Summer 2024.

 

Summer 2024

 

I feel refreshed and revigorated. Now, it is time to show the real truth with me being 40 years old now. The 2024 Presidential election near the quarter-century mark of this new century is the most important election in human history period. There is no other way to put it. During this near Summer of 2024, we see a new era of our history. Some people have underestimated the Trump MAGA cult, but that cult has increased in its viciousness. For example, Trump supporters have used death threats against citizens, prosecutors, judges, and progressives constantly this year alone. We have Trump threatening to jail journalists who oppose his reactionary agenda. We have median CEO pay at major corporations jump 13 percent last year, but some still have economic regressive policies. There are wars in the world, including the Middle East (after the wicked group of Hamas murdered and raped innocent Israelis, and the Netanyahu regime has gone and committed overt war crimes against the Palestinian people). We have GOP operatives trying to help Cornel West get on the ballot in key states not for the sake of political choice but to stop Biden from having re-election. Third-party candidates should exist in America, but we can't be naive about reality. Some people forget that violent crime has decreased by 15.2 percent during the Biden Presidency (according to a new FBI report), there have been millions of jobs grown, we have low unemployment, President Biden will remove $49 million in medical bills from the reports of 15 million Americans (causing credit scores to rise and lead to 20,000 new mortgages each year via a new CFPB rule) and childhood poverty has been cut in half. Still, we have a long way to as tons of Americans are suffering in our time too. After this election, only Trump or Biden will win the 2024 election. The question is whether we want democracy or fascism in American society. The choice is abundantly clear.

We live in a new era of time On Sunday, May 19, 2024, President Joe Biden gave the commencement address to the graduates of Morehouse College. He spoke his words during the Middle East crisis. Many students protested him by turning their backs on him, raising their first in the air, showing a Palestinian flag, and showing a Congolese flag (as the war in Congo continues). President Biden cited his accomplishments as President to the black community (like cutting the poverty rate, decreasing unemployment to record lows, and growing black businesses to record levels), and desiring an immediate ceasefire to the conflict in Israel and Gaza. The problem is that Netanyahu is so far right that he wants no compromise, and he is invading Rafah, which is a densely populated location. There have been massive war crimes done by Hamas (what Hamas did was not resistance, but rape, murder, and kidnapping against innocent men, women, and children. Anyone who supports Hamas's actions is a hypocrite and a liar), and the Israeli government (Netanyahu's regime is complicit in bombing civilian locations, killing journalists, and ruining civilian infrastructure). These are facts. 

President Biden said that he wants billions of dollars to be invested in HBCUs. HBCUs or Historically Black Colleges and Universities have a large historical and cultural role in the black community. Many of my relatives have graduated from HBCUs, and I took classes inside a HBCU in real life before too. President Biden's commencement address was mostly a political speech. I have no problem with that because free speech is free speech. Yet, Biden faces tons of challenges from polling, the youth protests in colleges, and debates about strategies in trying to win the 2024 election. We all want Trump to lose the 2024 election, but pushing President Biden to be more progressive on certain issues is very much fair. There are MAGA extremists who are wrong, and those who refuse to vote in 2024. People who refuse to vote ignore how voting influences our schools, our environment, our voting rights, our education, and other rights that some take for granted. Our ancestors bled and died for voting rights, and I will vote. Voter suppression laws in Florida, Texas, Georgia, etc. represent the necessity to vote reactionary extremists out of office. Some voter suppression laws are so extreme that one law refuses to give people water in line to vote. That is cruelty plain and simple. Voter suppression laws are unacceptable. 

Amber Rose supporting Donald Trump makes her a hypocrite. Rose hypocritically claims to be for women's empowerment, but Trump is a documented sexist (who demonizes women constantly), found liable for raping a woman, and goes about to support policies antithetical to the rights of women. In retrospect, we shouldn't be surprised. She demonized black women in Philadelphia, said the n word, and went out of her way to defend the racist Donald Trump now. Amber Rose hypocritically lives in a blue state, but she ignores how many people in Mississippi and Kentucky are denied health care, economic rights, and other benefits that are found in many blue states. The irony is that tons of Southerners are some of the most progressive fighters for justice in American history (then and now). Amber Rose said that Biden doesn't care about black people. First, Rose doesn't identify as black, so she in her own words is not black. She has no right to dictate the terms of how we black people decide to vote for our interests. Second, Biden has a track record of funding HBCUs, cutting child poverty in half, investing black-owned businesses (which has grown in record levels in America), seeing the record low unemployment rate in the black community, and crime rates going down in places nationwide. Trump wants the police to beat suspects in custody, he wants to eliminate DEI programs, Trump supports voter suppression policies, and he is overt in his bigotry (by praising schools being named after Confederate traitors). Therefore, Amber Rose embraces the Trump ignorant rhetoric that black people must vote for a con artist like Trump. She is wrong. 

The conundrum of the 2024 election is that we must balance the truth with reality. Voting Trump out of office is more than about Biden. It is about saving America from a MAGA fascist cult that is theocratic, sexist, racist, imperialist, and anti-democratic. Donald Trump makes a mockery of the rule of law, demonizes his political opponents, lies about the 2020 election being stolen, and seeks to ally with reactionary enemies of truth. Trump is more in league with Netanyahu's excessive war crimes in Gaza than Biden. So, the lie that Trump and Biden are the same must be exposed now and forever. Some people rather have people with a lack of health care, human rights being further violated, allow Ukraine to be a Russian vassal state, and seek more environmental destruction for the sake of allowing Biden to lose the election (and promote some punishment against Biden). Therefore, those folks are people that I don't agree with. The imperfections of President Biden don't mean that Trump is the savior. Trump has said that he wants to re-impose the Muslim travel ban and reject any immigration of any refugees from Gaza. It means that the problems of the world are rooted in the system and a revolutionary change to make the system in favor of justice must be instituted comprehensively.

One of the most stirring new developments of our time is that the International Criminal Court prosecutor has charged Netanyahu and other leaders of Hamas with war crimes. This is a change in history. I saw Netanyahu on Good Morning America denying all charges, but Netanyahu has used excessive conduct in the war in Gaza. We know that Hamas has done murder, rape, and kidnapping of innocent human lives. Hamas is a blatantly evil terrorist organization that murdered innocent civilian Israelis. Netanyahu accused the ICC of using a moral equivalency and the Biden administration has condemned the ICC's actions. The ICC prosecutor Karim Khan accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant of presiding over the murder the extermination of Palestinians, using starvation as a method of war, and other acts of violence against the Gazan civilian population (to collectively punish the Gazan population). Khan has applied for arrest warrants against the leaders of Hamas, Netanyahu, and Gallant. Netanyahu's regime has destroyed homes, schools, churches, and hospitals in Gaza alongside universities. Israeli leaders called the Gaza civilian population "animals." Some Israeli leaders said that they want no electricity, no food, and no fuel in Gaza. Israeli forces have killed a peacekeeping van with innocent people in it. If these aren't war crimes, then I don't know what are. The ICC is right that Hamas and Israeli war crimes have no justification.

Ferguson (10 Years Later)

Ten years has been a journey since the historic events in Ferguson, Missouri. Ten years ago, I was in my early 30's, and now I am forty years old. Back then, flip phones were common to a certain extent, and now we have smartphones with AI being so advanced in their characteristics. The events of Ferguson back in 2014 changed everything in American society and the culture of the world in general. Black Lives Matter, as a movement, existed before 2014, but the events of Ferguson (i.e. the death of Michael Brown and the subsequent events afterward) helped to accelerate the growth of the overall modern-day black freedom struggle on another level. By that time, we witnessed the assault of Dialo, the murder of Sean Bell, and further oppression of black human lives. From protests, rebellions, and defiance against overt racial and economic oppression, the people of Ferguson, Missouri stood up against the face of an evil, decadent, and reactionary capitalist system of terror. Let's not sugarcoat what happened in 2014. Racial profiling, economic exploitation, police brutality, and other evils (as proven by a DOJ report exposing many members of the Ferguson police department) constitute terrorism against freedom-loving people (especially against black working-class people and all poor residents of Ferguson). The solution to the paradox of immense wealth among the oligarchy and overt oppression is to unite to end oppression. We want a system of justice to prevail wholeheartedly. We desire black liberation. We demand an immediate ceasefire for Palestinians and Israelis to live in authentic peace without occupation (and without terrorism). The death of Michael Brown was a tragedy. His family will have the pain of lost forever. That is why it is our responsibility to not only speak up but stand up for our human rights so incidents like this won't occur. Our cause is just, and our determination is very real. So, Ferguson is a city that should inspire all of us to present the truth uncompromisingly.

 

An Overview of Ferguson and Missouri

The story of Ferguson deals with the state of Missouri. Missouri is a Midwestern state with a legacy of massive racism and a history of resisting that racism too. For example, there were protests in 1819 over the Missouri Compromise. Walthall M. Moore in 1920 was an elected representative from St. Louis, being the first black American to serve in the Missouri General Assembly. Homer G. Phillips was a champion of civil rights in Missouri. A hospital is named after him in St. Louis. DeVerne Calloway of St. Louis was the first black woman state representative in Missouri's General Assembly on November 6, 1962. Missouri borders Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. It's home to many forests, rivers, minerals, and is near the Ozarks. Native Americans created the Mississippian culture with cities and mounds for about 12,000 years in the state of Missouri. European explorers lived in the areas and people of diverse backgrounds. In the Old West, Missouri has been a place where The Pony Express, the Gateway Arch, the Oregon Trial, and other locations existed. Famous people from the state like Mark Twain, Nelly, Sheryl Crow, and Edwin Hubble. Dred Scott moved to Missouri, and he dealt with the Dred Scott case that the Supreme Court erroneously denied his human rights during the 1800's. Ferguson existed as a city in 1855 by William B. Ferguson ceded 10 acres of land to the Wabash Railroad in exchange for a new depot and gaming rights. Ferguson is a city near St. Louis. Ferguson saw a massive demographic shift. In 1970, 99 percent of the population of Ferguson were made up of white Americans and 1 percent were African Americans. By the 2020 census, we have 71.80 percent of the Ferguson population being African American and 1.19 percent of the population being white Americans. As one source from Richard Rothstein's The Color of Law (2017) work:

"...De facto segregation, we tell ourselves, has various causes. When African Americans moved into a neighborhood like Ferguson, a few racially prejudiced white families decided to leave, and then as the number of black families grew, the neighborhood deteriorated, and “white flight” followed. Real estate agents steered whites away from black neighborhoods, and blacks away from white ones. Banks discriminated with “redlining,” refusing to give mortgages to African Americans or extracting unusually severe terms from them with subprime loans. African Americans haven’t generally gotten the educations that would enable them to earn sufficient incomes to live in white suburbs, and, as a result, many remain concentrated in urban neighborhoods. Besides, black families prefer to live with one another. All this has some truth, but it remains a small part of the truth, submerged by a far more important one: until the last quarter of the twentieth century, racially explicit policies of federal, state, and local governments defined where whites and African Americans should live. […] Segregation by intentional government action is not de facto. Rather, it is what courts call de jure: segregation by law and public policy..."

One situation would change Ferguson, Missouri forevermore. 

 

Michael Brown's Passing

Michael Orlandus Darrion Brown lived from May 20, 1996, to August 9, 2014. He just graduated from high school eight days before his death. He completed an alternative education program. He was a person with an amateur hip-hop career with his songs on SoundCloud calling himself "Big Mike." He was two days from starting a training program for heating and air conditioning repair at the Vatterett College Technical School. Surveillance video which was publicly released in the 2017 documentary film Stranger Fruit shows Michael Brown walking into Ferguson Market and Liquor at 1:13 a.m., ten-and-a-half hours before he entered the store for the final time. The footage shows Brown handing a young clerk a brown package, believed by the filmmaker to be marijuana, and then receiving an unpurchased package of cigarillos from the store. After the video was rediscovered and made public in 2017, some, including Brown's family, said they believed Brown had left the package there for safekeeping and later returned to retrieve it.  The store owner disputed this through an attorney who dismissed claims that the store traded him "cigarillos for pot." The lawyer claimed, "[t]he reason he [Brown] gave it back is he was walking out the door with unpaid merchandise and they [the staff] wanted it back." The store's attorney said the video had been in the hands of Brown's family and law enforcement since the initial investigation, and said the video had been edited to remove the portion where the store clerk returned Brown's package to him. Following this, on March 13, 2017, unedited footage from the store was released by the St. Louis County prosecutor to try to settle questions.

 

At 11:47 pm, Office Wilson responded to a call about a baby with breathing problems. He drove to Glenark Drive in Ferguson, east of Canfield Drive. About three minutes later, and several blocks away, Brown was recorded on camera stealing a box of Swisher Sweets cigars and forcefully shoving a Ferguson Market clerk. At 11:53, a police dispatcher reported "stealing in progress" at the Ferguson Market and described the suspect as a black male wearing a white T-shirt running toward QuikTrip. The suspect was reported as having stolen a box of Swisher cigars. Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson, left the market at about 11:54 a.m. At 11:57, the dispatch described the suspect as wearing a red St. Louis Cardinals hat, a white T-shirt, yellow socks, and khaki shorts, and that he was accompanied by another male. Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson said that the incident with Brown stealing cigars had "nothing to do" with why Brown was stopped by Wilson before the shooting, and that the reason Brown and Johnson were stopped was because "they were walking down the middle of the street, blocking traffic." At 12:00 p.m., Wilson reported he was back in service and radioed units 25 and 22 to ask if they needed his assistance in searching for the suspects. Seven seconds later, an unidentified officer said the suspects had disappeared. Wilson called for backup at 12:02, saying "[Unit] 21. Put me on Canfield with two. And send me another car."

Initial reports of what happened next differed widely among sources and witnesses, particularly about whether Brown was moving towards Wilson when the shots were fired. Scholars all agree that there was a dispute between Brown and the officer. The debate is whether Mike Brown ran towards the officer or not before Mike Brown's passing. At noon on August 9, Wilson drove up to Brown and Johnson as they were walking in the middle of Canfield Drive and ordered them to move off the street. Wilson continued driving past the two men, but then backed up and stopped close to them. A struggle took place between Brown and Wilson after Brown reached through the window of Wilson's police SUV, a Chevrolet Tahoe. Wilson was armed with a SIG Sauer P229 pistol, which was fired twice during the struggle from inside the vehicle, with one bullet hitting Brown's right hand. Brown and Johnson fled and Johnson hid behind a car. Wilson got out of the vehicle and pursued Brown. At some point, Wilson fired his pistol again, while facing Brown, and hit him with at least six shots, all in the front of his body. Brown was unarmed and died on the street. Less than 90 seconds passed from the time Wilson encountered Brown to the time of Brown's death.

An unidentified officer arrived on the scene and, 73 seconds after Wilson's call, asked where the second suspect was. Thirty-one seconds later, a supervisor was requested by Unit 25. At 12:07 p.m., an officer on the scene radioed to dispatch for more units. Also, at 12:07, the St. Louis County police were notified, and county officers began arriving on scene at around 12:15 p.m. The St. Louis County detectives were notified at 12:43 p.m. and arrived about 1:30 p.m., with the forensic investigator arriving at about 2:30 p.m. Police dispatched 12 units to the scene by 1:00 p.m. with another 12, including two canine units, by 2:00 p.m. Gunshots were recorded in Ferguson police logs at 2:11 p.m., and by the ambulance dispatch again at 2:14 p.m., which led to the response of 20 more units from eight different municipal forces in the next 20 minutes. As the situation deteriorated, the police commanders had investigators seek cover and detectives assisted in crowd control. At 2:45, four canine units arrived on the scene, and the SWAT team arrived at 3:20 p.m. The medical examiner began his examination of Brown at approximately 3:30 p.m. and concluded about half an hour later, with Brown's body being cleared to be taken to the morgue. At 4:37 p.m., Brown's body was signed in at the morgue by workers. Michael Brown was fatally shot by Officer Wilson at about 12:02 p.m. The Ferguson Police Department was on the scene within minutes, as were crowds of residents. Many residents were angry at how Michael Brown's body was not removed until hours after the incident seen as demeaning and disrespectful. About 20 minutes after the shooting, the Ferguson police chief turned over the homicide investigation to the St. Louis County Police Department (SLCPD). The arrival of SLCPD detectives took about 70 minutes, as they were occupied with another crime scene 37 minutes away. On arrival at 1:30 p.m., they put up privacy screens around the body. There are two sets of witnesses. One group of witnesses believed that Brown charged Wilson and Wilson killed him. The other groups of witnesses believe in opposing Wilson's story and claim that Wilson killed Brown unjustly like Michael Brown's friend Dorian Johnson. Like always, we must stand for the truth and defend the human dignity of black life at the same time. The city of Ferguson has indeed had racial, policing, and economic problems for years and decades. 

The Chronology of the Aftermath

By August 9, 2014, the public in Ferguson was outraged at how Mike Brown's body was neglected after his death in the summer heat. Things would develop more. Crowds of people became angry at the police. By August 10, 2024, there was a candlelight vigil in Ferguson. Then, the Ferguson rebellion officially started. It was the first major rebellion on this scale in America since the 1992 rebellion in Los Angeles, California. Some people were protesting Mike Brown's death in the street peacefully. Other people started to smash car windows, carry award food, alcohol, and other items stolen from stores. Some people stood on police cars to taunt officers. I agree with peaceful protest, but I don't agree with violence against innocent people or innocent property (as those actions only hurt the cause of justice and allow the government to enact more suppressive laws. Many people doing violence unjustly were agent provocateurs too). A QuikTrip convenience store on West Florissant Avenue, just blocks from where Brown was shot, was looted and burned. Many businesses were damaged or destroyed. This was the first of many nights of unrest. The peaceful protesters have every right to protest, and many people from the Black Lives Matter movement came to Ferguson, Missouri too. It is important to note that grassroots movements fought for change in Ferguson too. 

By August 11, 2014, the FBI opened an investigation into Michael Brown's death. Two men said that they saw the shooting and told reporters that Brown had his hands raised when the officer fired repeatedly. During the night of August 11th, the police were in riot gear and fired tear gas and rubber bullets to try to disperse a crowd of protesters. Many innocent protesters were harmed by tear gas and rubber bullets too. By August 14, 2014, the Missouri State Highway Patrol took control of security (over the local Ferguson and St. Louis County officers) being the head law enforcement officers after days of the rebellion. This was a turning point when officers had military-style gear like armored vehicles, body armor, and assault rifles. Many law enforcement members had sound weapons too. Photos circulated online show officers pointing their weapons at demonstrators which is inappropriate and unjust. On August 15, 2024, the police identified Darren Wilson as the officer who shot Mike Brown. There was surveillance video released showing Brown grabbing large amounts of cigarillos from behind the counter of the Ferguson Market and pushing a worker who confronted him as he left the convenience store. The police said that Brown took almost $50 worth of cigarillos. The release of the video upset protesters. 

Activism Grows

By August 16, 2014, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew in Ferguson. By August 18, 2014, Governor Nixon called the National Guard to Ferguson to help restore order. He lifted the curfew. By August 20, 2014, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder visited Ferguson to offer assurances about the investigation into Brown's death to meet with investigators and Brown's family. A grand jury begins hearing evidence to determine whether Wilson should be charged. By August 21, 2014, Nixon ordered the National Guard to withdraw from Ferguson. On September 25, 2014, Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson released a videotaped apology to Brown's family and attempted to march in solidarity with protesters. The move backfired when Ferguson officers scuffled with demonstrators and arrested one person moments after Jackson joined the group. He placed Ferguson police in charge of security in Ferguson, with orders for them to work as a unified command with other departments. On November 18, 2014, Nixon declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard again ahead of a decision from a grand jury. He placed Ferguson police in charge of security in Ferguson, with orders for them to work as a unified command with other departments. On November 24, 2014, St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch announced that the grand jury had decided not to indict Wilson. Protests that were passionate but peaceful earlier in the day turned violent. At least a dozen buildings and multiple police cars are burned, officers are hit by rocks and batteries, and reports of gunfire force some St. Louis-bound flights to be diverted. On November 29, 2014, Wilson announced his resignation from the Ferguson Police Department effective immediately.

The Historic Department of Justice Report

The historic Department of Justice report on Ferguson was very detailed. The report didn't charge Wilson with murdering Michael Brown. It did give a searing report on criticizing the policing and court practices of Ferguson, Missouri law enforcement authorities. Investigators proved that nearly every aspect of Ferguson's law enforcement system harmed African Americans in a severely disproportionate amount. The report documented racist emails sent by the police and municipal court supervisors. This proved the bias in law enforcement and a system that wanted to use arrest warrants to economically exploit black and poor residents of Ferguson. The report found that 67% of African Americans in Ferguson accounted for 93% of the arrests made from 2012-2014. The report cited a story of a 32-year-old black man playing basketball and unjustly arrested by a police officer. A Ferguson woman parked her car illegally once in 2007. She was fined more than 1,000 dollars and spent 6 days in jail. The report found that the disproportionate number of arrests, tickets, and use of force are from unlawful bias, not crime-related issues. The report found that arrest warrants are heavily used as threats to push for payments and quotas made by the officers. The DOJ report mentioned how officers used a dog to attack an unarmed 14-year-old black teenager and struck him while he was lying on the ground. This teen was waiting for his friends in an abandoned house. The report concluded that in every dog bite incident reported, the person bitten was a black American. There are other parts of the reports documenting the racism, corruption, and economic exploitation of the Ferguson Police Department. 

 

Future Events

Ever since the March 2015 Department of Justice report about the Ferguson Police Department, tons of developments have existed in Ferguson, Missouri. By March 11, 2015, Jackson resigned effective on March 19, 2015. He was the police chief being the sixth employee to resign or be fired after the Justice Department report. He is replaced on an interim basis by his top commander, Lt. Col. Al Eickhoff. On March 12, 2015, two St. Louis area police officers were shot in front of the Ferguson Police Department during a demonstration by protesters. Three days later, a 20-year-old man is charged with first degree assault in the shootings. By April 7, 2015, there was Ferguson's first municipal election since Brown's death. Two of the three City Council members elected are black Americans. Black people back then held three of the six seats, compared with one seat prior to the election. By May 20, 2015, a permanent plaque in Michael Brown's memory is made to replace a large makeshift memorial at the site in the middle of Canfield Drive for months. That was the same spot where Brown's body was located. By June 9, 2015, Ferguson hired a new municipal judge and interim city manager, both being African American human beings. On July 10, 2015, Governor Nixon signed into law legislation limiting cities' ability to profit from traffic tickets and court fines. This was the first significant step taken by state lawmakers to address concerns raised after Brown's death. The law lowers the percentage of revenue most cities can collect from traffic fines and fees from 30 percent to 20 percent. The interim police chief was Andre Anderson (he was a black police administrator in suburban Phoenix) on July 22, 2015. The Ferguson Commission on September 14, 2015, released its report addressing the economic and racial factors that contributed to the unrest after Brown's death. By January 27, 2015, Ferguson announced a tentative deal with the Justice Department to reform the city’s policing and municipal court. The recommended overhaul follows seven months of negotiations. On February 9, 2016, Ferguson’s City Council unanimously voted to revise the agreement with the Justice Department, proposing seven amendments that the mayor says were formulated after an analysis showed the deal was so expensive it could lead to the dissolution of Ferguson. The Justice Department responded by suing Ferguson.

To understand the Ferguson story fully, you must mention facts about the sacrifice and courage of the activists on the ground in Ferguson, Missouri. First, the parents of Michael Brown, who are Michael Brown Sr. and Lesly McSpadden, have worked for years to combat racial injustice, police brutality, and economic injustice in Missouri plus nationwide. They reached a settlement deal in a lawsuit with the city of Ferguson. They went to march with relatives of other African Americans who were killed by the police (like Tamar Rice, Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, etc.) and lobbied Congress to fund body cameras for police agencies. Alisha Sonnier is an activist who has gone into local politics too. Johnetta Elzie has been fighting for justice in the St. Louis area and Ferguson for years. Fran Griffin has joined a steering committee that created a review of the police department in Ferguson. DeRay McKesson, Bassem Masri, and other people have worked in the Ferguson movement too. Darren Seals Jr. (1987-2016) was a Ferguson activist who was mysteriously murdered in a burning car. Records prove that Seals was illegally monitored by the FBI considering him a revolutionary. 

 

“The most important thing to me in a career is not money,” she said. “I think about how do I want my career to impact my community and to impact the people in it.”

-Alisha Sonnier, an early activist in the Ferguson movement for justice. 

Former Miami police officer Delrish Moss, who is a black human being, is appointed Ferguson police chief following a nationwide search in March 2016. On April 19, 2016, Ferguson and the Justice Department reached an agreement that ended the lawsuit and required sweeping reforms of the city’s police and court systems.  Incumbent Mayor James Knowles III, who is white, was re-elected to a third three-year term, overcoming opposition from Ella Jones, a black city councilwoman. This was on April 4, 2017. July 26, 2017, was when The Ferguson Community Empowerment Center opened at the site where the QuikTrip convenience store burned the day after Brown’s death. The center houses the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, the Salvation Army, and other offices. September 15, 2017, was when Former St. Louis city police officer Jason Stockley, who is white, was acquitted in the 2011 death of 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith, who was a black man. Smith was suspected of making a drug transaction and killed after a car chase with police. The massive protests that follow Stockley’s acquittal are the largest in the St. Louis region since the immediate aftermath of Brown’s death. August 7, 2018, was when there was a stunning upset, Ferguson City Councilman Wesley Bell defeated 28-year incumbent McCulloch in the Democratic primary for St. Louis County prosecutor. Bell, who is black, was unopposed in the November election and took office in January 2019. McCulloch, who is white, was seen as an old-school, law-and-order prosecutor who drew criticism for his handling of the Wilson investigation. Bell ran on a platform of reforms, saying he would work to reduce incarcerations and start a unit to investigate shootings involving officers. Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, lost her bid for a Ferguson City Council seat. She finishes third in a three-way race in Ferguson’s 3rd Ward. She vowed to stay active in the community on April 2, 2019. On July 23, 2019, the New Police Chief Jason Armstrong was sworn in. Counting interim chiefs, Armstrong, who is black, becomes Ferguson’s fifth chief since Jackson resigned in 2015. There have been massive protests in Ferguson and worldwide in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota. The memorial of Michael Brown remains. The Ferguson Mayor now is Ella Jones (who is a pastor in the African Methodist Church and has a daughter. Her late husband Tim Jones passed away in 2013). Ella Jones is the first African American woman to be elected mayor of Ferguson.  Today, Ferguson, Missouri remains a large part of the overall black freedom struggle. 

The Legacy of the Events in Ferguson

The events of Ferguson opened up a new chapter in the black freedom struggle. We (who are African Americans) are never descendants of slaves. Our ancestors were victims of slavery, but our ancestors originally were free men and free women from Africa. I want to make that point perfectly despite what the xenophobic movements of ADOS and FBA will say. Tons of people need to realize that. Ferguson helped some Americans realize that America is not a meritocracy where hard work guarantees success. Americans are some of the hardest-working people in human history, but structural injustices remain, even in 2024. There are economic, health, education, and other social disparities that have been documented by dozens of sociological studies. This reality is not a figment of my imagination. It's very real. For example, the black maternity crisis has been proven by experts like Dr. Blackstock and retired track and field legend Allyson Felix. That is why advocating for paid family leave, equal pay, and universal childcare will help millions of families and other human beings in America plus the world. One major legacy of Ferguson outlines the fact that grassroots organizing is pre-eminent in trying to solve problems. At the end of the day, we have to come together to fight for justice. The Organization for Black Struggle (with leaders like Kayla Reed) and other human beings (like Brittany Packnett Cunningham) spoke out, protested, and set up programs to fight systemic racism, economic injustice, sexism, and other evils that are common in the world today. Since 2014, many unarmed black men and black women have been killed like Philando Castile, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, etc. There is a dual reality now. We have more awareness of the issues of social justice, and there is a far-right wing backlash that has ruined much of the progressive gains (like some MAGA extremists are banning books, ending affirmative action in colleges, restricting DEI, and sugarcoating black history. This evil isn't just in Texas and Florida which is bad enough. This bigoted agenda is spreading nationwide) that we have achieved via courage and sacrifice. That is why it is always imperative for us to continue to build, fight for righteousness, and believe in the Dream for real.

By Timothy