#Ferguson: Six Months After the Killing of Michael Brown

[niyad]

#Ferguson: Six Months After the Killing of Michael Brown


*Michael Brown was gunned down by police in his Ferguson, Missouri, neighborhood six months ago today.

*Trayvon Martin, killed by a self-appointed “vigilante,” would have turned 20 years old last Thursday.

*Also last week: the 16th anniversary of the death of Amadou Diallo, who was shot at 41 times by NYPD when reaching for his wallet.





To be a person of color in America means to constantly have these birthdays and anniversaries flitting in and out of your mental calendar. To constantly be reminded of how institutional racism snuffs out black lives.

As Crunk Feminist Collective co-founder Brittney Cooper explores in the upcoming issue of Ms., a new civil rights movement is emerging from the police killings of black youth. And unlike the ones of decades past, this revolution will not only be televised but Facebooked, Instagramed, tweeted–all with the hashtag that became the emblem of a movement: #BlackLivesMatter.
Created by black women activists Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, #BlackLivesMatter has become both an epitaph and a battle cry. And it isn’t going anywhere.

The lack of police indictments, the hijacking of justice, has only further galvanized activists–especially women and young people of color. They are increasingly pushing for overdue changes that will add accountability to policing. Changes that include an end to “hot-spots” policing (which often leads to racial profiling), a program that allows officers to blow the whistle on other officers without fear of retaliation and a requirement for officers to reside in the neighborhoods they police.

A critical solution–one that’s overlooked and rarely mentioned in the press–is requiring police departments to mirror the demographic makeup of their communities. That means not only hiring more officers of color, but more women. As the executive editor of Ms., Kathy Spillar, points out in the new issue of Ms., “women officers are less authoritarian in their approach to policing, rely less on physical force than men do, possess better communication skills and increase police response to violence against women.”

. . . .

http://msmagazine.com/blog/2015/02/09/ferguson-six-months-after-the-killing-of-michael-brown/

[sabrina 1]

1. If you were to rely on the MSM you would think this issue has gone away. Busy

covering 'terror' somewhere else in the world, the Terror Attack on the NAACP completely dropped from the news eg.

But far from going away, while the new 'revolution' may not be televised, it is being covered on Social Media.

From Bill Moyers' site, eg, an article on why Ferguson may be the start of a New Civil Rights Movement:

The Civil Rights Movement Came From a Moment Like This One

Back in August, some observers drew comparisons between the shooting of Michael Brown by Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, and the 1955 murder of Emmett Till. If parallels to civil rights movement history are helpful now, then let yesterday’s announcement that a Staten Island grand jury won’t indict the police officer who choked Eric Garner to death be a sign that we’re somewhere closer to 1963 — when a series of devastating setbacks and subsequent widespread outrage transformed the civil rights struggle — than we are to Till’s lynching, that earlier consciousness-raising moment. There was a perfect storm this week: the continuing fallout of the failed indictment of Wilson; the news of the outcome in the Garner case; a Cleveland newspaper’s efforts to discredit and sling mud on the parents of a 12-year-old boy killed by police. This moment has the potential to catapult change, just as a series of events that transpired eight years after Till was killed did.

If the history of this country’s most revered revolutionary period is any guide — and if a policy program is developed to channel all this growing energy — then we’re just getting started.The murder of 14-year-old Till and the 1963 murder of four black girls at Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church both became national stories that hit Americans square in the chest, reminding them of the Jim Crow system of justice in which black people had no rights that whites were bound to respect. With the killings of Garner, Brown, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice and others, we are all reminded that black life is still too often devalued, and that police officers are often not subject to the rule of law. That reminder has packed a similar emotional wallop. It is all coming so quickly: these announcements that a trial isn’t even needed to determine the police officer’s guilt or innocence. These exonerations through other means. People are taking to the streets nationwide to protest: Wednesday night saw an outpouring of response in New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta and beyond.

As far as getting indictments when there is a killing by cop of an African American, things are worse now than they were eg, during the Rodney King case. We thought they were bad then, but at least there were indictments, and the DOJ intervened when the outcome was too 'lenient'.

[niyad]

2. thank you for the link to moyers' excellent article.

[sabrina 1]

5. It is a good article. And does address why Ferguson became such a focal point

when there have been so many other tragedies. It's never clear when something reaches critical mass, but Ferguson seemed to be that point.

Making it worse was the reaction of the authorities with their tanks and militarized weapons, then the worse mistake of attacking media personnel right on the air. Even people who were not that interested in the issue itself, saw with their own eyes, the police 'state' in action.

The over reaction to peaceful protests was simply scary not just to the protesters, but to anyone who thought we lived in a democracy.

But the media has backed away from covering it now. They had a few moments of acting like an actual news organization, and I guess those in power saw how much impact the press can have WHEN they do their jobs and pulled the plug.

[niyad]

6. it is sad that it takes the kind of horror we saw there to show people the true state of this

nation.

[pintobean]

3. They are harassing Mayor Slay and his family

at their home. It's bad enough when they harass the workers at St. Louis' City Hall. St. Louis had nothing to do with Mike Brown's death. Ferguson is not part of their jurisdiction.
Protesters should be at Ferguson and/or St. Louis County offices, and leave families out of it.

[sabrina 1]

7. The entire power structure in the state had 'something to do with' the injustice that created

the entire atmosphere that gave the police the notion it was okay to kill a young African American teenager. From the Governor to the prosecutor to the mayor.

That Gov needs to go when he comes up for reelection.

[pintobean]

8. Oh, bullshit.

Metro St. Louis and Kansas City are the only blue spots on the state map. The Democratic Governor will be term limited out in 2 years. The republicans have veto override majorities in both houses and our next Governor will likely be a republican.

Mayor Slay (D) has been talking to and working with the protestors. The City Council is in negotiations to create a civilian review board for police issues. They're fucking with one of the few people who is working with them and has the power to make a difference. Why take it to his home and family?

In case you don't know, The City Of St. Louis is its own county. It is completely separate from St. Louis County.

[nashville_brook]

4. k and r

[phantom power]

9. recommend

[niyad]

10. . . .