Several dozen people gathered in a dim church basement here Thursday night to share plans for what to do if a grand jury chooses not to indict the white police officer who shot Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, three months ago.
FERGUSON, Mo. - Several dozen people gathered in a dim church basement here Thursday night to share plans for what to do if a grand jury chooses not to indict the white police officer who shot Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, three months ago. Among their ideas: descend in large numbers on the nearby county seat of Clayton at 7 a.m. on the day after the grand jury's announcement to snarl business.
A day earlier, a different group, chanting 'no justice, no profit,' met in St. Louis to announce it will boycott the region's retailers during the Thanksgiving shopping period as a response to Brown's death.
Since August, a disparate array of demonstrators - some from longstanding organizations, others from startups with names like Hands Up United and Lost Voices - has been drawn here to protest not just the shooting of Brown, but also the broader issues of racial profiling and police conduct.
Now, with the grand jury's decision expected in the coming days, the groups are preparing with intricate precision to protest the no-indictment vote most consider inevitable. Organizers are outlining 'rules of engagement' for dealing with the police, circulating long lists of equipment, including bandages and shatterproof goggles, and establishing 'safe spaces' where protesters can escape the cold - or the tear gas.
Yet the most important part of the planning may also be the hardest: how to prevent demonstrations from turning violent. Organizers say they want their efforts here to blossom into a lasting, national movement. So they say they hope for the protests to be forceful, loud and unrelenting - without the looting or arson that could undermine their message. But they also know that some among the ranks may be more volatile and harder to control.
'We've come to the conclusion that we really don't want violence,' said one organizer with Lost Voices, who goes by the name Bud Cuzz. 'We want to fix this. We still want to fight to make the laws change. We still want to raise awareness. But we don't want the city to turn upside down.'
Montague Simmons, a leader of the Organization for Black Struggle, said there was a growing circle of demonstrators with 'a clear message about what we are about and what kind of behavior we are looking for.' Yet beyond their carefully orchestrated plans for a series of shows of protest and civil disobedience, leaders here acknowledge that there are disagreements about what form of response is fitting and whether militant acts might spill over into violence.
'There's a lot of anger out there,' Simmons said. 'There's nothing we can do to control that.'
At least one group has said on Twitter that it was offering a reward for information on the whereabouts of the officer, Darren Wilson, and, at another point, that it was 'restocking on 7.62 & 9mm ammo.' Law enforcement authorities said they would not discuss individual groups, but that they were 'constantly looking,' at several groups, according to Brian Schellman of the St. Louis County Police, 'trying to separate the rhetoric from the actual threats.'
Immediately after Brown's death on Aug. 9, protests began. For days, people marched and chanted along West Florissant Avenue, not far from where the shooting took place and, for brief periods, the protests grew violent. Stores were looted, and the police said demonstrators threw gasoline bombs and tried to set fires. The police used tear gas and rubber bullets.
Protesters said the police response was an overreaction to just a few in the otherwise peaceful crowd.
Though the confrontations quieted, the demonstrations have continued nearly nightly since. About 50 organizations, including Simmons', have joined forces in a 'Don't Shoot Coalition,' and the level of planning is intense.
Posted by Unknown on Sunday, November 16, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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