News Roundup: The One-Year Ferguson Anniversary

by Mallory Ortberg · August 10, 2015

This weekend marked the one-year anniversary of Mike Brown’s death in Ferguson at the hands of Darren Wilson.

The LA Times covered the violence and confusion that broke out last night:

In separate incidents, police said St. Louis County detectives shot and critically wounded a man after a gun battle, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter was beaten and robbed, and one police officer was hit in the face with a rock and taken to a hospital for his injury.

Also, two teenagers were shot and wounded in a drive-by shooting near Michael Brown’s memorial in Ferguson, Mo., early Monday morning, police officials said.

Meanwhile, anniversary protests are expected to continue Monday a year after Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson’s shooting of 18-year-old Brown sparked a national protest movement.

Jamilah Lemieux reported live from Florissant for Ebony Magazine:

According to St. Louis County Police, Harris was one of two people observed shooting at one another on West Florissant Avenue, the major thoroughfare that was “Ground Zero” for much of the past year’s unrest. They claim that the 18-year-old then ran, and was followed by plainclothes officers in an unmarked police vehicle, at which point they say he began to shoot at their car. As the detectives exited their vehicle and pursued Harris on foot, who then “stopped, turned and reengaged the detectives” before he was shot multiple times and critically wounded. The gun said to be recovered from Harris was reported stolen a few years ago.

Tony Rice, an activist who tweets as @Search4Swag captured video (WARNING: graphic images and profanity) of Harris lying prone and bleeding on the ground; on it, you hear Rice begging for officers to provide medical attention—“He’s still breathing!”—before he is apprehended himself and told he is under arrest. Chief Jon Belmar would later state that Rice was detained because “the scene was not secure,” but that he was released and not charged.

We spent about an hour and a half on West Florissant, live-streaming, talking to people and watching August of 2014 replay itself: mace, smoke and what felt and smelled like teargas; M-16s; a police line, tanks, screaming citizens, people occasionally throwing water bottles and small rocks in the direction of officers—not legal, but not lethal, not an actual threat to someone wearing a helmet and shield…

During the 1 o’clock hour, the crowd near the old Red’s BBQ was told “This is no longer a peaceful protest,” and that failure to disperse would result in arrest. “We plan to use chemical weapons,” an ominous voice boomed; a settlement following last year’s unrest resulted in a ruling that officers must warn before using any sort of chemical agent on civilians. (It was somewhat surreal seeing two of the lead plaintiffs in that suit in gas masks prepared for those chemicals to be deployed on a night where many of us thought it was highly unlikely. )

However, many people were unable to get to their homes and vehicles due to closed off streets—even after chemicals had been deployed.

“There is still no headstone in the place where 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr is buried.”

Stories of the other black men and women who share a cemetery with Michael Brown

Feel free to add any news sources we may have missed in the comments.

[Image via BBC]

Mallory is an Editor of The Toast.

18 Comments

    1. onehundredthjen +6

      Netta for documenting, Deray for questioning the arrest. Cornel West in custody too.

    1. redheadedwolf +14

      Wow.

      In our many discussions, Wilson rarely spoke of Michael Brown. Twice, I asked him if he had reflected on what kind of person Brown was. The first time I asked, it was early May, and Brown’s parents had just filed their civil lawsuit against him. “You do realize that his parents are suing me?” he said. “So I have to think about him.”

      and:

      At one point, I asked Wilson if he missed walking outside and going to restaurants. He told me that he still ate out, but only at certain places. “We try to go somewhere—how do I say this correctly?—with like-minded individuals,” he said. “You know. Where it’s not a mixing pot.”

      And right after Rasheen Aldridge speculates he’s already in a sort of prison. No, I think he’d have a much different experience in prison than he does in restaurants where he can be sure all the white people around him aren’t mad at him for killing a black kid.

      1. Alli525 +4

        I wish he would list those restaurants so that everyone knows where NOT to go when visiting STL. Ugh. Do they hang Confederate flags in the windows?

    2. onehundredthjen +2

      Ugh. I’ve avoided that piece so far but have read enough about it that I feel like I’ve read it.

    1. bibliobotic +1

      Seems pretty obvious they’ve decided to punish him for coming back to report this year, right? I mean?????