Ferguson Made It’s Mark; Make Yours Saturday

Ferguson+is+on+the+map.

Tommy Danaher '15

Ferguson is on the map.

On August 9th, 18 year old African-American Michael Brown was shot and killed by Caucasian Police Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. The stories of the events differ far and wide leading up to the shooting, and after. There is speculation about a struggle for Wilson’s gun and Brown fleeing with his back turned to Wilson; the fact remains that Michael Brown died that day. Investigators on the scene report that 12 shots were fired; two from the car and ten from down the street.

The Grand Jury announced on November 24th, 40 days after Michael Brown was killed, that Wilson would not be indited for Brown’s murder. Thousands of people began to protest; buildings were burned and riots broke out; people’s voices were going to be heard in Ferguson, whatever it took.

Ferguson protests have varied from peaceful chants to burning cars. Thousands of protesters have gathered together around the globe to spread awareness of the controversy surrounding the events leading up to the death of Michael Brown. Crowds have marched around Ferguson to rally for awareness of his death.

“Hands up, don’t shoot!” was undoubtedly the most heavily used chant by protesters as police began to break up crowds.

On November 29th, local Arlingtonians took to Pentagon City Mall holding up signs in the food court, laying down on the ground, and marching in groups up and down the escalators. The Pentagon City protests resulted in the closure of south Haze street later in the day. Protests continue to happen around the US with the hope of some kind of justice for Mike Brown.

Saturday, December 13th, Rev. Al Sharpton has organized a “Justice For All” March that will gather at 10:30 am at Freedom Plaza, 13th Street and Pennsylvania Ave. NW, people will march at 12pm. The families of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Akai Gurley,  Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, and many others who have been killed will be there for this event. For more information on the march, go to http://nationalactionnetwork.net/march-police/

The following link contains the evidence released in the court case against Darren Wilson: http://apps.stlpublicradio.org/ferguson-project/evidence.html

In this video, MSNBC interviews Dorian Johnson. He was a friend of Michael Brown and an eyewitness to the events of August 9th; he speaks about what he testified to during the grand jury: http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/key-eyewitness-contradicts-wilson-s-testimony-363704387739

This article from the Huffington Post recounts mistakes made in part by the jury on piecing together exactly what happened on August 9th. The evidence is based around flaws from Darren Wilson’s testimony:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/25/ferguson-grand-jury-evidence-mistakes_n_6220814.html

Fox News aired a recent football game where the players stood with their hands up during their pre game entrance. The police are asking for the NFL to give disciplinary actions to those players (about a minute and a half long) –http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/12/01/st-louis-police-group-demands-punishment-for-rams-players-in-ferguson-protest/