Missouri Leadership to Ferguson Citizens:
If it’s true Darren Wilson is testifying before the Grand jury today, and AG Holder is rolling into town Wednesday, it’s becoming clearer now why Governor Nixon ordered the National Guard in Ferguson.
Q&A: The Michael Brown shooting is going before a grand jury. Here’s how it will work.
Is Darren Wilson’s going to walk? The citizens of Ferguson DO NOT TRUST their local PD or local government. It’s all a dance & pony show from the leaders, starting with the mayor of Ferguson and past elected officials.
These are the folks you’re voting into office. Please remember this in November.
First Ward, Councilwoman Fran Grecco
From Ferguson Cop Embroiled in a Brutality Suit to City Councilwoman
Mayor Knowles “I don’t know NOTHIN’ ‘BOUT NO TROUBLES IN FERGUSON!
“There’s 22,000 residents in our community,” Knowles told MSNBC Tuesday. “This has affected about a half-mile strip of street in our community,” he said of the demonstrations. “The rest of the African Americans in our community are going about their daily lives, going to our businesses, walking their dog, going to our neighborhood watch meetings.”
Gov. Nixon Calls For ‘Vigorous Prosecution’ Of Darren WilsonYet, won’t ask Bob McColloch to recuse himself as PROSECUTOR!
The BLAME GAME continues
Updated. Thanks GrannyStandingforTruth!
Senator Claire McCaskill
McCaskill: “If the people of Ferguson would JUST GO HOME, so the provocateurs can be isolated..” WHAT THE FUCK? You Condescending heifer.
Short: If you negroes would should know your place and stay in it…
Meet the man in question:
Prosecutor Bob McColloch
Claire is not for the citizens of Ferguson. the rules and regs, and “PROCESSES are trotted out for the Darren Wilsons & Bob McCollochs. Not for Michael Brown Jr. PERIOD
And please remember the deafening silence from the other ELECTED Democratic leaders in America, COWARDS!
Also, remember “States Rights” for some people, means white’s rights and not yours.
“What frames Michael Brown’s image?”
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140821_What_frames_Michael_Brown_s_image_.html
New thread is up!
Those aren’t gang signs
08/20/14 02:15 PM
By Steve Benen
One of the key leadership figures in the Ferguson crisis has been Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson. It’s a shame, then, that Soraya Nadia McDonald had to explain that Johnson has not been photographed flashing gang signs with members of the community.
To reiterate: Capt. Johnson is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, a black fraternity that was formed in 1911 at Indiana University in Bloomington, and the hand sign you see in the pictures below is a Kappa greeting. The Kappas are part of the Divine Nine or the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the nine historically black fraternities and sororities that include Delta Sigma Theta, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Alpha Phi Alpha, Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma, Zeta Phi Beta, Sigma Gamma Rho and Iota Phi Theta, none of which are gangs.
The gesture – which looks a bit like an A-OK sign turned on its side – is obviously harmless. It’s evidence of membership in a fraternity, not membership in a gang.
But that didn’t stop a variety of conservatives from pushing the line that Johnson was somehow involved directly in gang activity.
How would such nonsense get started?
Apparently, CNN published a piece on its iReport site – which has since been removed – that “reported” the findings that turned out to be completely wrong.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/those-arent-gang-signs
‘Am I next?’ Ferguson’s Protests Through the Eyes of a Teenager
Shane Flowers: I saw Trayvon Martin…I saw George Zimmerman get away it. Now it’s another case. If this police get away it, I’m telling y’all man, this ain’t Florida…this is St Louis Missouri.
The kids in this video breaks my heart.
SG2, check your email please. thanks!
Got it!
Rebel Diaz @RebelDiaz
Follow
what we are witnessing is the future of the usa. a police state in which poor and displaced people are controlled by extreme force #ferguson
12:26 AM – 19 Aug 2014Bridgeport, CT, United States
https://twitter.com/Show_Me15/status/500744806428311554/photo/1
https://twitter.com/ParisBurned/status/501648220997836800/photo/1
Imani ABL @AngryBlackLady
Follow
People need to quit comparing this to Occupy. The people in #Ferguson are fighting the sort of injustice most Occupiers can’t understand.
12:17 AM – 19 Aug 2014
the answer is absurd and obvious
https://twitter.com/EricWolfson/status/502337614931062784/photo/1
https://twitter.com/juliacarriew/status/502262845112090624/photo/1
How 23 Newspapers Around The World Covered The Unrest In Ferguson
“Obama’s Hurricane.”posted on Aug. 20, 2014, at 8:34 p.m.
Protests following the shooting of Mike Brown by police in Ferguson, Mo., have put the city at the center of a national debate on race and the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers, but they also reverberated internationally. With reporters from around the world flocking to the scene in response to reports of unwavering civil unrest, mismanagement of the situation by police, and dozens of arrests — including that of several journalists — here’s how the most recent developments have played out on newspapers around the world.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/juangastelum/how-23-newspapers-around-the-world-covered-the-unrest-in-fer
https://twitter.com/YahooScreen/status/502307830075244544/photo/1
Deep, profound and true.
https://twitter.com/erikasway/status/502289519178444800/photo/1
https://twitter.com/Yamiche/status/502295522913579008/photo/1
FROM TOD this morning:
Linda
August 21, 2014 at 8:28 am
So….the ALL WHITE PR firm hired by the Ferguson Mayor thinks it is a good idea to promote the town with ” I love Ferguson T-shirts and yard signs in ALL WHITE neighborhoods ?
How out of touch …..
https://twitter.com/PragmaticObot/status/502264348656807936/photo/1
Rock @Tigerfists88
Chris Hayes jus said peeps in the streets of #Ferguson appreciate AG Holder & #POTUS…hear that u lame fukks…#BlackAdemics #news #p2 #TFB
LIVINGTHEDREAM @edthagod
The Obama administration has sued 15 Police depts for civil rights violations but some black folks say Obama don’t care #maddow
Larry O beats NYT over their ridiculousness in covering Michael Brown.
…………………………..
Rewrite: Bad police reporting by the NYTimes
Lawrence O’Donnell criticizes The New York Times for not finding eyewitnesses to the Michael Brown killing that back up police claims of what happened.
http://on.msnbc.com/1sW3Mut
https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/502292870343438336/photo/1
Only4RM @Only4RM
Are folks listening? Pros. Marcia Clark: “When LA burned, the DOJ didn’t come.” — Referencing the ‘Rodney King’ verdict riots @Lawrence
Attorney General Eric Holder to students: ‘I am also a black man’
08/20/14 10:03 AM—Updated 08/20/14 09:44 PM
By Trymaine Lee
FERGUSON, Missouri — For the second time in as many summers, the nation’s first black Attorney General has promised to use federal resources to investigate the killing of an unarmed black teenager.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder arrived in this stubbornly segregated city as it exhales from days of violent protests and heavy-handed police rule following the police killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown.
“I am the attorney general of the United States,” Holder told a group of local college students. “But I am also a black man.”
As he did last summer in the wake of the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer, Holder spoke of his own experiences with racial profiling, the police, and being black in America.
“I understand the mistrust,” he told them.
Holder later met with residents and community, faith and business leaders to underscore just how vigorously the Department of Justice is investigating Brown’s killing and working behind the scenes to cool tensions.
As rioting and protests have torn Ferguson apart since Brown’s killing, calls are rising for the Department of Justice to take over his case from local law enforcement. Far short of that, Holder has promised a clear and thorough investigation.
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/eric-holder-ferguson-after-calm-night-michael-brown-protesters
https://twitter.com/michaelcalhoun/status/502311928526827520/photo/1
https://twitter.com/aterkel/status/502292389151928320/photo/1
https://twitter.com/travon/status/502297005709094912
BWA HA HA Chris needs to bike it on out of Ferguson. Just Grandstanding…
Don’t tell me that twitter isn’t a game changer
https://twitter.com/conradhackett/status/502213347643625472/photo/1
https://twitter.com/msnbc/status/502278959136923648/photo/1
https://twitter.com/aterkel/status/502250008650194944/photo/1
http://youtu.be/Nz0W4llT05o
https://twitter.com/blackink12/status/502207124454137859/photo/1
More thunder and lightening in Ferguson:
http://new.livestream.com/accounts/9035483/events/3271930
New witness Michael Brady on Michael Brown
I was just listening to it on your twitter post, SG2.
Thanks for posting this.
He has given some important info.
https://twitter.com/fieldproducer/status/502261023215079424
Ha ha. If these Ferguson cops went up against ISIS they better wear diapers.
LOL Go Bros. I’m with you Liza. Cowards don’t want none of ISIS!
Patrick on Ferguson: ‘Sick of unarmed, black men being shot by police’
GREENFIELD — Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick today said he is “sick of unarmed, black men being shot by police” in his first comments since a black teenager was killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., spurring riots, looting and a heavily militarized response by police.
“I’m sick of it,” Patrick said with a heavy sigh. “I’m sick of unarmed, black men being shot by police. I’m sick of the lawlessness on the streets. I think everyone is just tired of when are we going to get through with this kind of thing.”
Patrick, who made history in 2006 when he was elected the state’s first black governor — at the time, only the second black governor nationwide — said the U.S. faces painful hurdles on race relations.
“ We have a great challenge in this country acknowledging the extraordinary progress we have made on race relations — much of it in my lifetime. And at the same time, acknowledging how much remains to be done,” the governor told reporters, speaking with emotion. “You hear people from time to time who are 100 percent in one or the other of those views, that everything’s been done and nothing remains, or everything remains to be done.
“In fact,” he said, “we’re a lot further along, but there are still issues. There are still sensitivities and there are still things that … benefit from heightened sensitivity and better training.”
http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2014/08/patrick_on_ferguson_sick_of_unarmed_black_men_being_shot_by
“In fact,” he said, “we’re a lot further along, but there are still issues.”
Yeah, I’d say there are issues. Kids are told this is America where hard work and diligence is rewarded. Be good, stay out of trouble, stay in school, work hard, etc…But black kids, especially young men, have to be told how to act when the police harass them so that they survive, they don’t end up dead.
We really need to give some serious thought about what we are doing to children and young people who grow up with this constant threat over them. This is just wrong.
Black Citizens in Ferguson want justice, while white America’s waiting for ALL the facts to come out. (manufactured lies)
Bullshit! Darren Wilson ‘s a killer cop who bust 6 caps in Michael Brown Jr. It was a rage EXECUTION. CASE-FUCKING-CLOSE!
https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/502126163540852737
McCulloch should just start wearing his white hood and be done with it. Everyone knows he’s a hard a$$ racist still vindicating the death of his father.
https://twitter.com/allanbrauer/status/502124157832683520
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/502130820371714048/photo/1
Yeah, right Bobbie, boy! We know you know what it’s like to lose a loved one, especially at the hands of a black man.
And he’s apparently made his whole life about hatred…
You’re in my head, Ametia.
Ms. photo op-Clarie hugs black Ferguson man one day, next tells Ferguson citizens to go home.
How you gonna tell Ferguson citizens to go HOME in Ferguson?
Re: Ferguson Police – – –
http://www.davegranlund.com/cartoons/wp-content/uploads/Ferguson-police-shooting1.jpg
Simon and Garfunkel music going through my head…..
“He was my brother” in my mind is more universal than any one person as I am feeling it today. Today it hits me as being all those who lost their lives to the Freedom struggle and to all those who were killed at the hands of the racist villains who considered them outsiders…outside the civil rights and guarantees that of their dark White world and community.
And, to me, it applies to Michael Brown as the community and his advocates respond with protest.
The song just encompasses more to me today.
He Was My Brother
http://youtu.be/Id6kECNeLo8&rel=0
It’s the state of Missouri vs Michael Brown. Zimmerman trial redux. WTF
No kidding…..sick sick sick
The pain is not going to go away……but justice could ease it.
AMEN!
Hey folks, lets get busy. Call @GovJayNixon at (573) 751-3222 RIGHT NOW & tell him it’s time to step up and replace Bob McCulloch.
DID YOU SEE THIS FUCKERY?
Yes, the lie is circulating Darren Wilson has broken bones around his eye. Look for a photoshopped pic. It’s GZ take 2
what did the autopsy reveal about Michael Browns hands, fists, fingers? This is exactly why this case has gone before the grand jury, so that MISSOURI can continue with their VILE COVER UP OF RACISM AND KILLER COPS.
Mail box is FULL please try again.
Hi Dande! You’re a sight for sore eyes. Nice to see you. Thank you for trying.
Doubling down!!! They are not gonna give up the power they have over us.
Yes, sunshine. The white leaders in Missouri want blacks to “STAY IN THEIR LANE.”
What it was like to grow up in Ferguson
Star Tribune
Opinion
I’ve always told people that I’m from St. Louis, even though I actually grew up in one of its sleepy suburbs. An obscure burg called Ferguson, Mo.
After days of rage and riot, now almost everyone has heard of Ferguson. Maybe I’ll keep telling people I’m from St. Louis. Or Missouri. Or the Midwest. Or the Milky Way galaxy.
I know nothing more than anyone else about the violent death of an unarmed black teenager at the hands of a white cop or the chaos in its aftermath. I have no special insight into armor-clad police brandishing rifles, angry crowds dodging tear gas, thugs pillaging or the governor calling out the National Guard.
I have many memories, however, of how white people in Ferguson mistrusted people with dark skin, kept them at bay — and without a fair shake — for decades before the hot summer of 2014. My own working-class father and churchgoing mother were fervent supporters of the whites-rule-the-roost status quo.
“It’s just the way things are,” my mother would say.
http://m.startribune.com/opinion/?id=271917881&c=y
Quite the article….I appreciate the honesty of giving a the reader a chance to “look through the private window”……but, of course, we could have learned this from any Black individual living in Ferguson or Missouri or the U.S.
True, Yahtzee. White folks need to look at themselves honestly, because when it comes to racism, it was created by white folks. So they need to be paraded in front of the cameras and dialogue on it. Nothing changes unless they face it, own it, and transform their thinking and consciousness.
Antonio French @AntonioFrench · 12m
On @@kmoxnews now, Bob McCulloch says: In officer-involved shootings, the question is whether any shots should’ve been fired, not how many.
This is so upsetting….so he is not going to talk about the execution-style killing of Michael Brown by Ofc. DB? I refuse to give this sub-human a full name anymore.
DB…..DB ……hey, I am not going to even capitalize his initials…….db…db…db
SHORT: As long as Wilson can prove that the shooting was justified, it doesn’t matter if he riddled Michael Brown Jr.’s body with 6 bullets!
And so it begins, Zimmerman 101 playbook
of course all those black witnesses saw the orbital fractures as he stood over Brown’s dead bleeding body…. Who is leaking this utter LIE to FOX?
Antonio French ✔ @AntonioFrench
An officer told Lillian Guthrie to “go get a job” as she and her son protested Monday. She’s a financial analyst.
12:26 PM – 20 Aug 2014
Wow the white trash are really showing themselves, aren’t they?
They are without restraint.
Hey when u do a search on twitter for #ferguson do u get no results??
Forget it. It works
more footage of FPD’s finest in action
Wonder what AG Holder whispered in Ron Johnson’s ear…hmm
I can’t make out what he is saying.
Yeah, and we expect these types of Nat’l Guard people to deal fairly with the Black protesters and keep the peace?!!
We are being made acutely aware of the Ferguson AND Missouri climate surrounding the heinous killing of Mike Brown.
When the U.S. loses the moral high ground however briefly
Briefly??? Briefly??? This treatment of Blacks has been going on for decades upon decades upon decades upon decades……..
What’s this I’m hearing about the Ferguson police raiding churches last night?
I did not hear about that…..sanctuaries are off limits I thought. Oh, Ametia, so many hearts and souls are crying out……
The fix is in, folks. This is why McCulloch doesn’t want to get off the case.
How long will it take for the prosecutors to present evidence to the grand jury?
St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch said it could be the middle of October before his office has presented all of the evidence in the Michael Brown killing to a grand jury.
Two assistant prosecutors on McCulloch’s staff will begin presenting evidence later today to the grand jury in secret, as is protocol. But McCulloch said not all of the evidence is ready to be presented, and he said the grand jury’s term that expires in September will likely be extended just for this case.
The grand jury will examine Brown’s death and consider criminal charges. A Ferguson police officer fatally shot Brown, 18, on Aug. 9. How long will it take for the prosecutors to present the evidence to the grand jury?
“Our target date is hopefully by the middle of October,” McCulloch said.
Yes, the fix is in.
What do innocent/peaceful Black protesters do when do when they been wronged (teargassed) by the White stuff in the racist White structure/power system and then have find themselves having to turn to that very White structure system for help??? Everything is so messed up.
This photo that you retweeted, SG2, is so symbolic of it. A protester has to used the white stuff to spray his teargassed eyes and face.
https://twitter.com/michaelhayes/status/502155740824752128/photo/1
AH HELL NAW! This case shouldn’t take the middle of October to try.
It’s an open and closed case if they would admit it!
Another thing…..how many of the people arrested were arrested for looting??
This is all some bullshit….they are seriously doubling down on that status quo. The fear of not being able to hold us down and control us is the only transparent thing about this lack of humanity from these assholes. They are actively showing us that they are the power and will not be questioned. Of course there is no trust, they are blatantly telling us to shut up and take whatever they say!
AMEN! They’re brazenly telling us…stay in your lane, nigras!
Truth-telling!
Michael Brown’s Killing Exposes the Neglect of Black Communities in the U.S.
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/michael-browns-killing-exposes-neglect-black-communities-us
As we continue to discuss the developments since the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer, we turn to john a. powell, professor of law, African American studies and ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society. “The black community tends be overpoliced and underprotected,” powell says. “That’s a very serious problem.”
Interesting. Law professor K. Crenshaw compares Dred Scott decision to SCOTUS decisions in current times, trying to roll back anti-discrimination laws, voting rights laws, and affirmative action. We are feeling most definitely feeling the effects of this, I’m just concerned that a lot of folks don’t understand what it means to lose this ground. That mostly white Ferguson PD should be raising many questions among the general population, but it doesn’t seem to be doing that, or I’ve missed something.
August 18, 2014
Ferguson Protests Erupt Near Grave of Ex-Slave Dred Scott, Whose Case Helped Fuel U.S. Civil War
AMY GOODMAN: Just miles down the road from the scene of protests in Ferguson, we’re hearing a lot about Florissant. Just down Florissant is the grave of Dred Scott, who’s buried in the Calvary Cemetery on West Florissant Avenue. Born a slave in Virginia, Dred Scott sued in a St. Louis court for his freedom. The case went to the Supreme Court, resulting in a landmark Supreme Court decision that’s called the worst ever. In 1857, the court ruled African Americans were not citizens of the United States, and therefore had no rights to sue in federal courts. The court described blacks as, quote, “beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect,” unquote. Again, the Dred Scott decision, considered the worst decision in the history of the Supreme Court, in the slave state of Missouri, the seven-to-two decision. The chief justice was a slave owner himself. In fact, a number of the Supreme Court justices were slave owners themselves.
To talk more about the significance of this case today, we’re joined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, professor of law at UCLA and Columbia University, founder of the African American Policy Forum.
Kimberlé, thank you for joining us. Professor Crenshaw, talk about the significance of Dred Scott’s body just lying down the road on Florissant, the road we’ve heard so much about, as these protests continue and escalate.
KIMBERLÉ CRENSHAW: Well, really couldn’t be more symbolic. As you point out, Dred Scott is widely regarded as being one of the worst cases ever. And there are two ways in which we might see its relevance in this particular moment. One, when the Supreme Court was trying to decide whether African Americans could be citizens, what they considered was the way African Americans were treated. They weren’t necessarily looking at formal law. In a lot of ways, free blacks had more rights than white women did. But the overall idea was that they could be enslavable. The overall idea is that they weren’t seen as having the same social worth as white Americans and could be enslaved for their own good. So the very possibility of their enslavability meant that, at least as far as the founders were concerned, they were going to be forever and permanently a stateless people. And that would have likely been the case had the case not led to a civil war.
But the second thing that is actually equally resonant now is that the Supreme Court was trying to resolve a slavery issue, once and for all, by reinforcing slavery, by saying that if you are a white person and you own a slave, you can do and travel and move anywhere you want with that slave, because the Constitution protects you. So they were trying to end it, in a way that’s quite similar to the way the Supreme Court today is trying to end all agitation around civil rights, trying to end all agitation about integrating police departments. One of the reasons why the Ferguson Police Department looks the way it does is because the Supreme Court has rolled back on anti-discrimination law, rolled back on affirmative action, rolled back on voting rights, and has used the Constitution, the 14th Amendment, in precisely the same way that the Dred Scott case tried to do: to end the whole thing. And that’s why Dred Scott is still relevant now, even though it’s formally overturned.
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/8/18/ferguson_protests_erupt_near_grave_of
I couldn’t agree more!! They nailed it!
Thanks, Liza, for posting this VERY important article!
YVW.
****************************
So is he implying the citizens of Ferguson are the fucking enemy that a bomb might have to be dropped on them?
Brother said. “We live in a neighborhood and what do you do with a hood you put it over your head when you are trying to hide something.”
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=930303000316918
Dick Gregory is right on….BAM!
He’s been fighting this fight for a long time.
When —->@clairecmc <—- comes up for re-election, 3ChicsPolitico.com will go hard against her because she basically told the black people of Ferguson to suck it up.
Like they have been since the seventeenth century.
In the mist of the chaos people are trying to get control of their community
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/19/ferguson-good-news_n_5689027.html
Thanks SHO!
This sure beats the hell out of pics and videos of gunfire, tear gas, and looting, now doesn’t it?
For sure the whole state of the world and the violence fills me with anxiety.
This whole nightmare is as if the citizens of Ferguson never left the 1960s!
OR even the 1860’s.
and Ron Johnson is NO Moses leading his people out of the oppression!!!
Hardly… Johnson is going along to get along. It’s SHAMEFUL. Because if he thinks for a nano second these KKK cops in Ferguson wouldn’t gun down his son.. He’s bee sniffing too much tear gas!
Memo to LT. Governor Peter Kinder: WE got your centuries of jurisprudence tradition, MOFO!
Gawd, Missouri is a hotbed of White supremacist!
It has been one of the most segregated states in the nation and has no plans for changing its attitude and mindset.
Memo to Senator Claire McCaskill: The only PROVOCATUERS in Ferguson are the POLICE!
Let that marinate, lady.
You go, Ametia!…..chew her out……bawl her out……give her a tongue lashing!!!
I am right there with you in telling her off!
The leadership in Missouri is beyond LACKING.
And where the fuck is Senator Roy Blunt?
Let’s not forget what that Lt governor said either regarding “traditional Anglo law”. I remember well what traditional Anglo law is…the ole boy network for whites and JUST US and Jim Crow. It’s so much that I’ve peeped about Ferguson, until I thought I was having a Jim Crow flashback, but it turned out to be real.
@Ametia, you and I both did not trust Ron Johnson. He didn’t prove us wrong last night did he with his “Police safety #1 priority and all of his orders to gas and harass the protesters.
Thanks for the reminder, Granny! I posted the video in the thread.
ANGLO=WHITE We got it, Peter Kinder. Blacks should follow white laws, that means they don’t protect BLACK FOLKS!
You got it, Granny. Ron Johnson’s a pawn in the game. He’s doing what he’s told to do.
None of them can be trusted
Granny and Ametia,
You have called everything right from the beginning! EVERYTHING!
He spoke so powerful in church and then went out and gassed black citizens. I was stunned beyond description.
Reblogged this on The Fifth Column and commented:
This guy is in serious denial about the events going on in Ferguson…
And let’s not forget the “SMEAR CLOWN”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnA9Bwv2csA
The Ferguson Police Chief needs to be fire NOW! and I mean IMMEDIATELY!!!