Protests May Be Winding Down(?) But The Fight's Not Over- An Afternoon With The Children Of Ferguson

[bigtree]

Last edited Sun Aug 24, 2014, 12:38 PM - Edit history (1)

Alice Speri ‏@alicesperi
Our latest dispatch -- via @vicenews @thementalward
State of Emergency - Ferguson, Missouri (Dispatch 4) | VICE News

We spent an afternoon with children in Ferguson, talking about being a kid in the neighborhood during the events of the past two weeks.

The Protests May Be Winding Down, But Ferguson's Fight Is Not Over

by Alice Speri
August 23, 2014

____ An out-of-towner driving through Ferguson, Missouri on West Florissant Avenue on Friday morning might easily have missed the signs of the protests and clashes that have dominated this stretch of suburbs for the past two weeks.

In fact, the signs are there: most stores are boarded up, with "open" signs sprayed over the wooden panels that used to be glass windows. The burnt down shell of the Quiktrip gas station — which is at once Ferguson's "Ground Zero" and its "Maidan" — is still there, surrounded by a metal fence that was not there a few days ago.




Alice Speri @alicesperi · 4h
Made a new friend #Ferguson


The area got brand new "I heart Ferguson" signs, planted in every courtyard and hanging from every pole, and messages of hope and love are all over town — on colored signs drawn by children, or on the boards covering up the Ferguson Market and Liquor store, the site of looting last week.

More visibly, police cars are parked at every intersection — though the SWAT teams in riot gear, shields, and camos of the last two weeks are mostly gone. Officers are now talking to people, and not just yelling at them through loudspeakers, and some are even playing basketball with local kids — though after days of tear gas, stun grenades, and detentions, many residents are more than a bit skeptical about the change in tone . . .


read much more: https://news.vice.com/article/the-protests-may-be-winding-down-but-fergusons-fight-is-not-over

[bigtree]

1. kick

[tblue37]

2. From the article:

"We are still gonna be out, because we want justice," Desmond Harry, from Saint Louis, told VICE News on Wednesday night, while trying to light a candle in the middle of a huge storm that kept many, but not all, protesters off the streets for a couple hours. "Once they see you buckle, that's when they're gonna feel like they won. But ain't nobody buckling right now."

"Once people have seen St. Louis coming together taking a stand, everyone around the country will take a stand," he added. "They're tired of it going on too. It's not just what's going on in Ferguson, it's what's going on everywhere.

The tweet that accompanies this charming picture says,

Tuh. Knee. Shuh. @MsLightBright

The result of hiring a PR team

http://twitter.com/LakishaJackson/status/502663821857931264/photo/1



Still, maybe just talking to these kids and interacting with them as people can somewhat mitigate the cops' generally aggressive contempt for the black citizens of this town and their children.

We can hope, at least.

[bigtree]

4. can't hurt, I think

. . . no substitute for concrete action, of course, but those community relationships must be part of the change, at any rate. It's always worthwhile for the kids to have those interactions. We hope the adults are learning something, as well.

[840high]

5. Like.

[bigtree]

3. kick

[Louisiana1976]

6. Thanks for posting this. K&R

[bigtree]

7. »

[leftstreet]

8. DURec