Release. Repair. Restore: Thoughts Beyond Ferguson Toward Racial Healing

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Release. Repair. Restore: Thoughts Beyond Ferguson Toward Racial Healing

A timeline of the events in Ferguson. I suppose if Ferguson was an isolated context or if Michael Brown’s death was an anomaly, congregations this Sunday might simply pray for the families, for the burning buildings, for the broken glass in the streets and the broken hearts in Ferguson and around the nation. But neither is true. Eric Garner. Marlene Pinnock. Akai Gurley. Trayvon Martin. Emmett Till. The stories attached to these names break our hearts and make us feel the past is pressing into the present. Even when we are not sure that circumstances are motivated by racism, race is “read” into these events due to our …

A timeline of the events in Ferguson.

I suppose if Ferguson was an isolated context or if Michael Brown’s death was an anomaly, congregations this Sunday might simply pray for the families, for the burning buildings, for the broken glass in the streets and the broken hearts in Ferguson and around the nation. But neither is true. Eric Garner. Marlene Pinnock. Akai Gurley. Trayvon Martin. Emmett Till. The stories attached to these names break our hearts and make us feel the past is pressing into the present. Even when we are not sure that circumstances are motivated by racism, race is “read” into these events due to our history.

Racism is in the air — in coffee shops, in classrooms, in conversations in the workplace, and in our congregational life. It breaks my heart.

As we move toward the season of Advent, and consider the circumstances of our nation, I find two texts particularly compelling.

In Luke 4, Jesus proclaims his call to ministry. Jesus came to release those who are captive to poverty, oppression, physical malady and political realities. Jesus’ role as liberator, status quo destroyer, and shackles breaker is ours, because we are the body of Christ.

In Isaiah 58, against a backdrop of national turmoil, the prophet Isaiah reminded the people of God that when we loosen the bonds of injustice, “…You shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.”

Our faith means a call to be liberators. And what we need most to be liberated from — what impinges the souls of Black folk, White folk and all people in these United States — is the tragic legacy of racial prejudice in our nation.

In the only book he ever published, Notes on the State of Virginia (1781), Thomas Jefferson wrote:

I advance it therefore as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.

This suspicion led to pseudoscience and to a lie: white supremacy. Despite the Emancipation Proclamation, despite the Civil Rights Movement and now a Black man in the White House, America is not liberated from the shackles of fear and hatred based on the lie.

When a Black life is cut down, and a grand jury says that a trial is not even needed for the one who did the shooting, it seems justified by the lie.

Being Black in America can feel like suffering a million paper cuts every day, micro-abrasions that build up over time. These wounds and our history are the context for the sorrow pervasive on a day like today. There is the sense that we are devolving rather than progressing. Tragically, this sorrow can turn to anger, and the anger can lead to depression, malaise, and disengagement. It can also lead to violence.

The lie of white supremacy imprisons White people as well; guilt, shame and paralysis can result. Most of us are caught up in this lie. It affects housing patterns and resources for public schools. It affects voting rights and health care. It affects infant mortality and rates of incarceration. Sadly, 11:00 on Sunday morning is still one of the most segregated hours in America, because the lie has our hearts bound in iron.

God’s people are called to be in the business of liberation, and with that work of liberation, our names are changed. We become “repairers of broken places,” and “restorers of streets to live in.” We must take the kind of worship God desires out of our sanctuary doors and into the streets. We can do this with in three ways: with peaceful protesting, with courageous conversations, and with our eyes on the prize of racial reconciliation.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said,

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

I agree with King; our peaceful protesting will bend the moral arc of the universe toward justice. It will take time, commitment and persistence, but I personally find hope in the human capacity to be tenaciously committed to love-in-action.

Peaceful protests might be on the ground in major cities and in Ferguson, but they are also in the virtual community. Watch Twitter and comment. Post on Facebook words of hope and peace. I am personally disappointed that this case will not go to trial. But, as Dr. King says, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” No matter your position on this case, our nation is broken around issues of race. So, with hope as our impetus, we must lose the notion of faith as a spectator sport and engage racial injustice with peaceful protest.

We must engage in courageous conversations. We need to have them in and amongst our own people–our families and our children, our close friends and allies, and in our racial/ethnic groups. A caucus can be an important thing. Make space for the asking of deep questions and the sharing of even awkward sentiments. Why is this happening? What does it mean? How does it affect my soul? Aren’t we past race yet, and can I do anything about this? How does my faith in God relate to these issues? How can I be a healer?

And we must have these conversations across what might seem to be natural divides. We need to have cross-racial/cross ethnic conversations. In order to do this, we must have relationships. We can’t liberate each other while we are in silos. Multiracial/multiethnic congregations like Middle Collegiate Church are critical to the work of racial reconciliation. If your church is diverse, think of ways to encourage deeper relationships. In our context, we have an ongoing small group called Erasing Racism, in which we are having critical conversations about race. If your context is mono-cultural, find a partner with whom to relate. Create a joint worship celebration or prayer vigil during Advent and have conversation as you break bread. Use questions like: When was the first time I was othered due to my personhood? When have I othered someone else? How can these experiences plant seeds for empathy? How did I learn the story of race and what can I do to change it?

Finally, there is something about the very personhood of Jesus the Christ, a person whose ethnic heritage is in itself diverse (see Matthew 1:1-17) and whose very body calls the Body of Christ to be always on the border of difference working for racial reconciliation. This requires engagement, education, and commitment. Be a student of race and culture. Grow your “border personality;” start by reading Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye or Tim Wise’s White Like Me, or United by Faith by Curtiss DeYoung, Michael Emerson, George Yancey, and Karen Chai Kim.

As Ferguson smolders from last night’s violence, as a nation processes testimony and tactics, as the case is tried in the media, I am thinking about the lyrics to a song, penned by my friend Tituss Burgess, inspired by the poetry of June Jordan–

You and I are the ones we’ve been waiting for, you and I thought this was somebody else’s war, you and I, are the ones–the ones we’ve been waiting for.

Now is the time, and we are the ones, to release and liberate ourselves from bondage to racism, to repair what is broken in our nation, to restore peace born of justice in the streets.

Bible Study Questions

1. How have I been a releaser or liberator; is there a space in my context for more work in this area?

2. With whom might I partner for courageous conversations on race?

3. What is the call to action these texts speak to my heart?

For Further Reading

The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison

White Like Me, Tim Wise

United by Faith, Curtiss De Young et al

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Release. Repair. Restore: Thoughts Beyond Ferguson Toward Racial Healing

This Is What The Black Voices Family Is Thankful For

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This Is What The Black Voices Family Is Thankful For

This year, Thanksgiving came at a time of great unrest in the black community. Thousands of protesters disrupted calm across the whole of America as they expressed significant dissatisfaction with the Ferguson grand jury decision against indictment for the officer who shot unarmed teen Michael Brown on Aug. 9. Since then, and especially in recent days, police brutality, wrongful deaths and injustice have blared on radio channels, TV stations and newspaper covers. But Thanksgiving is also a time that people come together with their loved ones and celebrate what they are thankful to have. We asked the Black Voices family what they are thankful for, especially during this time and place in history. In light of recent national events but in spirit of tomorrow’s holiday, we want to …

This year, Thanksgiving came at a time of great unrest in the black community.

Thousands of protesters disrupted calm across the whole of America as they expressed significant dissatisfaction with the Ferguson grand jury decision against indictment for the officer who shot unarmed teen Michael Brown on Aug. 9. Since then, and especially in recent days, police brutality, wrongful deaths and injustice have blared on radio channels, TV stations and newspaper covers.

But Thanksgiving is also a time that people come together with their loved ones and celebrate what they are thankful to have. We asked the Black Voices family what they are thankful for, especially during this time and place in history.

See some of the responses we received below.

“I’m thankful for life and the growth I can experience everyday.” — Brandon White

“To be a young black man from St. Louis that made it to the age of 34. As we’ve seen, all of us aren’t that lucky…” — Marion J Bradley

“I’m thankful for the protestors in Ferguson.” — Jolene Gilkey

“My husband and our brand new beautiful baby boy.” — Crystal Meyer

“Thankful for just being alive to see this Day, and hoping to be blessed to see a ‘Happy Thanksgiving’!” — Barbara Millican

“Making it to adulthood.” — Jamal Connor

“Thankful for Jesus who guides my life, family, friends and the blessing of being 67.” — Thedra McMillian

“My ability to make it happen therefore providing for my family a great Thanksgiving!” — Sharon McCreary

“I’m thankful that all my Black male relatives are present and accounted for.” — Sydney Thorpe

“Beautiful family.” — DesiBruce Hendry

“Thankful my breast cancer was found and my family hasn’t left my side.” — Susan Goodman

“I am thankful for so much! My health, my family, my friends , a career in which I have continued to excel, a roof over my head and a car to drive, food to eat .. my future is so bright.” — Nicole Barnes

“Life, good health, and my wonderful family and friends.” — Jasmeen Bell

“Knowing God first before everything else, family, friends, and my health.” — Roteasha Shine

Excerpt from: 

This Is What The Black Voices Family Is Thankful For

Here’s What The Obamas Are Eating For Thanksgiving Dinner

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Here’s What The Obamas Are Eating For Thanksgiving Dinner

This year, President Barack Obama and his family are spending Thanksgiving at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where they’ll dine on turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes — and six kinds of pie. Here’s this year’s menu, as provided by the White House press office: Dinner: Thyme Roasted Turkey Honey-Baked Ham Cornbread Stuffing Oyster Stuffing Braised Winter Greens Macaroni and Cheese Sweet Potato Gratin Mashed Potatoes Green Bean Casserole Dinner Rolls Dessert: Banana Cream Pie Coconut Cream Pie Pumpkin Pie Apple Pie Pecan Pie Cherry Pie As the Associated Press notes, it’s Obama’s responsibility to pick up the tab for the meal — as he does every other day of the year: Gary Walters, who was chief White …

This year, President Barack Obama and his family are spending Thanksgiving at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where they’ll dine on turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes — and six kinds of pie.

Here’s this year’s menu, as provided by the White House press office:

Dinner:

Thyme Roasted Turkey
Honey-Baked Ham
Cornbread Stuffing
Oyster Stuffing
Braised Winter Greens
Macaroni and Cheese
Sweet Potato Gratin
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Dinner Rolls

Dessert:

Banana Cream Pie
Coconut Cream Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Pecan Pie
Cherry Pie

As the Associated Press notes, it’s Obama’s responsibility to pick up the tab for the meal — as he does every other day of the year:

Gary Walters, who was chief White House usher for many years, said the payment rule dates back to 1800 when the White House was first occupied by President John Adams and there was no staff. Presidents brought staff with them and paid for everything.

Congress gradually began spending money to maintain an official White House staff to oversee operations and maintenance, but presidents continued to pay for personal expenses.

What it boils down to, Walters said, is that the White House is first and foremost the president’s home.

“On behalf of the Obama family – Michelle, Malia, Sasha, Bo, and Sunny – I want to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving,” Obama said in his Thanksgiving address to the nation. “Like many of you, we’ll spend the day with family and friends, catching up, eating some good food and watching a little football. Before we lift a fork, we lend a hand by going out into the community to serve some of our neighbors in need. And we give thanks for each other, and for all of God’s blessings.”

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Here’s What The Obamas Are Eating For Thanksgiving Dinner

Protests In Ferguson Dwindle

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Protests In Ferguson Dwindle

ST. LOUIS (AP) — As demonstrations in California heated up overnight, the robust protests in Ferguson dwindled in size and severity as Thanksgiving approached, a change from the days immediately following the grand jury decision in the Michael Brown case. People have begun cleaning up the battered suburban community of Ferguson and seeking something closer to normal. Meanwhile, a group gathered in downtown St. Louis on Thursday morning for what the organizer called a “pro-community” car cruise. Organizer Paul Byrd said the cruise — which consisted of a few vehicles, mostly pickup trucks — was meant to be peaceful and to counteract the violence seen earlier this week in Ferguson after Officer Darren Wilson was …

ST. LOUIS (AP) — As demonstrations in California heated up overnight, the robust protests in Ferguson dwindled in size and severity as Thanksgiving approached, a change from the days immediately following the grand jury decision in the Michael Brown case.

People have begun cleaning up the battered suburban community of Ferguson and seeking something closer to normal. Meanwhile, a group gathered in downtown St. Louis on Thursday morning for what the organizer called a “pro-community” car cruise.

Organizer Paul Byrd said the cruise — which consisted of a few vehicles, mostly pickup trucks — was meant to be peaceful and to counteract the violence seen earlier this week in Ferguson after Officer Darren Wilson was not indicted in the fatal August shooting of 18-year-old Brown, who was black and unarmed.

Byrd, a 45-year-old construction worker from Imperial, Missouri, declined to say whether he supported Wilson but noted, “I totally support police officers.” The cruise, which started near Busch Stadium, was escorted by a city police vehicle. No protesters showed up.

There were no reports of major confrontations or damage to property in Ferguson overnight — where about a 100 people marched in a light snow — and St. Louis County police said there were only two arrests. Troops with rifles were posted at intersections and parking lots in an area where stores were looted and burned Monday into Tuesday.

Since the grand jury’s decision was announced, demonstrators have been active in other cities throughout the U.S. Most have been peaceful. But at least 130 demonstrators who refused to disperse during a Los Angeles protest were arrested Wednesday night, while 35 people were detained in Oakland following a march that deteriorated into unrest and vandalism, according to police officials.

Ferguson business owners and residents on Wednesday covered up broken windows, cleared away debris and hoped the relative calm would last into the Thanksgiving holiday.

The footage people see on the news “is such a small bit of what’s happening here,” said Kari Hobbs, 28. “There’s so much donation and charity going on with the businesses that have been affected and the people that have been affected.”

There were no seats inside Cathy’s Kitchen — a restaurant near the Ferguson Police Department that had windows smashed during the violence — and a line had formed at the back of the building. Jerome Jenkins, who runs the restaurant with his wife, Cathy, said he never considered closing his doors.

“It really wasn’t about wondering if the building would get torched or not,” Jenkins said. “Me and my wife, we expected it to get damaged … we decided to go home, and we would live with whatever fate would give us.”

___

Link to grand jury documents: http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_documents/ferguson-shooting/.

___

Associated Press writers Andale Gross, Tom Foreman Jr., Jim Salter, Alex Sanz and Alan Scher Zagier also contributed to this report.

More On Ferguson From HuffPost:

Photographic Evidence Revealed | ‘First Year Law Student Could Have Done Better Job’ | Ferguson Smolders After Night Of Fires | Protest Locations | Americans Deeply Divided | What You Can Do | Darren Wilson Interview | Darren Wilson Could Still Face Consequences | Timeline | Students Protest | Shooting Witness Admitted Racism In Journal | Peaceful Responses Show The U.S. At Its Best | Reactions To Ferguson Decision | Prosecutor Gives Bizarre Press Conference | Jury Witness: ‘By The Time I Saw His Hands In The Air, He Got Shot’ | Thousands Protest Nationwide | Ferguson Unrest Takes Over Newspaper Front Pages Across The Country | Grand Jury ‘Should Be Indicted,’ Brown Lawyer Says | Grand Jury Documents Reveal Mistakes, Questionable Testimony | Parents Bring Young Kids To Bear Witness To Ferguson Protests | 12 Sobering Numbers That Define The Fight To Get Justice For Michael Brown | Saints Player’s Moving Reflection On Ferguson Goes Viral | Amid Ferguson Cleanup, Locals Look For Their Community To Rise Above The Damage | ‘They’re Murdering Our Kids And Getting Away With It’ |

Source – 

Protests In Ferguson Dwindle

Ferguson Grand Jury Testimony Full Of Inconsistencies

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Ferguson Grand Jury Testimony Full Of Inconsistencies

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Some witnesses said Michael Brown had been shot in the back. Another said he was face-down on the ground when Officer Darren Wilson “finished him off.” Still others acknowledged changing their stories to fit published details about the autopsy or admitted that they did not see the shooting at all. An Associated Press review of thousands of pages of grand jury documents reveals numerous examples of statements made during the shooting investigation that were inconsistent, fabricated or provably wrong. For one, the autopsies ultimately showed Brown was not struck by any bullets in his back. Prosecutors…

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Some witnesses said Michael Brown had been shot in the back. Another said he was face-down on the ground when Officer Darren Wilson “finished him off.” Still others acknowledged changing their stories to fit published details about the autopsy or admitted that they did not see the shooting at all.

An Associated Press review of thousands of pages of grand jury documents reveals numerous examples of statements made during the shooting investigation that were inconsistent, fabricated or provably wrong. For one, the autopsies ultimately showed Brown was not struck by any bullets in his back. Prosecutors exposed these inconsistencies before the jurors, which likely influenced their decision not to indict Wilson in Brown’s death.

Bob McCulloch, the St. Louis County prosecutor, said the grand jury had to weigh testimony that conflicted with physical evidence and conflicting statements by witnesses as it decided whether Wilson should face charges.

“Many witnesses to the shooting of Michael Brown made statements inconsistent with other statements they made and also conflicting with the physical evidence. Some were completely refuted by the physical evidence,” McCulloch said.

The decision Monday not to charge Wilson with any crime set off more violent protests in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson and around the country, fueled by claims that the unarmed black 18-year-old was shot while surrendering to the white officer in the mostly African-American city.

What people thought were facts about the Aug. 9 shooting have become intertwined with what many see as abuses of power and racial inequality in America.

And media coverage of the shooting’s aftermath made it into the grand jury proceedings. Before some witnesses testified, prosecutors showed jurors clips of the same people making statements on TV.

Their inconsistencies began almost immediately after the shooting, from people in the neighborhood, the friend walking with Brown during the encounter and even one woman who authorities suggested probably wasn’t even at the scene at the time.

Jurors also were presented with dueling versions from Wilson and Dorian Johnson, who was walking with Brown during the Aug. 9 confrontation. Johnson painted Wilson as provoking the violence, while Wilson said Brown was the aggressor.

But Johnson also declared on TV, in a clip played for the grand jury, that Wilson fired at least one shot at his friend while Brown was running away: “It struck my friend in the back.”

Johnson held to a variation of this description in his grand jury testimony, saying the shot caused Brown’s body to “do like a jerking movement, not to where it looked like he got hit in his back, but I knew, it maybe could have grazed him, but he definitely made a jerking movement.”

Other eyewitness accounts also were clearly wrong.

One woman, who said she was smoking a cigarette with a friend nearby, claimed she saw a second police officer in the passenger seat of Wilson’s vehicle. When quizzed by a prosecutor, she elaborated: The officer was white, “middle age or young” and in uniform. She said she was positive there was a second officer — even though there was not.

Another woman testified that she saw Brown leaning through the officer’s window “from his navel up,” with his hand moving up and down, as if he were punching the officer. But when the same witness returned to testify again on another day, she said she suffers from mental disorder, has racist views and that she has trouble distinguishing the truth from things she had read online.

Prosecutors suggested the woman had fabricated the entire incident and was not even at the scene the day of the shooting.

Another witness had told the FBI that Wilson shot Brown in the back and then “stood over him and finished him off.” But in his grand jury testimony, this witness acknowledged that he had not seen that part of the shooting, and that what he told the FBI was “based on me being where I’m from, and that can be the only assumption that I have.”

The witness, who lives in the predominantly black neighborhood where Brown was killed, also acknowledged that he changed his story to fit details of the autopsy that he had learned about on TV.

“So it was after you learned that the things you said you saw couldn’t have happened that way, then you changed your story about what you seen?” a prosecutor asserted.

“Yeah, to coincide with what really happened,” the witness replied.

Another man, describing himself as a friend of Brown’s, told a federal investigator that he heard the first gunshot, looked out his window and saw an officer with a gun drawn and Brown “on his knees with his hands in the air.” He added: “I seen him shoot him in the head.”

But when later pressed by the investigator, the friend said he had not seen the actual shooting because he was walking down the stairs at the time and instead had heard details from someone in the apartment complex.

“What you are saying you saw isn’t forensically possible based on the evidence,” the investigator told the friend.

Shortly after that, the friend asked if he could leave.

“I ain’t feeling comfortable,” he said.

___

Associated Press writers Michael Kunzelman, Catherine Lucey, Nomaan Merchant, Garance Burke, Jeff Donn, David B. Caruso and Paul Weber contributed to this report.

___

An updated interactive about the Ferguson grand jury is available here: http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2014/ferguson-shooting/

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Ferguson Grand Jury Testimony Full Of Inconsistencies

Dozens Arrested During Ferguson Protests In California

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Dozens Arrested During Ferguson Protests In California

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police in Oakland and Los Angeles arrested scores of demonstrators during a third night of unrest linked to the shooting protest in Ferguson, Missouri. At least 130 demonstrators who refused to disperse during a Los Angeles protest were arrested Wednesday night, while 35 people were detained in Oakland following a march that deteriorated into unrest and vandalism, according to police officials. About 200 or 300 largely peaceful demonstrators crisscrossed the streets of downtown Los Angeles for several hours in the afternoon and evening over a decision not to bring criminal charges against a Ferguson policeman for killing a black man. Later some of the protesters were stopped by a phalanx of riot-clad police near …

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police in Oakland and Los Angeles arrested scores of demonstrators during a third night of unrest linked to the shooting protest in Ferguson, Missouri.

At least 130 demonstrators who refused to disperse during a Los Angeles protest were arrested Wednesday night, while 35 people were detained in Oakland following a march that deteriorated into unrest and vandalism, according to police officials.

About 200 or 300 largely peaceful demonstrators crisscrossed the streets of downtown Los Angeles for several hours in the afternoon and evening over a decision not to bring criminal charges against a Ferguson policeman for killing a black man.

Later some of the protesters were stopped by a phalanx of riot-clad police near the Central Library.

Lt. Andy Neiman said an unlawful assembly was declared after some marchers began walking in the street and disrupting traffic. They were ordered to disperse but instead reformed, with police trying to corral them.

Neiman said 130 protesters were arrested.

Meanwhile, Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said the 33 arrests there came after a march by about 100 people through Oakland streets.

She said that later small groups began moving through the streets with some vandalizing property, mainly breaking windows.

Most of the protesters had dispersed but shortly before midnight Watson said that there was still a very small group that police were monitoring.

On Monday and Tuesday, some demonstrators in Oakland vandalized businesses and blocked freeways to protest the decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

During the demonstration Wednesday in Los Angeles, demonstrators had marched to a federal building and police headquarters but they were turned away by lines of police after heading toward the county jail and then the Staples Center arena, where the Los Angeles Lakers were playing.

“The system is wrong,” demonstrator Jovan Brown told KCAL-TV. “We’re trying to let everybody know if we come together as a people and unite, we can change it.”

There was a brief, tense confrontation where a handful of demonstrators screamed at officers, who held raised batons. One officer struck a woman who had moved forward, and another shoved a protester.

Finally, squads of police boxed in and began arresting around 60 remaining protesters for failure to disperse, Neiman said.

Most of those arrested were expected to be released after posting $500 bail for the misdemeanor. However, those unable to pay the bail could remain jailed through the Thanksgiving weekend pending scheduled Monday court hearings, authorities said.

Earlier Wednesday, nine people were arrested after they sat down in a bus lane on U.S. 101 near downtown during one of the busiest driving days of the year.

There were smaller, peaceful protests in other communities, including San Diego and Riverside.

More than 300 protesters have been arrested over the past three days by Los Angeles police and California Highway Patrol officers.

___

Kristin J. Bender in San Francisco and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

___

Tami Abdollah can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/latams.

More On Ferguson From HuffPost:

Photographic Evidence Revealed | ‘First Year Law Student Could Have Done Better Job’ | Ferguson Smolders After Night Of Fires | Protest Locations | Americans Deeply Divided | What You Can Do | Darren Wilson Interview | Darren Wilson Could Still Face Consequences | Timeline | Students Protest | Shooting Witness Admitted Racism In Journal | Peaceful Responses Show The U.S. At Its Best | Reactions To Ferguson Decision | Prosecutor Gives Bizarre Press Conference | Jury Witness: ‘By The Time I Saw His Hands In The Air, He Got Shot’ | Thousands Protest Nationwide | Ferguson Unrest Takes Over Newspaper Front Pages Across The Country | Grand Jury ‘Should Be Indicted,’ Brown Lawyer Says | Grand Jury Documents Reveal Mistakes, Questionable Testimony | Parents Bring Young Kids To Bear Witness To Ferguson Protests | 12 Sobering Numbers That Define The Fight To Get Justice For Michael Brown | Saints Player’s Moving Reflection On Ferguson Goes Viral | Amid Ferguson Cleanup, Locals Look For Their Community To Rise Above The Damage | ‘They’re Murdering Our Kids And Getting Away With It’ |

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Dozens Arrested During Ferguson Protests In California

Thankful for Our Power: A Thankful Discourse in a Time of Reckoning

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Thankful for Our Power: A Thankful Discourse in a Time of Reckoning

Two days after the grand jury’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson for the death of Michael Brown, there appears so little to be thankful for. Decades of overaggressive policing are all too common in all too many communities that some may want to give up. Today, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, be encouraged that even in the midst of such profound sadness and darkness, there are still glimmers of hope and things worthy of gratitude: We can be grateful for the young activists of yesterday and today, our country’s ability to transform for the better and our own capacity to effect meaningful change. Reports of fires, looting and civil unrest in…

2014-11-27-bsd_naacp_hero_ferguson_av2.png

Two days after the grand jury’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson for the death of Michael Brown, there appears so little to be thankful for. Decades of overaggressive policing are all too common in all too many communities that some may want to give up.

Today, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, be encouraged that even in the midst of such profound sadness and darkness, there are still glimmers of hope and things worthy of gratitude: We can be grateful for the young activists of yesterday and today, our country’s ability to transform for the better and our own capacity to effect meaningful change.

Reports of fires, looting and civil unrest in cities across the country have dominated the conversation. But what has not been amplified are the peaceful protests led by young practitioners of democracy. These young activists transformed an individual incident in police brutality into a global call for social justice. Peaceful, nonviolent protest is part and parcel of our American tradition — from Selma to Montgomery to Occupy Wall Street. And in each of these instances, our young people have stepped up and stood on the front lines for justice. For each of them, we can be grateful.

We can be hopeful in our country’s ability to change for the better. While we have overwhelming work to do in reforming our criminal justice system, we have made some inroads.

We are hopefully nearing the crest of a rising tide where there is increased national awareness and a shift in public opinion about the immorality and unconstitutionality of racial profiling as a viable police strategy and tactic. Now, we at the NAACP know about racial reform. We were founded to combat a form of racialized police brutality known as lynching, which was often done by law enforcement officials, aided by mobs. Between 1862 and 1968, as many as 3,346 black men and women were lynched. We helped bring that practice to an end. We can yet do the same for racial profiling and police brutality. And we are encouraged that today there is a growing consensus of researchers who invalidate racial profiling, citing that it engenders community distrust, makes prosecutions more difficult and makes both communities and police officers less safe.

However, we must still stand firm on advocating for a federal standard on the excessive use of force, both federal and state anti-racial-profiling laws and the elimination of other laws that criminalize our black and brown communities, like the “Three Strikes, You’re Out” law and laws that overincarcerate drug offenders.

And for this reason we must be most grateful for and never lose sight of our own ability to effect change — change in our communities, change in our country and change around the world.

Michael Brown’s death is a moment none of us would have sought. However, his death and the death of so many other black and brown brothers and sisters at the hands of police misconduct has served as the catalyst to bring to the forefront the need to end racial profiling and police brutality.

And on Saturday, Nov. 29, the NAACP, including members of our Youth and College division and senior and youth organizations, will continue this work by embarking on a 120-mile, seven-day march titled “Journey for Justice: Ferguson to Jefferson City.” The march will commence on Nov. 29 near Michael Brown’s home and conclude at Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon’s governor’s mansion in Jefferson City.

This march is the first of many demonstrations to make clear to the country and the world that the NAACP and our allies will not stand down until systemic change, accountability and justice in cases of police misconduct are served for Michael Brown and the countless other men and women who lost their lives to such police misconduct.

This Thanksgiving, we need not underestimate ourselves. There is much to be grateful for even now. We must be thankful that our power is evident — in the voices of young and older protesters, in the marchers of the civil rights era, in the lawyers fighting for the rights of the oppressed and for those joining us this Saturday on our 120-mile journey. We will not cower, and we will not capitulate. We will continue to demonstrate our power with both grace and vehemence. We believe in our young people and in the value of their lives, and we will bring police brutality to an end.

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Thankful for Our Power: A Thankful Discourse in a Time of Reckoning

12-Year-Old Boy’s Fatal Shooting By Cops Could Have Been Avoided: Family

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12-Year-Old Boy’s Fatal Shooting By Cops Could Have Been Avoided: Family

CLEVELAND (AP) — The family of a 12-year-old boy fatally wounded by a Cleveland police officer said surveillance video of the shooting shows that if the officer had not acted so quickly the youngster would still be alive. The video made public on Wednesday shows Tamir Rice being shot within 1½ to 2 seconds of a patrol car stopping near him at a park in Cleveland on Saturday. It shows the boy reaching in his waistband for what police discovered was a pellet gun that shoots non-lethal plastic projectiles. He died the next day. Tamir’s family said in a statement released by their attorneys that they hope Cleveland police and Cuyahoga County prosecutors “thoroughly examine” what happened at the park …

CLEVELAND (AP) — The family of a 12-year-old boy fatally wounded by a Cleveland police officer said surveillance video of the shooting shows that if the officer had not acted so quickly the youngster would still be alive.

The video made public on Wednesday shows Tamir Rice being shot within 1½ to 2 seconds of a patrol car stopping near him at a park in Cleveland on Saturday. It shows the boy reaching in his waistband for what police discovered was a pellet gun that shoots non-lethal plastic projectiles. He died the next day. Tamir’s family said in a statement released by their attorneys that they hope Cleveland police and Cuyahoga County prosecutors “thoroughly examine” what happened at the park that day.

“It is our belief that this situation could have been avoided and that Tamir should still be here with us,” said the family. “The video shows one thing distinctly: the police officers reacted quickly.”

The patrol officer who shot Tamir was identified Wednesday as Timothy Loehmann, a 26-year-old rookie who began his career in Cleveland on March 3. He previously spent five months in 2012 with a department in suburban Independence, but four of those months were in that city’s police academy.

Loehmann’s partner that day was identified as Frank Garmback, 46. He has been with the department since 2008. Both are on paid administrative leave pending a decision by the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office whether to pursue any criminal charges.

Much of the video footage shows Tamir alone in a park on an unseasonably warm November afternoon. He is seen pacing, occasionally extending his right arm with what appears to be a gun in his hand, talking on a cellphone and sitting a picnic table with his head resting on his arms.

The gun wasn’t real. It can be bought at sporting goods stores for less than $20. Tamir’s was lacking the orange safety indicator usually found on the barrel and, from a distance, was indistinguishable from a real firearm.

At one moment, Tamir is sitting at a picnic table in a gazebo. He stands and a police car zooms into the frame from the right and stops on the grass, just a few feet from Tamir. The passenger door opens and Loehmann shoots Tamir before Garmback can get out the driver’s side door.

It’s unclear how far Tamir was from Loehmann when the officer shot him, but Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said Wednesday that it was less than 10 feet.

The low-resolution video shows Tamir reaching to his waistband and then bending over after being shot. His body is mostly obscured by the patrol car when he falls to the ground. Garmback can be seen walking around the car and kicking what is said to be the airsoft gun away from Tamir.

Tomba told reporters at a news conference Wednesday that an FBI agent who was working a bank robbery detail nearby arrived within a few minutes and administered first aid to Tamir. Paramedics arrived three minutes later. The boy died on Sunday at a Cleveland hospital.

Tomba said the city was releasing the video at the behest of Tamir’s family.

“This is not an effort to exonerate. It’s not an effort to show the public that anybody did anything wrong,” Tomba said. “This is an obvious tragic event where a young member of our community lost their life. We’ve got two officers that were out there protecting the public that just had to, you know, do something that nobody wants to do.”

On Saturday, a person had called 911 about a male pointing a gun at others at the park. The caller told the 911 dispatcher that the gun was “probably fake,” then added, “I don’t know if it’s real or not.”

Tomba would not discuss statements the two officers gave after the shooting, saying they were part of the investigation. Nor would he discuss details of the radio conversation between the officers and a dispatcher except to say they were apprised that they were on a “gun run.”

David Malik, one of the attorneys representing Tamir’s family, said Wednesday that he hoped the shooting of Tamir would lead to reform. He cited Cincinnati, where he said the police department, police union and the community worked collaboratively.

“Hopefully, incidents like this won’t occur again,” Malik said.

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Associated Press writers Jennifer Smola in Cleveland and Kantele Franko and Ann Sanner in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

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12-Year-Old Boy’s Fatal Shooting By Cops Could Have Been Avoided: Family

13 Things Nobody Wants To Hear On Thanksgiving

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13 Things Nobody Wants To Hear On Thanksgiving

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13 Things Nobody Wants To Hear On Thanksgiving

Volunteers In Ferguson Help Ward Off Looters

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Volunteers In Ferguson Help Ward Off Looters

FERGUSON, MO., Nov 26 (Reuters) – Since looting first erupted following the August police shooting of black teenager Michael Brown, nearly all the businesses in a 2 square mile area of this St Louis suburb have had to board up. All except one – a Conoco gas station and convenience store. At least a dozen stores have been set ablaze and others looted in Ferguson in racially charged riots since a grand jury on Monday cleared white policeman Darren Wilson in the shooting, which has torn apart this predominantly black Missouri city. The unrest surrounding Brown’s death has underscored the often-tense nature of U.S. race relations. But the gas station has stood out as a beacon, literally and figuratively, as nightfall has descended and chaos…

FERGUSON, MO., Nov 26 (Reuters) – Since looting first erupted following the August police shooting of black teenager Michael Brown, nearly all the businesses in a 2 square mile area of this St Louis suburb have had to board up. All except one – a Conoco gas station and convenience store.

At least a dozen stores have been set ablaze and others looted in Ferguson in racially charged riots since a grand jury on Monday cleared white policeman Darren Wilson in the shooting, which has torn apart this predominantly black Missouri city.

The unrest surrounding Brown’s death has underscored the often-tense nature of U.S. race relations. But the gas station has stood out as a beacon, literally and figuratively, as nightfall has descended and chaos has reigned around it.

On Tuesday night, as police and soldiers took up positions in the parking lots of virtually every strip mall and big box store around it, the forecourt of the brightly lit gas station was busy with customers.

One, a six feet, eight-inch tall man named Derrick Jordan – “Stretch,” as friends call him – whisked an AR-15 assault rifle out from a pickup truck parked near the entrance.

Jordan, 37, was one of four black Ferguson residents who spent Tuesday night planted in front of the store, pistols tucked into their waistbands, waiting to ward off looters or catch shoplifters.

Jordan and the others guarding the gas station are all black. The station’s owner is white.

Ferguson has seen a stark demographic shift in recent decades, going from all white to mostly black. About two-thirds of the town’s 21,000-strong population are black. By some accounts, the Brown shooting has heightened racial tensions in the city. But not at the gas station.

“We would have been burned to the ground many times over if it weren’t for them,” said gas station owner Doug Merello, whose father first bought it in 1984.

Merello said he feels deep ties to Ferguson, and if the loyalty of some of his regular customers is any indication, the feeling is mutual.

REPAYING A DEBT

At times, Jordan and his friends were joined on Tuesday night by other men from the neighborhood, also armed. None of the men was getting paid to be there. They said they felt they owed it to Merello, who has employed many of them over the years and treats them with respect.

“He’s a nice dude, he’s helped us a lot,” said a 29 year old who identified himself as R.J. He said he, like the other volunteers, had lived a short distance away from the store for most of his life.

He carried a Taurus 9mm pistol in his sweatpants and drew it out to show another customer, an older man at a pump who was brandishing a MAC-10 machine pistol.

Missouri allows the open carrying of firearms. State lawmakers recently passed a law overriding any local ordinance that banned the open carry of firearms by people who have concealed weapons permits.

R.J. said on Monday they chased away several groups of teenagers rampaging through the area.

But they have also had a close brush with soldiers from the Missouri National Guard, who mistook them for looters, he said. The guardsmen, rifles raised, had handcuffed one man before Merello came outside the store to explain that the residents were trying to help, not hurt.

While the volunteer guards talked, a white SUV pulled up and a thin young man sauntered into the store. A few moments later, there was a commotion. Merello frogmarched the man out the store.

One of the armed residents, Sean Turner, showed the .40 caliber pistol in his jacket and told the man, “This is what happens if you try to steal from this place.” (Additional reporting by Carey Gillam, Editing by Ross Colvin)

More On Ferguson From HuffPost:

Photographic Evidence Revealed | ‘First Year Law Student Could Have Done Better Job’ | Ferguson Smolders After Night Of Fires | Protest Locations | Americans Deeply Divided | What You Can Do | Darren Wilson Interview | Darren Wilson Could Still Face Consequences | Timeline | Students Protest | Shooting Witness Admitted Racism In Journal | Peaceful Responses Show The U.S. At Its Best | Reactions To Ferguson Decision | Prosecutor Gives Bizarre Press Conference | Jury Witness: ‘By The Time I Saw His Hands In The Air, He Got Shot’ | Thousands Protest Nationwide | Ferguson Unrest Takes Over Newspaper Front Pages Across The Country | Grand Jury ‘Should Be Indicted,’ Brown Lawyer Says | Grand Jury Documents Reveal Mistakes, Questionable Testimony | Parents Bring Young Kids To Bear Witness To Ferguson Protests | 12 Sobering Numbers That Define The Fight To Get Justice For Michael Brown | Saints Player’s Moving Reflection On Ferguson Goes Viral | Amid Ferguson Cleanup, Locals Look For Their Community To Rise Above The Damage | ‘They’re Murdering Our Kids And Getting Away With It’ |

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Volunteers In Ferguson Help Ward Off Looters

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