Michael Brown

75 Days Later, The Movement Only Grows

October 27, 2014 DeRay Mckesson, www.ebony.com Organize! Ferguson, Law, Michael Brown, police brutality, Social Movement

The power of the movement which has largely come to be known as “Ferguson” is that it started because regular people---young people---armed with smartphones and frustration, came outside their homes and said “Enough is enough.” In those initial days, we learned about Mike Brown's death and the police's response to the manifestation of a community's pain through Antonio French's vines, Brittany Noble's Instagram videos, and the tweets of Tef Poe and Netta Elzie. There was a time when a movement would have required the gloss or veneer of an established activist group to gain traction. Ferguson disrupts this notion that organized struggle requires an organization. Ferguson showed us that there is a way to respect the autonomy of individual actors while maintaining a uniformity of purpose.

Popular Resistance Newsletter – Managed Democracy, Expendable People

October 26, 2014 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Climate Change, Criminalization, Democracy, Ferguson, Fracking, Homelessness, Michael Brown, Oil & Gas, Poverty

As the elections draw near, the plutocracy and crisis of democracy become more visible. There are reports of ‘dark money’ in record amounts influencing races. An obvious example of this took place in Richmond, CA, home of a large Chevron refinery, last week when Chevron funded a ‘new non-profit’ that hosted a ‘civil rights icon’ to stump for pro-business candidates. Steve Early called him “big oil’s reverend for rent.” We’ve written before about the studies which show that the interests of the wealthy are represented in our public policy instead of the needs and interests of the public. For example, on October 19, several IRS whistleblowers exposed that corporations are being allowed illegally to avoid paying billions in taxes while individuals and small businesses are punished. And Drs. Bruno and Burns describe how Coca Cola has infected medical associations and undermined reform. Sheldon Wolin wrote about this in “Democracy, Inc.”

Missouri Police Prepare For Backlash

October 26, 2014 Staff, www.AP.org Resist! Ferguson, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Michael Brown, Police abuse, police brutality, St. Louis

“I know there’s a lot of anxiety, there’s a lot of fear, anticipation” about that announcement, said Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, who was put in charge of security in Ferguson in the days after Brown was killed and is now part of a coordinated command with local police. But “I have a lot of hope.” Law enforcement officers expect to receive at least a day’s notice before a grand jury announcement. That should provide time for them to execute security plans but may also allow demonstrators to prepare. “The moment I learn that there is, in fact, a non-indictment, then there’s going to be an organized protest,” said Eric Vickers, a black St. Louis attorney and civil rights activist. Wilson’s description of events was leaked recently, as was an autopsy report that showed Brown had marijuana in his system and was shot in the hand at close range. Wilson has alleged Brown was trying to grab his gun in the SUV. “It appears that it may be calculated to soften the blow if there is no indictment,” said Peter Joy, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis who directs the school’s Criminal Justice Clinic. Amnesty International on Thursday released a report documenting what it described as human rights abuses by police during the protests following Brown’s death. The report accuses police of violating citizens’ rights by intimidating protesters using riot gear, aiming high-powered weapons at people, using tear gas, firing rubber bullets and flash-bangs, and setting curfews. St. Louis city police recently spent $325,000 upgrading helmets, sticks and other “civil disobedience equipment,” said Police Chief Sam Dotson.

Police Get Mike Brown Mural Removed In Trenton

October 21, 2014 Jenna Pizzi, www.nj.com Resist! Art, Ferguson, Michael Brown, New Jersey (NJ)

TRENTON – A mural was painted over Monday afternoon after Trenton police expressed concern that the painting, depicting Michael Brown, a Ferguson, Mo., teen who was fatally shot by police in August, sent the wrong message about community and police relations. The painting depicted Brown’s face with the caption “Sagging pants … is not probable cause.” Will "Kasso" Condry, the artist behind the mural, said he wanted to start a conversation about racial profiling. The Trenton Downtown Association elected to remove the image after hearing concern from police officers that the mural sends a negative message about the relationship between police and the community. The mural was painted by artists from the Sage Coalition about two weeks ago on a gate covering the entrance to a vacant storefront on the corner of North Broad and Hanover streets to cover an illegal advertisement for a nearby liquor store.

#FergusonLive: The End Of Suffering Silently

October 17, 2014 Linda Tirado, www.rhrealitycheck.org Resist! Ferguson, Michael Brown, Police abuse

Thousands of activists gathered in Ferguson, Missouri, October 10-13, to show the world they will not be silenced, unless they choose silence as a weapon. At one point during the “weekend of resistance”—a direct response to the slaying of Michael Brown on August 9, and other Black men across the country in recent months, at the hands of law enforcement—people lay silently in chalk outlines on the road, fists raised. Back in August, Ferguson residents made a simple demand: Arrest Brown’s killer, police officer Darren Wilson. That was it. Just get the wheels of justice turning. In the intervening weeks, the world learned Wilson didn’t even bother turning in an incident report. We watched the Ferguson police defy the Justice Department and refuse to wear their name badges. But the people in Ferguson were not only watching a failed justice system—they were adding Brown’s name to a long list of police shooting victims and getting organized.

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