Protesters shut down mall
A St. Louis shopping mall is temporarily closed on Black Friday when protesters march into the Galleria and lie down on the third floor. Mall workers cheer at the protesters. Lisa Jones, Macy’s employee:
I don’t care if they try to fire me. I got the right to speak.
Volunteers offer assistance
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Ferguson residents and volunteers paint over plywood boards on neighborhood businesses and prepare Thanksgiving meals for 250 protesters. Becky Kern-Ryan, volunteer:
It was important to me to get the kids out just to do something positive. We couldn’t sit at home and just wait for other people to fix things.
Protesters boycott Black Friday shopping
St. Louis protesters call for a boycott to draw attention to racial injustice after the fatal shooting of teenager, Brown. A group of 75 people chant inside a Brentwood, Mo., Target. Protesters:
Hey-hey, Ho-Ho these killer cops they got to go.
$1 million in donations
Wilson is expected to receive around $1 million in donations from the Support Officer Darren Wilson organization, which was started by a woman who will not reveal her name due to fear of backlash. The woman says that her father was shot by a cop, but maintains that it was her father’s fault.
You have to be accountable and my dad had to be accountable. He wasn’t a bad person, Mike Brown might not have been a bad person but he made a very bad choice that day. My dad made a very bad choice back in 1995 and there are consequences to those actions, especially when you fight a police officer.
Stepfather: Burn this bitch down!
Moments after the announcement is made, Brown’s stepfather shouts to the crowd:
Burn this motherf—er down…Burn this bitch down!
PBS interview
McSpadden and Brown Sr. voice their opinions on respect, equality and the justice system. McSpadden:
Why is it so important to cover this up for this man, he is wrong. What does this do for Ferguson….really.
PBS interview
McSpadden and Brown Sr. give their account on the events that happened in Ferguson on August 9th, 2014. McSpadden:
My son was running for his life and his father has had a conversation with him about how to deal with the authorities if you’re approached.
Calls Brown’s behavior ‘bullyish’
Williams tells Ebony magazine that although he doesn’t agree with the Grand Jury’s decision in Ferguson, he thinks Michael Brown’s behavior leading up to his death was ‘bully-ish’.
It looked very bully-ish; that in itself I had a problem with. Not with the kid, but with whatever happened in his life for him to arrive at a place where that behavior is OK. Why aren’t we talking about that? The boy was walking in the middle of the street when the police supposedly told him to “get the f*** on the sidewalk.” If you don’t listen to that, after just having pushed a storeowner, you’re asking for trouble.
Today Show interview
McSpadden and Brown Sr. describe the last 36 hours following the Grand Jury’s decision, Officer Wilson’s interview and the justice system:
My son respected law enforcement, who in their right mind would rush or charge at a police officer that has his gun drawn. It sounds crazy.
Crump: When you have people of color be killed they try to demonize and play on the stereotypes, and they try to put the police officer who killed our children on a pedestal. It’s just not right, and we have to fix this system.
Witness: Brown charged Wilson
In documents released by St Louis County after the grand jury decision an 18-year-old unidentified witness describes Brown charging at Wilson.
Dang if that kid didn’t start running right at the cop like a football player head down.
The witness told of hearing three bangs, but:
The big kid wouldn’t stop.
Obama urges calm
Obama addresses the grand jury decision from the White House as rioters overtook streets in the St. Louis suburb and cable TV broadcasts showed them setting fires and attacking police cars.
We need to accept that this decision was the grand jury’s to make. There are Americans who agree with it, and there are Americans who are deeply disappointed, even angry. It’s an understandable reaction. But I join Michael’s parents in asking anyone who protests this decision to do so peacefully.
The fact is, in too many parts of this country, a deep distrust exists between law enforcement and communities of color. Some of this is the result of the legacy of racial discrimination in this country. And this is tragic because nobody needs good policing more than poor communities with higher crime rates. We need to recognize that this is not just an issue for Ferguson, this is an issue for America.
Car strikes solidarity protestors
0 CommentsThe dark-coloured Subaru Outback is reported by witnesses to honk at protestors near the Minneapolis Police’s 3rd Precinct building at Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue S, before moving from a standing start to go around another car and into the intersection, striking at least one solidarity protestor and apparently running over her legs. Other protestors jump on the car’s hood and strike its windows before it drives off. Other demonstrators stand hand-in-hand around the woman, who is the only one treated for injuries. She is attended by paramedics in the intersection before being wheeled into an ambulance and taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul with very minor injuries. The driver of the vehicle eventually stopped near E 31st Street and 42nd Avenue S., and the male driver is reported to be cooperating with police.
Wilson statement
0 CommentsWilson’s lawyers release a statement:
From the onset, we have maintained and the grand jury agreed that Officer Wilson’s actions on August 9 were in accordance with the laws and regulations that govern the procedures of an officer. Based on the evidence and witness testimony, the grand jury collectively determined there was no basis for criminal charges against Officer Wilson. Law enforcement personnel must frequently make split-second and difficult decisions. Officer Wilson followed his training and followed the law.
Wilson’s attorney, Neil Bruntrager, described the past few days as ‘tense’ for his client, who has reportedly received a number of death threats
(Not being indicted) is a brief respite, but certainly not the end of things for him.
Brown’s parents ‘profoundly disappointed’
Brown’s parent’s respond to the grand jury decision:
We are profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions. While we understand that many others share our pain, we ask that you channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change. We need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen.Join with us in our campaign to ensure that every police officer working the streets in this country wears a body camera.We respectfully ask that you please keep your protests peaceful. Answering violence with violence is not the appropriate reaction.Let’s not just make noise, let’s make a difference
Wilson’s first TV interview
Stephanopolous conducts the first interview of Darren Wilson in a ‘secret location’. The hour long interview is set to air Tuesday, November 25 on World News with David Muir and Nightline and Wednesday, Nov. 26, on Good Morning America. Stephanopolous says Wilson told him that while he is sorry for the death of Brown, he would not change how he handled the situation. Stephanopolous:
He does not think he could have done anything differently. He says he did what he was trained to do. He has a clean conscience over his actions that day.
CBS interview
Brown, McSpadden and Brown Sr. give their reactions to the grand jury decision, officer Wilson and the violence in Ferguson. McSpadden:
My son doesn’t have a history of violence, one image does not paint a persons entire life or their entire past on how they were. We all do have a past….
Atlanta protests
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Two dozen protesters are arrested by Atlanta police for felony weapons, property destruction and blocking traffic on the Downtown Connector. Protester, Kristen Strouble:
I got arrested because somebody else was throwing rocks. One hit me, another rock hit a cop car, and a cop came up behind me and grabbed me and said, Yeah, you.
Calls for peace
Host, Tyler requests peace throughout the nation after the Grand Jury’s verdict regarding the Brown shooting:
I am outraged and I want to act but I really just feel depressed. I expected that he wasn’t going to be indicted, he fired at an unarmed kid 12 times.
Blames politicians for Ferguson tragedy
Paul blames politicians and the war on drugs for the Ferguson tragedy in an op-ed for Time. Rand writes:
In the search for culpability for the tragedy in Ferguson, I mostly blame politicians. Michael Brown’s death and the suffocation of Eric Garner in New York for selling untaxed cigarettes indicate something is wrong with criminal justice in America. The War on Drugs has created a culture of violence and put police in a nearly impossible situation. In Ferguson, the precipitating crime was not drugs, but theft. But the War on Drugs has created a tension in some communities that too often results in tragedy.
Protesters plan 28 hour sit-in
Protesters gather on the fifth floor on Chicago’s City Hall to demonstrate against the grand jury’s decision not to indict Wilson. The sit-in protest, organized by the Black Youth Project 100 activist group, is expected to last 28 hours. Activist:
An unarmed black person is killed by a police officer, security guard or vigilante every 28 hours in the United States.
