All I can say is how well I remember a sociologist who did a study of Detroit's black community and their struggles, but also their antipathy toward the police, and he came away with this conclusion: there is SOME racism, but the biggest problem is the black communities' failure to control their young men's behavior.
It's true.
You may apply that to ANY city or town in America, because one sees this pattern repeated over and over. The old saying of pointing a finger at someone or something else means four fingers are pointing back at you is so accurate in this case.
It's only in the black community, when the police say,"Come over here," or "Stop", or "Show me your hands", that their men do the exact opposite. And this resistant behavior was encouraged, unfortunately, by President Barack Obama and his Attorney General, Eric Holder, and to no good end. Many dead ends, in fact. When that community finally complies with lawful authority's REASONABLE requests, incidents like what happened in Ferguson or Eric Garner's will be a thing of the past, and any ACTUAL aberrations by police will be more glaring.
52
@CM
Both black African American enslavement and separate and unequal were lawful in America.
The colonizaton and conquest of the lands, lives and natural resources of brown aboriginal human pioneers was also lawful.
Tamir Rice was gunned down while 12 years old playing with a toy gun in a public Cleveland park. Cleveland had a black mayor and cop chief.
' The law is an ass" from ' Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens
6
@CM
I'll have to search for the Detroit study you mentioned, I'm sure there will be points I agree on, no doubt. Yes, antipathy toward the police does exist. There's old footage where police and police dogs as well as fire hoses which where used on black Americans in the 50s & 60s. Therefore, its hard to say the police are to "Protect and serve" all American communities/residents. I say the antipathy is warranted.
I'm not buying the 'there is SOME racism' part. Admittedly, we Americans must acknowledge that racism does exist and always will. I feel there's a presence of negatively implicit bias that's more pervasive than flat-out racism.
I'd like you to expand on your usage of the word 'control' or use a different word. I doubt the study mentioned that word. It's akin to saying control your wife. You control a robot or automation, you cannot control a human? You guide them, instruct them or teach them.
The rest of your statement falls apart once you do a sweeping generalization of the entire black community.
Neither, Obama or Eric Holder influenced or encouraged me to 'behave' a certain way. I still got up, went to work, paid my bills and lived my American Dream. But, alas, it's the "Obama created it" or "It's Obama fault" that makes a lot of Americans sleep well at night.
It's that sort of thinking that plagues us Americans and stagnates us as a society.
10
@Blackmamba, Tamir was 5’10 and pointing something indistinguishable from a real weapon. In fact, Tamir himself had deliberately removed the orange tip that identified it as a toy. The police reacted accordingly.
10
There is a problem with police brutality/ racism in this country, but it's ironic that Brown is a poster boy for reform. His shooting was justified, and his death is his own fault. This is not Eric Garner.
https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/doj_report_on_shooting_of_michael_brown_1.pdf
6
Where are the dads? In tack families make the community. There is your challenge. JIM
6
I hope David doesn't look upon Michael Brown as a hero. Brown was nothing more than a thug who robbed a convenience store and roughed up it's owner just before he attacked the police officer. He's the wrong person to idolize.
10
Amen to the comment by Forest from OR:
"Hopefully she will also be able to find him an adult male mentor. "
As to the significant increase in African-American police officers and in the role of police chief:
It's going to take more than that. Detroit did the same thing back in the 70s and it did nothing to stem the flow of residents, especially African-Americans, from that city.
Any community, no matter what race or ethnicity or financial state, must value respect for laws to live in peace and grow. We've been making too many excuses for far too long for any other behavior than that.
11
Hopefully Ferguson with its better governance and focus on improving job skills and learning opportunities will eventually, albeit slowly, come to thrive and be a role model for other suburbs in St Lous and elsewhere. I wish them all the best.
This comment section says all you need to know about America today. “Move if you don’t like it here”, and other bootstrap nonsense. “He is responsible for his own death” for simply possessing brown skin and a still forming teenage brain. “Those people burned their own community down” is a double racist and classist whammy that we just love to trot out.
This precious child and his mother deserve more than this but we’ve collectively decided to endlessly comment instead. We are so broken, it’s appalling.
13
I’m glad David’s mother has realized that he needs counseling to deal with an absentee father and inappropriate exposure to violent rallies. Hopefully she will also be able to find him an adult male mentor. For boys without a dad in their lives, the statistics are pretty grim. I wish them both the best of luck.
33
Use the least amount of force necessary to maintain public safety. Vs. Why did they give us guns if they didn't expect us to use them?
Police must be expected to always think in terms of zero force as always being the goal. Equipment must be made available which will make that goal as reachable as is humanly possible and staff must be thoroughly trained and retrained in its use in its use.
It is expensive but not so expensive as a multimillion dollar law suit which the department is quite likely to lose with the price landing squarely on the local citizenry resulting in lower property values as well as higher taxes.
I know that simple love for our fellow man should be sufficient motivation but many of our countrymen consider money not just the primary motive but the sole motive.
This equipment must make it just as safe for police to serve a summons as to enter their own home. No police officer should ever have to be remembered as a hero.
2
"...Kameran and a friend passed Sam’s Meat Market, where a friend from the neighborhood was shot dead in an argument in the parking lot two days earlier."
No reporters, no activists, no protests. Just another dead body, just another day.
17
A farm grows in Ferguson.
Earthdance Organic Farm School, situated on the oldest organic farm west of the Mississippi, grows food, farmers and community in Ferguson.
NY Times, please do a story on it. It is a model that in my opinion we need to replicate all over the country.
https://earthdancefarms.org/
11
Everything and everyone would be healed overnight if human beings would do one thing... stop hating.
But human beings thrive on hatred because keeping other people lower raises one's own low self esteem.
So we will continue to hate, as we have and as we do now, hating and disrespecting and destroying.
5
This is a warm article that shows the humanity of the community of which this lovely seven-year old child is a part.
His mother and the entire neighborhood are struggling to overcome difficulties that seem to more prevalent in colored neighborhoods than in white ones.
I saw a similar child today on television, a young Hispanic girl (perhaps 6, 7 ---first day of school) whose father was taken away by ICE and who was sitting on a brick stoop (her home?) and crying, begging, pleading for his return, and uttering "He is not a criminal. Please have mercy and bring him back " . So heartrending , so pathetic. Only a ogre like Miller could view such a scene and not cry.
11
“After a white police officer killed an unarmed black teenager” was all I had to read to know that the false drumbeat continues for the left-leaning liberal press.
This unarmed black teenager, this gentle giant, had just robbed a store, physically attacked the much smaller elderly store owner, and was charging and trying to disarm the “white police officer.”
By the way, that officer, Darren Wilson, was exonerated not only by a grand jury in St. Louis County but also by President Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder. Officer Wilson’s life was ruined by false reporting and in my opinion is the true victim in this sad event. However, that doesn’t seem to matter to certain members of the press, who insist on repeating this false narrative.
53
Most have guns. few have fathers.
5
All of these people in the comments are arguing that Michael Brown’s death was his own fault.
Whether or not the cop properly attempted to deescalate the situation or not, Michael Brown’s death was a flashpoint that led to investigations that proved that the general police conduct in Ferguson was part of larger issues. This is greater than that particular incident.
Maybe the cop that killed Michael Brown wasn’t in the wrong- but the police force as a whole was engaged in discriminatory practices, and they still haven’t implemented the policies designed to improve the community’s policing.
The people who are focusing solely on the cop’s conduct are forgetting one key sentence in this article:
“A federal review that found rampant racial bias and constitutional violations against its majority-black population.”
This is about acknowledging the effect that said rampant racial bias and constitutional violations has on the Black families who are living in a place that is hostile to them, about what it’s like to be a child in that environment.
This is about systemic racism.
32
@L Brown "More than half of Ferguson’s City Council members and police officers are now African-Americans "
17
@L Brown: Making folks show up for court dates is mighty oppressive.
It sounds like Ferguson is adapting to the new way of doing things. It certainly shows.
13
@L Brown
Sorry you can't keep blaming racism forever. It gets old and wears thin after a while.
24
Ferguson is a well integrated community with many black and white residents, a city of mixed races that mainly coexist in peace and prosperity. Many youth are drawn to its lively shopping and restaurant scene.
Stop using it as a whipping boy and start celebrating its diversity.
6
No child should have to fear for their life.
America does not treat its citizens equally so depending on your color, gender and how much money you have you will be treated accordingly. No one has a choice on these variables before being born. I say that because I see less and less empathy in people and more ignorance as if people forget that fact.
The divide is getting greater than ever before with no end in sight.
It is that simple.
7
It is tragic that this young boy has not been told the truth of the Ferguson incident: the young black man was the aggressor—not only against a young white cop who was doing his job but also the person of color who worked at the store Michael Brown stole from. And President Obama’s Justice Department, run by another African-American, conclude that the young white officer acted appropriately. Mr Brown was the criminal who, based upon witnesses who were also Black, was responsible for his own death.—something the young officer must live with. It appears that this young boy is not being told the truth of the incident that made Ferguson famous, the truth that the white cop did his job. That is not just tragic and inappropriately divisive, but wrong.
61
Why do people think that burning down the town will make things better? Some of the people quoted in this article seem surprised that homes are abandoned, businesses closed, and people leaving. They are waiting for things to get better? So is Newark.
31
@Cleo
The Missouri National Guard was called up by Governor Jay Nixon and were on site and prepared to protect the stores that were looted and torched. They were told to stand down by Obama’s administration.
The guard had to stand by and watch Ferguson burn.
21
@cleo
Vietnam too.
2
Despite the tragedy of the destruction of the town, how would the direct confrontation between those there to guard those businesses and the angry protesters have gone? It is possible there might have been more injuries and/or death. As much as it may feel satisfying to have that sort of result for people you feel are deserving of it, in the end de-escalating the situation by removing the possibility of additional people physically hurt or killed seems like a reasonable choice.
2
Michael Brown stormed a convenience store, stole a pack of cheap cigars, assaulted the owner then walked out..
Should he have died because of that? Absolutely not!
If he didn't steal the cigars and assault the store owner would he be alive today? Most likely yes!
I don't know what other lessons the children of Ferguson should learn other than, "Actions then Consequence"
If there's another lesson, please let me know..
50
@Aaron
Well: tell me what you make of this incident, Aaron.
Today's Times reports that a "young man" (race unspecified) walked into a Walmart in Springfield, MO on 8/8/19, carrying a loaded rifle and 100 rounds of ammunition. This man was wearing body armor. This man was safely "detained by an off-duty, armed firefighter" who confronted him in the parking lot until police arrived on the scene. This man was then arrested and jailed.
My point: this armed perpetrator manages to survive; the firefighter and police manage to not to pull their guns' triggers.
The lesson I surmise: this armed perpetrator was probably white.
Or, as you'd put it, Aaron, "actions and consequences" can differ depending on one's race.
3
@Jackie
Well armed perp, unlike Brown,had not previously assaulted an innocent productive store clerk then attacking police officer.
7
I feel bad for the poor kid . . . a victim of being a victim. It’s not his fault.
19
And despite the through investigation the community still believes Brown was a victim. I don't know what to say.
46
Some of those commenting here seem to have the impression that the unrest in Ferguson occurred because of the treatment of Michael Brown's corpse after he was shot by Officer Wilson. In fact the tensions in Ferguson between the police and elected officials as well as the surrounding White Community had been brewing over injustices minor and major for years. There was the policy of the Ferguson Police force to harass the Black citizens of Ferguson for petty offenses such as jay walking and wearing their pants too low. There were reports of arbitrary curfews and the common use of racial slurs by White Officers directed at Black citizens. In fact the fines and fees levied by police against African American citizens in Ferguson were so common and usurious that the lines to pay at the police station often went out of the building and around the corner at times putting people in the position of pay the fine and stay out of jail however paying this means you cannot pay the rent. There is also that disturbing story covered by the NYT of the Ferguson Police aiming high powered weaponry at peaceful Black protesters. Law enforcement has a major role to play here and when you treat a community as though it is less than human this is the result you get. The people of Ferguson deserve far better. The children of Ferguson deserve a future as they are just as entitled to every good thing our nation has to offer the same as any middle class white kid growing up in Missouri.
22
Thank you. I grew up in Ferguson. We all were educated about DWB when we started to drive and the likelihood of getting pulled over for having our black friends in the car, especially in nearby Calverton Park. The “unrest” didn’t just happen overnight. It’s been brewing for decades. To understand Ferguson you also need to learn about Kinloch, which was once a thriving black community, until the airport buyout decimated the tax base.
7
"He’s a Veteran of Upheaval, Molded by Ferguson’s Traumas. He’s 7."
Or the New York Times is lionizing this kid's radicalization?
Honestly, he's seven, and the best thing for him would be to move to a place where he doesn't have to contend with the idea of people getting shot (by police or otherwise) on a regular basis. Sure, at some point he should learn about race in America, police brutality, and all the stuff the New York Times loves to highlight (or prolong?). What sounds like it's happening is he's being socialized into a culture where it will be hard for him to avoid marginalization, and the New York Times is applauding... "See, Republicans? See, racists? What a mess you've made of our country?"
Enough already...
38
@Peter M
I’ve observed 7 year old Korean-American children (in local Starbucks) solving complex math problems. Priorities Matter!
33
7 year olds do not belong at protests that could turn violent and ugly at any moment. His mom should be ashamed of herself. This kid will see his whole life through racism glasses prescribed by people who are consumed with their own little world and fail to see everything that is possible in this great country.
42
@kerri
Yeah, everything that is possible in this "great country"-- how do you read this piece and come up with that conclusion? Madame, maybe you are on another planet -- these times are very dark, the U.S. is far from showing itself as "great" these days -- in truth, it appears to be in serious moral collapse to many of us.
4
The real question is will Ferguson be better off after all this under the new leadership or will it always be remembered as the town that rioted and scare away investors. Look at how long Newark has struggled since the riots of 68. Constant upheaval will not bring prosperity to the town and that is what is needed to bring about change. If the middle class and businesses leave because of the constant unrest what good did serve the community
11
It will be interesting to revisit Ferguson in 10 years and see if white flight is the reality or a myth.
4
Are you kidding? White fight from Flo’ valley is not a myth. What is being shown here is Black Flight. The same thing is happening in far west Chicago and south of 71st. A better question would be, “I wonder if Ferguson looks like East St. Louis in 10 years?”
5
With this false equivalency, you completely miss the thesis of the article.
1
Same thing happened in the Philadelphia of my youth. in 1966 they burned down all the Jewish owned businesses on Diamond Ave and North Philly became a wasteland.Now it is gentrifying and the residents complain that the neighborhood is not for them.
So tell the Ferguson people to hold on to their property and they to can make a killing in 45 years.
26
Way back in 1991 when I was working for an ambulance service in New Orleans we were parked on the side of the street waiting for a call when a neighborhood kid on a bicycle rode up and began chatting. He was about ten years old and black. I don't recall the exact conversation, just idle chat, but I do remember when my white partner asked him in jest, "You haven't been shot yet?" The kid wasn't offended and took the question in stride. It was a completely logical question. That was, and is, the reality of black kids in American cities.
Another time we transported an African American teenage girl who was acutely aware of her surroundings but not communicative. She was a psych patient. When a truck backfired in traffic her reaction and expression was one of sheer terror. That terror had her completely incapacitated. She couldn't function.
When I was in high school, in New Orleans, I was a volunteer with the American Red Cross. One of my fellow volunteers who was black and about my age told us of his recent experience of just standing on a street corner and being shot in the chest. He had no idea where the bullet came from. Fortunately it was a low power .22 caliber and did not penetrate past his rib cage, but it did travel around his chest to the opposite side of the entry wound.
It's incredible that people, children, live like that in America, but you won't convince me it's all the fault of white people, of systemic white racism. Not today. Not in New Orleans.
88
"Not in New Orleans"? You don't think any disparities there might have affected black citizens disproportionately? Like Hurricane Katrina maybe?
6
@Aristotle Gluteus Maximus
According to Bryan Stephens of the Equal Justice Initiative being black African American is to be presumed dangerous guilty and violent.
While being white European American is to have the benefit of a presumption of innocence.
With 5% of humans America has 25% of prisoners. And although only 13% of Americans are black like Ben Carson and Tim about 40% of the prisoners are black. Because blacks are persecuted for acting like white people do without any criminal justice consequences.
Prison is the carefully carved colored exception to the 13th Amendment's abolition of slavery and involuntary servitude.
The structure of white supremacy reigns and rules in Chicago and New Orleans no matter what you believe and feel.
7
@Aristotle Gluteus Maximus
"That was, and is, the reality of black kids in American cities." I appreciate the editorial comment. But, is being a black kid/youth getting shot in an American city the reality or is it the stereotypical perception?
You gave 3 decent examples and I'm sure you could share more. But, my question still stands.
As a youth in an American city, I've never been shot. I'm sure there are countless others that can claim the same.
2
How did 7-year-old David Morrison learn to say “I can fight the police”?
From his mother? From the “activists” she spends time with and records on her cell phone? From other kids on the street?
I hope his mother’s pastor or social worker or someone will remind her that learning “2 plus 2 = 4” (i.e., getting a good education) has a much better chance of leading to a safe and productive adulthood for both of her children.
58
read with Empathy.
7
So the city council and police force are over 50% black and Ferguson is still a mess. Maybe the problem wasn't racist police officers after all.
59
I would like to take this opportunity to give context to some of the perceptions I have heard from people in traveling the country and also that are expressed in the other comments.
All of Ferguson did not burn down. The main strip and surrounding area did. None should have been burned down but this is a tiny area in the scheme of things. Look at Google Earth to see it.
Ferguson is nothing like Newark because it is a small suburb and not a large city. Again, look at Google Street View and I can't imagine a comparison to Newark. Apples to Oranges.
The child does not need to move out of Missouri because Ferguson is a small suburb and hardly representative of a state that contains great universities and many entrepreneurial and business opportunities. It has its problems and may not have the opps of the coasts but it has a dramatically lower cost of living and a greater chance for a middle-class life than areas such as San Fran or NYC.
St. Louis itself was barely affected. The city was not on fire as I have heard asserted and the media gave the impression that the region was in turmoil. It was not.
This is a mid-size suburb far away from the city that is surrounded by other suburbs with the same issues. The expectation that a low-income suburb in the middle of other similarly troubled ones could improve substantially is not realistic.
This has not been a failure because it was never possible. The media portrayal lead to inaccurate assumptions by the public.
12
@jeff I no longer live in the STL, but I spent the first 40 years of my life there. It was amazing and frustrating to see how the media gave the country an impression of Ferguson and of the St. Louis area as a whole that was simply inaccurate. I only know the truth about the area because I lived there. It did make me wonder what other inaccuracies I read in news stories and never think twice about.
12
@jeff
Apples to oranges comparing Ferguson to Newark? No. Ironbound mostly Brazilian, Portuguese featuring many fine restaurants thriving while most black neighborhoods still dangerous resembling bombed out war zone.
6
Five years ago, the good people of Ferguson protested police misconduct by burning and looting the businesses that served their community. Now, five years later, they "loathe the dominance of liquor stores and fast-food joints."
What kind of businesses do they expect are going to move into a community that treats shopowners like they did? Lord and Taylors does not want to build in an unsafe area, and for good reason. One of the political heroes of the center left once said "Elections have consequences". He was right, and so do riots.
57
Every time people who are enraged burn down the buildings with businesses that have served them, even poorly, the same thing happens. The businesses do not return, and no businesses replace them. The buildings remain unused shells. Every time. It happened in all the cities affected by the uprisings/riots of the 1960's. The people who did the damage felt that they needed to pay back for the wrongs that they felt had been done to them, but in the end, that hurt them, too.
45
Whenever anyone feels wronged and unable to do anything about it, it causes frustration, and frustration causes anger. But when one carries that anger into subsequent interactions with other people, what they receive is unfriendly looks because they are displaying anger, still. It feels like everything is against one. The wrong done to one ends up producing more negative experiences that one experiences and contributes to one's frustrations and anger.
It's one of the reasons that people forgive the unforgivable, just to be free of this pattern of continuing negative experiences.
8
I think the real question is how young David Morrison is doing in school, not whether he is a street-hardened social justice warrior who says things like “I can fight the police.”
I hope David’s mother is not trying to turn him into a professional activitist but instead is urging him to study and do well in school. Is she taking concrete steps to improve his life and hers? Is she trying to avoid contact with whoever taught David to say “I can fight the police”?
Surely there are better places for a single mother to raise her two children than in Ferguson, which is why its population is declining; has she asked her social worker or pastor about alternatives? There are plenty of people and social agencies that help folks relocate to better circumstances, and perhaps this article will encourage her to seek them out.
For David’s sake, and hers.
62
@Mon Ray
Yes, It is important to take several, positive steps. I hope David's mother has the strength to do that. For his sake...
1
@Mon Ray
When and where were you ever a black mother or child?
Are they some of your best friends?
I come from five generations of enslaved and free- person of color ancestors and heirs.
And no amount of education has ever made any of us as white and equal as Ivana and Melania Trump
2
One of the things that I find very striking is the deep fear of police shared by the children in the story. The second thing is the fact that Michael Brown’s body lay in the hot sun for hours following the shooting. The dysfunction is a result of pervasive and well-founded fear of authority.
Whether the shooting was justified or not, it’s the callous treatment of Mr. Brown’s body that’s seared into the memory of those who witnessed that dreadful fact.
While we’re not clear as to why people thought they were rioting...whether they thought it was because of an unjustified shooting or not, it’s the treatment of his body that provided the spark and that’s the message people in the community received loud and clear. It’s right up there with collective historic memories of lynched black men.
Things appear to have changed for the better in Ferguson. But building the trust that’s an imperative for healthy relationships with police officers, church leaders, elected officials, and poor neighborhoods is hard, slow work. That’s going to require mental health support and social services. I hope the community gets the help it needs to find a way forward.
19
Have you read the official DOJ report? Those who witnessed the act did not comment on how long the body was left out in the street. Those that actually witnessed the shooting corroborated the officer’s story that he was attacked in his vehicle and that Michael Brown lunged toward him before he was shot. Read the report, it’s an easy google search.
51
@Rea Howarth
Feeling mistrustful towards police as one's normal first reaction is unwise. The police, any police, react to such attitudes with concern as to why and what might be behind it. A simple infraction turns into a long investigation and many opportunities for anyone to feel disrespected.
The failure to cover a dead person's body really does cause a lot bad feelings. In Los Angeles, police erect tent like coverings to allow investigations without leaving the victims open to view.
4
@Rea Howarth. They are afraid in part because they are not told the truth about cops—most of them are trying to do the right thing under very difficult circumstances.
5
As the five year anniversary of “Ferguson” has approached, it has been interesting to read the perspectives of the national media rediscovering St. Louis and the aftermath since. Crime is remarkably worse and more brazen, spreading from North County/City to downtown. Multiple restaurants have closed, with the owners listing the dangerous image of downtown as the reason for the drop in business. Crown Candy Kitchen, a 100-year-old establishment in North City, had to resort to pleading for patrons on Facebook to ignore the dangers of the neighborhood. The national uproar five years ago has moved on, and left St. Louis a much worse city.
41
@Ben I live in the CWE in St Louis and do not agree. Buildings are rising in the CWE and in The Grove, Midtown is booming and new hotels are going in. Cortex is on a roll and Square recently announced more jobs in the city. There are bidding wars for homes on Shaw, once a forgotten crime infested area. The Tower Grove area is so hot property owners cashing in. Unemployment is at the national avg of 3.6% and we are named one of the most entrepreneurial cities now.
The Ferguson area may still be troubled but please don't paint our city that way. You live here. And NYT, this did not merit a Times Pick unless you wanted to highlight the negative as well.
10
@jeff
As do I, we're probably neighbors.
I agree that the development in the CWE and elsewhere is exciting for the growth of our city. But Ferguson is not an isolated entity, and it is impossible to deny that the aftermath has resulted in a marked increase in violent crime. In the years following Ferguson in 2014, there has been a homicide, on average, every other day within the city. I am happy for the positive aspects of St. Louis, but we should not overlook the toll the riots and their consequences took on our city.
7
@Ben The neighborhood around Crown Candy Kitchen has been awful since I first discovered this wonderful place about 48 years ago, while volunteering at Grace Hill House. I still go there if I'm in St Louis. It's safe there and there are always a policeman or two inside, eating lunch or having some ice-cream while on break.
Ferguson was always a poor community. It was poor white. The houses there are tiny. The area where those apartments were, was always high crime - it just used to be poor white crime. The racial demographic for this city changed almost overnight and there was no problem - whites and blacks were both poor and there was a lot of intermarriage.
The police dept was white as most of the force was older and had worked there for years. I wonder what has happened to those older officers who were undoubtedly forced out in order to hire more blacks...
It was a tragic even when Michael Brown was shot, but not isolated. What was isolated was the way the media and other outsider with their own agenda, used it for their own purposes. It became a freak show with his parents being trotted out and sounding off. And all it did was incite those in the "bad area" to loot and burn the very stores on which they depended.
It was a tragedy for St Louis, a city I lived in for many years and still love.
13
I know there’s only so much criminal justice reform can accomplish. The culture of the community has to change, too. I also know that being a police officer is dangerous; the pay isn’t great; and they witness horrible things. But law enforcement helped create this mess, repeated in cities across the country. For its part, police unions deserve the blame. They create a de facto parallel justice system for police officers and the conditions under which corruption thrives. There’s no oversight. There’s no transparency. Internal criticism is stifled. Whistleblowers are punished. Yet we give them a legal monopoly on lethal power. Police unions are the biggest impediment to progress on the government’s part in this problem.
18
So let's summarize:
1. The Ferguson community essentially burned down Ferguson and people behave perfectly rationally by leaving Ferguson.
2. There is racial diversity on the council as well as the police force and yet the murder and general crime rates are higher than before the residents of Ferguson essentially burned down Ferguson.
The play staged to represent Ferguson should not have been Sophocles' Antigone - it should have been Beckett's existential masterpiece Waiting for Godot.
62
On March 4, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice reported the conclusion of its own investigation and cleared Wilson of civil rights violations in the shooting. It found forensic evidence supported the officer's account, that witnesses who corroborated the officer's account were credible, and that witnesses who had incriminated him were not credible, with some admitting they had not directly seen the events.[11][12] The U.S. Department of Justice concluded that Wilson shot Brown in self-defense
All that looting and protesting and burning and fighting and it turned out that Eric Holder's Justice Department investigated and determined the officer was right.
100
Yup
28
@John Unbelievably, many people still don't know those facts you sited because that portion of the story was under-reported (I believe the NYT did well in reporting). It's very sad that the media withhold information that doesn't fit the picture it has already painted to the public. Scary times we live in.
30
@John
There was insufficient evidence to charge the white cop with violating Michael Browns civil rights under federal civil rights law that was liklely provable beyond a reasonable doubt
The U.S. Department of Justice did not make a finding of self-defense nor justifiable homicide. That was not their job.
That was a local white county prosecutors job. And he let the white cop off.
How and why this incident played out was disputed
1
I was struck by the following paragraph from this article:
“Children watched their friends stream away from Ferguson after buildings were looted and burned. In a place that is younger on average than the rest of the country, student numbers have dropped by 12 percent since 2014, and schools are closing.”
In other words, it seems that just about anyone who can get out of Ferguson is doing so, leaving an even more dysfunctional population than was present five year ago when the town’s buildings were looted and burned by an aggrieved populace.
Just as there are failed nations, there are failed cities, and Ferguson seems to be one of those (along with Baltimore, which is on track to achieve 300 murders per year for the fifth year in a row).
Why aren’t the Democratic presidential candidates focusing on critical issues like these instead of posturing on TV to see who can be most woke and progressive (socialist)?
Our goal in 2020 should be to vote Trump out of office and replace him with a Democrat who can earn the votes of the millions of undecideds, disaffected Democrats and independents who correctly felt their needs and concerns were not being addressed by HRC in 2016.
So far I cannot see any of the candidates being able to achieve this important task.
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@Mon Ray The Dems do not want to discuss the mess they are making of our cities and the press obliges them.
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The best thing for this kid is to move out of Missouri and get the rest of his education on either coast..
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@paully Sigh...as a native St. Louisan, let me tell you...this kid doesn’t need to move out of Missouri, nor does he need to move out of St. Louis. There are any number of excellent universities in the St. Louis area.
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We as Black people in America have scores of legitimate and well-documented grievances with regard to our historical treatment in this country. But so what? The country is strapped, in debt, in economic decline, with failing institutions and mounting social problems. Looking critically at the American political class, does anyone actually see that group leadership and policy midgets in either party as being able to meaningfully reverse our fortunes. Good luck with that. And so-called "woke" Black Americans are wasting their time protesting and waiting for magic political solutions. In fact, they are just victims of a massive "get-out-the-vote" ploy by the Democrat Party, whose real focus is a progressive agenda of environmental activism and rights for gays and women.
It is sad to see this young man and others like him being indoctrinated into the "cause" when his time and energy would be far better spent turning him into an economic warrior, capable or rising above all of this nonsense. Everyday, large numbers of Black Americans are beating the cycle of poverty and emerging into wonderful lives. Let's demand better schools in our communities. Lets teach self control, economic reality, capitalism, positive social norms and marketable academic disciplines. Let's learn to win.
The progressive movement is just using us. If they win in 2020, all of our causes will be back on the back burner, just as they have always been.
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Some of what you say makes sense some of it don’t. Progressives, conservatives, liberals nor anyone can save many in the poor black communities until the ignorant mentalities is changed. This is also the case for much of white working class Americans who are dying through destructive lifestyles. I’m writing this as an African American male who has been doing quite well but not until my mentality changed that i was able to be successful. ✌🏽
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@AR Clayboy, perhaps the best comment I have come across in following this issue over the last 5 years. How does Ferguson not follow the downward spiral of a Baltimore or a Flint???....by focusing on economic empowerment!
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@Ihsan I hope you’ll consider using your experiences and your skills to mentor black boys and young men in your community. I’m sure the Urban League or Big Brothers could benefit from having someone like you volunteering in their programs.
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Aminah, thank you. It takes courage to share your story, and so many will benefit. You were on the front line. It's not possible to know how to handle such new situations. I think your love, willingness to seek help and look for solutions, and strong connection with your son will make all the difference. Your insights will turn into family wisdom.
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This is powerful stuff. These folks deserve better.
All I can think to do, as an outsider, is to support local institutions like the amazing public library in Ferguson. As the upheaval unfolded, the library opened its doors with expanded hours and expanded programming for young people. 350K was raised in short order to support this work.
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@Cousy
Yeah, they deserve better. Like not having their neighbors burn down their own neighborhood because an aggressive criminal assaulted and fired a gun at a cop.
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@asdfj
The famous unarmed black teenager Michael Brown did not manage to fire a gun at the cop, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.
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Libraries are wonderful places. Young people who use them to read or study are on the road to success.
Those who decry libraries as elitist and unimportant, who do not read or study, thinking both fit only for sissies, too often end up dead on the street.
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People rioted, looting stores and burning down the main shopping street. This had zip to do with the supposed triggering event. Those stores didn’t shoot the guy, nor did the people who owned the buildings or who worked on the street. So why did the left try to excuse the misconduct?
Many years later the shopping street remains mostly gutted. People who can leave are doing so. Life sucks for the people who remain. The left moved on to their outrage du jour, and the people who can least afford it are the ones paying the price. You know, the ones that the riot crowd supposedly supports.
Jeez. Who’d a thunk it would all turn out poorly? Maybe if you wait 50 years it’ll eventually get (marginally) better?
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@Who’d A Thunk It?
The burning down of buildings and businesses happens frequently in these mob actions. Whatever the trigger for the events, the burning and looting are by people acting in mobs. The sad part beside the destruction is that the businesses rarely come back, afterwards, even with new owners.
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@Who’d A Thunk It?
Who and what is the ' left' ?
Why didn't the Founding Fathers join hands and sing ' We Shall Overcome' while being beaten, arrested and imprisoned by King George III' s troops?
Why didn't Abraham Lincoln have a farewell banquet for Jefferson Davis?
Why didn't Franklin Roosevelt let Adolf Hitler have Europe and Hideki Tojo have China, Southeast Asia and the Indo- Pacific?
Why didn't Lyndon Johnson wait until Richard Nixon was President of the United States to push for civil rights legislation?
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"Antigone in Ferguson:--Theater review: "What does a play written 2,500 years ago and a suburb of St. Louis have in common? “Antigone in Ferguson” draws parallels between the events of the ancient Greek play by Sophocles and those in Ferguson, Missouri and the death of Michael Brown in 2014."
In both plays, a dead body is left out unattended by authorities.
NYT -- "A Chorus Remembers Michael Brown in ‘Antigone in Ferguson"---By Ben Brantley, Sept. 14, 2018
“Antigone in Ferguson,” is meant to open the door on the feelings aroused by the shooting of the 18-year-old Mr. Brown by a white police officer, and by the protests that followed.
The chorus that first mourned the doom of the titular heroine of a deathless work by Sophocles in Athens some 2,500 years ago has been reincarnated where Theater of War’s “Antigone in Ferguson” opened this week at Harlem Stage.
Though its members sing a different tune from their Greek forebears — with soaring gospel strains that make the rafters tremble — they remain somber, celebratory and essential to listen to."
A play about justice, ethics and state authority was written 2,500 years ago in the ancient Greek theater that has served as a world model. It's now more apt than ever for our times.
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@Meredith Mike Brown was shot while assaulting a police officer after being confronted for his shoplifting. Keep holding him up as a symbol and watch sensible people desert your cause.
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You don’t seem to get the point. It’s the treatment of Michael Brown’s body that sparked the mindless violence.
@KM, I cannot agree more. I am the son and grandson of leaders in this country's socialist movement, but the left's willingness to put a Trump-like spin on the facts about cases like Ferguson, suggest that this country is more comfortable living in a capitalist free for all.
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Ferguson mirrowing early stage post 60's Newark riots.
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This is simply DEVASTATING!
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Two quotes: 1)"Many people with with the means to move are simply leaving...who wants to buy a house in Ferguson?" and 2)"Here we are five years later,” he said. “That there would be such a long tail on recovery, I wouldn’t have thought that.” If the community itself won't support Ferguson, why would anyone think recovery will happen any time soon?
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@Holmes
The Ferguson community burned down Ferguson. Who could've guessed that would deter outside investment? What a mystery...
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