This past weekend, a young man by the name of Mike Brown, a young man minding his own business was killed in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St Louis. While there are currently conflicting reports on what really happened, the outcome is similar to so many; A young, unarmed, black man is gunned down for no other solid reason than they "looked" threatening. Ferguson is up in arms, sparking massive protests in the small, predominantly Black, low income neighborhood. Some of the protests, against the heed of Mike Brown's parents, lead to riots.
Not since the shooting of Oscar Grant at Fruitvale Station has there been such a volatile response to this, one of many police killings of unarmed black people. As I type this, the Ferguson PD has completely militarized, closing off the city to outside citizens, notably the media as the mostly peaceful protests go on for the third day. While most have been peaceful, the media has followed the narrative and showed the rioting by some, looting several businesses and buring down a local QuikTrip(a convenience store As these peaceful protests go on, many have been attack with crowd controlling agent, such as rubber bullets and tear gas and the entire city has been classified a no-fly zone by the FAA. Many on these tactics have been done in the name of safety, but many see it as a way to cover up what is truly going on in the city. In the midst of this, the "hacktivist" group Anonymus has promised to attack the City of Ferguson's web based services, going so far as to shutting the city's website late Sunday:
Not to be hyperbolic, but I honestly have never seen this before in my life. An American city is shut down, its citizens up in arms and images beam into our homes reminiscent of the Civil Rights protests of the 1960s. To be honest, it's long overdue...
Let me first say that I DO NOT advocate violence of any kind and the damage and rioting done by some of the citizen is past wrong. I do however understand the frustration of the citizens of Ferguson. According to the US Census and the Missouri attorney general's office, Ferguson's population is 63% black, yet the number of stops, pull overs, and arrests of Black people in Ferguson is 86%. Also keep in mind that the FPD is 94% white. Tensions have been boiling over in the area for a while and this was the final straw, not just for them, but for a lot of us as well.
To say that i'm sick of this would be the understatement of a lifetime.I am so fucking sick of this its ridiculous. I am tired of these damn shootings and the aftermath that they bring about. You remember the narrative; an unarmed young black person is gunned down and all hell breaks loose. There is angry people, numerous social media posts(sometimes going so far as showing the corpse of the victim,) moments of silence, wearing colors in solidarity, articles about the "dangers of just being black in America" (or AmeriKKKa as many have put it,) Right wing whack jobs(or Don Lemon) lamenting that its what the person wore or how the child spoke that was the reason for his grisly demise and predicting that the Negroes are gonna riot, and certain instructional videos on how to truly deal with the police, or a crazy trigger happy white person who is just itching for a chance to stand their ground. Hell its gotten so bad that most of us now gloss over it. "The police shot an unarmed black teen? Must be Tuesday!" What even more sickening is the way the victim is blamed, degraded, and insulted with no way to defend themselves
#iftheygunnedmedown This is Lexi. She (like myself) is an alum of Dillard University, a musician, and all around goofy person. She, like many on social media, posed a question; If she was gunned down tomorrow, what picture would the media use? the college grad or the party girl? Many times it'll be Sister Patron over there. But it also poses another question: Does my life matter whether I am a party girl or a college grad?
I sit here looking at this holding my head and asking myself why. Why do we as Black Americans have to consistently go through this? Why am I once again seeing parents in pain and a community torn apart? Why must I have to remember to not wear certain clothes, keep my hands totally visible at all times, and speak in calm tones at all times, because venturing outside of these perameters makes me a target? Why are literally all my black male friends been pulled over at least once? Why are my feelings of hurt & degradation negated by telling me the statistics of Black on Black crime in Chicago? Why are we the only ones that are in the wrong? Why is Mike Brown in the morgue and not in class? Why are police firing tear gas at peaceful protesters?!
I come to you tonight standing with the people of Ferguson. Stay and peacefully protest against injustice. Stay strong, and know that so many stand with you. I can honestly say, I have never seen something in my 30 years on this earth, but if this means that a change will finally come about, so be it. Rest in peace to Mike Brown, Ezell Ford and anyone lost due to grave injustice.
Thanx for letttin me vent
Lawrence J Weber, Jr
"The Arrogant Observer"
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