citizens giving new meaning to the universal sign of surrender, by lifting their arms—not in capitulation—but in refusing surrender. Chanting, "Don't shoot!" protesters invoke the last words of police-murdered-teenager Michael Brown, executed by a white police officer who hit him with at least six shots—Brown's unarmed hands raised in the air. This time the images come in hi-definition and real time. Sharp against the police officer's pant legs straddling it we can see the almost green cast to the German shepherd's fur and muscled, gloved white arms holding the leash.

Why The Climate Movement Must Stand With Ferguson

August 22, 2014 Deirdre Smith, www.350.org Educate! Climate Change, Ferguson, Racial Justice

It was not hard for me to make the connection between the tragedy in Ferguson, Missouri, and the catalyst for my work to stop the climate crisis. It’s all over the news: images of police in military gear pointing war zone weapons at unarmed black people with their hands in the air. These scenes made my heart race in an all-to-familiar way. I was devastated for Mike Brown, his family and the people of Ferguson. Almost immediately, I closed my eyes and remembered the same fear for my own family that pangs many times over a given year. Scene from post Katrina New Orleans Scene from post Katrina New Orleans In the wake of the climate disaster that was Hurricane Katrina almost ten years ago, I saw the same images of police, pointing war-zone weapons at unarmed black people with their hands in the air. In the name of “restoring order,” my family and their community were demonized as “looters” and “dangerous.” When crisis hits, the underlying racism in our society comes to the surface in very clear ways. Climate change is bringing nothing if not clarity to the persistent and overlapping crises of our time. I was outraged by Mike Brown’s murder, and at the same time wondered why people were so surprised; this is sadly a common experience of black life in America.

Police To Al Jazeera Journalist Near Ferguson: ‘I’ll Bust Your Head’

August 22, 2014 Aaron Ernst, www.aljazeera.com Educate! Ferguson, Journalism, Police, Violence

It’s not every day that a police officer tells you he’s going to bust your head open. The most exasperating thing about almost being arrested near Ferguson, Missouri, for doing my job as a journalist — reporting on tensions among citizens and law enforcement here — was my complete inability to fight back against what was an obvious abuse of police authority. The incident began on Thursday night when “America Tonight” director of photography Jung Park, anchor Joie Chen and I hopped in a taxi to interview Umar Lee, a cab driver and columnist who knows the racial history of North St. Louis County, which has become the focus of worldwide media attention. As we drove near Ferguson’s border with the neighboring town of Kinloch, JP was recording Lee, and I was recording Joie. When the interview was over, we got out of the cab to record a shot of it driving by. Two Kinloch officers in a patrol car stopped and asked what we were doing. I identified JP and myself as a cameraman and producer working for Al Jazeera America for “America Tonight.” The officer who was driving told us to leave the area. When we asked why, he said only that it wasn’t safe to be there and we had to leave. Puzzled, we got in the cab and did as requested. A little farther down the road, we saw a sign that JP wanted to shoot for our story, so we stopped and again got out.

Ferguson Violence Exposes America’s Political Decay

August 22, 2014 Thomas Adams, www.theage.com Educate! Ferguson, Housing, Militarization, Police, Violence

For anyone with a consciousness of American history, the events of the last week and a half in Ferguson, Missouri, a predominately African-American suburb outside of St. Louis, should seem all too familiar. A police officer murders an unarmed black man. As days go by and more information on the shooting is released, residents take to the streets to protest. Their protests are met with force utterly disproportionate to a free society. In response, the protests turn sporadically violent themselves, producing and even more violent response on the part of authorities. Harlem, 1943; Philadelphia and Rochester, 1964; Watts (Los Angeles), 1965; Newark, 1967; Camden, 1971; Tampa, 1987 and 1989; Washington, D.C., 1991; Los Angeles, 1992; Cincinnati, 2001; Benton Harbor (Southwest Michigan), 2003; Brooklyn, 2013 - all these incidents, and many others, contain the basic contours of the situation in Ferguson. By now many in the United States and across the world have weighed in on the underlying causes of the escalating violence in Ferguson. Analysts have rightly pointed out the massive build-up in American police militarisation, the depths of poverty that are endemic to many American neighbourhoods, a broad culture that equates young African-American men with criminality, a failed war on drugs that has led to the incarceration of generations of the American poor and the corresponding transformation of much of urban America into a police state.

Aug. 23: DC March And Rally To Demand Justice For Michael Brown

August 21, 2014 National Black United Front, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Ferguson, Police abuse, police murder, Racism

On Saturday, August 23 beginning at 7:00 p.m. demonstrators will gather in Mt. Vernon Square for a brief rally before marching to Chinatown to demand "Justice for Mike Brown" and stand in solidarity with the people of Ferguson, Missouri. As daily protests continue in Ferguson, people around the country are likewise continuing to show their solidarity, and join the call for justice and in opposition to police brutality that is rampant nationwide. The District is no exception. Rallies and marches have been taking place across D.C. over the past 10 days, from Howard University's campus to Malcolm X Park to the White House. Saturday's rally in Mt. Vernon Square and march to Chinatown will build on all of these events, bringing together many organizations and individuals: "Residents of the District of Columbia, just like millions around the country recognize that at the root of Ferguson are the social, racial and economic injustices that exist nationwide. They know that Ferguson could really be anywhere and Michael Brown could be any young Black male."

The False Narrative Of Calm In Ferguson

August 21, 2014 Anne Meador, www.dcmediagroup.us Resist! Ferguson, Police, Protest

If you believe mainstream media, Ferguson turned a corner Tuesday night. The riots are settling down, and justice in the form of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder arrived on Wednesday. “As Tension Eases on Ferguson’s Streets, Focus Turns to Investigation,” reads the New York Times headline. “No teargas used in relatively calm nighttime protests,” says the Guardian. “No bullets, no teargas mark ‘turning point’ in Ferguson,” proclaims MSNBC. These major media outlets, among others, parroted Missouri police captain Ron Johnson’s talking point from his late-night press conference, that an alleged de-escalation of conflict marks a “turning point.” Peaceful, rationale people—with the aid of law enforcement—are winning out over “the agitators, the criminals,” who are “embedded” in their midst. Following another shooting of an African-American man on Tuesday by police not far from Ferguson, this assertion is nothing short of Orwellian. It is intended to pacify the citizens of Ferguson and justify the violence inflicted on them.

Six Arrests Made As Protests In Ferguson Stay Small, Peaceful

August 21, 2014 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, www.stltoday.com Resist! Ferguson, Police, Protest

Six arrests were made by officers patrolling the streets of Ferguson late Wednesday and early today, Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ronald S. Johnson said. Speaking at a brief press conference at 1:30 a.m., he said the 11th night of protests was fairly calm although an officer was hit by a bottle at one point. He said the officer was uninjured. Johnson credited the officers as well as the "law-abiding men and women and teenagers of Ferguson" and the large contingent of clergy and church elders who came to the streets Wednesday night for keeping the protest in check. He also said the protesters were a quieter group. "We didn't have as many of the agitators," Johnson said. He said no fires were set, no one was shot and no guns were confiscated. The officers did not use smoke, tear gas or pepper spray on anyone, unlike in some past nights when the protests turned violent. Johnson did not detail the charges in all of the arrests, but he said some were for failure to disperse.

14 Journalists Have Been Arrested In Ferguson

August 21, 2014 Runa A. Sandvik, www.pressfreedomfoundation.org Educate! Ferguson, Free Speech, Journalism, Police

On Aug. 13, 2014, police in Ferguson, Missouri, assaulted and arrested two journalists for allegedly failing to exit a McDonald's quickly enough while on a break from covering the protests. Since then, police actions against journalists in Ferguson have escalated in severity and frequency. Many have been tear gassed and shot with rubber bullets and at least nine more have been arrested. It should go without saying that these arrests are a gross violation of the reporters' First Amendment rights, and attempts to prevent journalists from lawfully doing their job on the streets of Ferguson are downright illegal. We will be documenting each journalist arrest below and are filing public records requests for the arrest records of the journalists who have been assaulted, detained, and arrested in Ferguson. All requests are publicly available on MuckRock. We insist that the St. Louis County Police Department, Ferguson Police Department, and Missouri Highway Patrol cease and desist from violating the Constiutional rights of reporters covering the protests, and respect the court document they all signed agreeing that the media and members of the public have a right to record public events without abridgement.

Amnesty International Comes To Ferguson

August 20, 2014 Amnesty International, www.amnestyusa.org Organize! Ferguson, Human Rights, Militarization, Police, Protest

On August 9, Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year old, was shot dead by a six-year veteran of the Ferguson police force. The next day, the community organized protests condemning the actions of the police and demanding to know the name of the officer who shot and killed Michael. Those actions continue still, a week later. The day after the shooting, I sent a text to my colleague at 3:30 AM. It read, “We need to go to Ferguson.” Later that week, I was on a plane, leading the Amnesty International USA human rights delegation to Ferguson, Missouri. Our goal: to observe police and protester activity, gather testimony, meet with officials, and offer support to the community. Importantly, our delegation also included organizers who supported local leaders in training community members on methods of nonviolent protest. On the plane, I read everything I could find about the situation in Ferguson, and spent time reflecting about community, solidarity, and intention. My heart broke as I thought about Michael Brown, the plans he had for his future, the pain his family and community feel at his loss, and the outrage the residents of Ferguson feel after the police harassment and intimidation of a grieving community.

Tear Gas Not The Only Thing Connecting Ferguson And Palestine

August 19, 2014 Ryan Rodrick Beiler, www.972mag.com Educate! Ferguson, Israel, Police, Protest, Tear Gas, Violence

The New York Times’ Robert Mackey recently tweeted a photo of the tear gas cartridges found on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, where police have been using the weapon against demonstrators angry at the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager. Both the cartridge and the tactics looked very familiar, and for good reason. Jamestown, PA’s CTS brand tear gas fired in #Ferguson tonight https://t.co/XwMO3tBuDp in the West Bank last week https://t.co/XNWlEDvqFF — Robert Mackey (@RobertMackey) August 18, 2014 A different tweet noted that the same brand of tear gas was used in Egypt’s Tahrir Square. As reported here last December, those shining shell casings, as well as the rubber-ball variety and spent stun grenades made by the same company, had decorated a tree in Bethlehem’s Manger Square at Christmastime as activists gathered those used by the Israeli military less than two kilometers away in Aida Refugee Camp and displayed them for holiday tourists.

Police Need To Be Remade as ‘Peace Officers’

August 17, 2014 David Lindorff, www.thiscantbehappening.net Create! Ferguson, Peace, Racism

The Ferguson Police Department, reportedly nearly all white (50 of 53 officers), patrols a St. Louis suburban community that is 70 percent African-American, a situation that is already a recipe for disaster in a nation that is drenched in racism--and all too typical in communities across the country. The Ferguson PD has also been reportedly employing the kind of aggressive policing -- arresting people over minor infractions -- that can quickly escalate into violent confrontations. In this case, it appears Brown’s offense was jay-walking and perhaps talking back to the police officer -- the first being a citation offense, and the second not even illegal. When this shooting happened, instead of immediately attempting to calm things down, the Ferguson Police Department went all paramilitary, sending massive numbers of up-armed cops in military gear, backed by police dogs, into the community.

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