Minutes of silence, march mark Brown anniversary in Ferguson

[webfact]

Minutes of silence, march mark Brown anniversary in Ferguson
By JIM SALTER and JIM SUHR

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — One year after the shooting that cast greater scrutiny on how police interact with black communities, the father of slain 18-year-old Michael Brown led a march in Ferguson, Missouri, on Sunday after a crowd of hundreds observed 4½ minutes of silence.

Those who gathered to commemorate Brown began their silence at 12:02 p.m., the time he was killed, for a length of time that symbolized the 4½ hours that his body lay in the street after he was killed. Two doves were released at the end. Police largely remained away from the ceremony.

Michael Brown Sr. held hands with others to lead the march, which started at the site where his son, who was black and unarmed, was fatally shot by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. A grand jury and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November, but the shooting touched off a national "Black Lives Matter" movement.

Pausing along the route at a permanent memorial for his son, Michael Brown Sr. said, "Miss you."

He had thanked supporters before the march for not allowing what happened to his son to be "swept under the carpet."

Later Sunday, a few hundred people turned out at Greater St. Mark Family Church in a ceremony to remember Brown, with his father joining other relatives sitting behind the pulpit.

Anthony Gray, one of the Brown family's attorneys, said of the shooting, "You knew in your gut that it wasn't right. And you knew what that officer did was unjustified."

Michael Brown Sr. had also led a parade involving several hundred people on Saturday. He said his family is still grieving, but he believes his son's legacy can be seen in the increased awareness of police shootings, and renewed skepticism when officers describe their side of events leading up to those shootings.

The anniversary has also sparked renewed protests, though much smaller than those a year ago. A few hundred people gathered outside Ferguson police headquarters Saturday night, but despite some tense moments in which the crowd taunted police, no arrests were made.

Organizers of some of the weekend activities have pledged a day of civil disobedience on Monday, but have not yet offered specific details.

At the march, Vernice Durgins, a 60-year-old black woman from Ferguson, said she's seen little progress in the past year.

"It makes me sick to think what happened," she said, "I looked at it like it could have been my sons or grandsons."

In New York, demonstrators lay on a Brooklyn pavement, maintaining their silence for a few moments before rising and joining others marching into Manhattan for another rally later in the day. Among those marching were a dozen people carrying a giant banner reading, "Black Lives Matter."

Some who marched on Sunday wore T-shirts with likenesses of Brown or messages such as "Please stop killing us" or "Hands up! Don't shoot!" which became a rallying cry during the sometimes-violent protests that followed the shooting a year ago.

But the focus of the weekend is largely on Brown, who graduated from high school weeks before the shooting and planned to go to trade school to study to become a heating and air conditioning technician.

Relatives and friends described Brown as a quiet, gentle giant who stood around 6-foot-3 and weighed nearly 300 pounds. But police said Brown stole items from a convenience store and shoved the owner who tried to stop him on the morning of Aug. 9, 2014. Moments later, he and a friend were walking on Canfield Drive when Wilson, who is white, told them to move to the sidewalk.

That led to a confrontation inside Wilson's police car. It spilled outside, and Wilson claimed that Brown came at him, menacingly, leading to the fatal shooting. Some witnesses claimed Brown had his hands up in surrender. Federal officials concluded there was no evidence to disprove testimony by Wilson that he feared for his safety, nor was there reliable evidence that Brown had his hands up in surrender when he was shot.

The shooting led to protests, some violent, and the unrest escalated again in November when a St. Louis County grand jury determined that Wilson did nothing wrong. He resigned days later. The November riots included fires that burned more than a dozen businesses.

The Justice Department reached the same conclusion in March, clearing Wilson. But in a separate report, the Justice Department cited racial bias and profiling in policing as well as a profit-driven municipal court system that often targeted black residents, who make up about two-thirds of Ferguson's populace.

Ferguson's city manager, police chief and municipal judge resigned within days of that report. All three were white. The new judge, interim city manager and interim police chief are all black.
___

Associated Press reporter Jeff Roberson contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-08-10

[Loptr]

No disrespect intended, but why is there no moment of silence for the other 24 unarmed blacks that were killed by US police in 2015? Or better yet, what about the 500+ people that have been killed by US police in 2015, regardless of race? The authorities in the US have a problem and no one is willing to address the brutality exhibited by police on a daily basis... There is something wrong when a routine traffic stop turns into a fatality-shooting with a cop holding the gun...

[HeijoshinCool]

Brown was a scumbag thug and a bully who was destined to be shot by someone. Just happened to be a cop.

That he was selected as Black Lives Matter's poster boy, when so many other decent blacks are truly victims of white cop/black suspect killings, says a lot about their brain power.

[sdanielmcev]

Maybe his daddy shouldn't have raised his kid to be a thug. March all you want. Scream racism. Don't want to get shot? Don't be a criminal.

The more I hear about this idiots' behavior, the more I wish the cops would have used him for target practice.

[ezzra]

No disrespect intended, but why is there no moment of silence for the other 24 unarmed blacks that were killed by US police in 2015? Or better yet, what about the 500+ people that have been killed by US police in 2015, regardless of race? The authorities in the US have a problem and no one is willing to address the brutality exhibited by police on a daily basis... There is something wrong when a routine traffic stop turns into a fatality-shooting with a cop holding the gun...

I thought you were going to take the high road..... Than how about a moment of silence, No, make

it 10 minuets of silence for all the law keeping police everywhere who were slain while on their job

keeping all communities safe? bunch of hypocrites that's what they're.....

Edited August 10, 2015 by ezzra

[Alwyn]

One minute's silence for that piece of scum? This who they're showing respect for.. Scum and better for everybody he got the inch of lead he deserved

[Ulysses G.]

Good ole" Mike. What a sweetheart.

[webfact]

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — County Police say shots fired at officer in Ferguson, officer returns fire; injuries unclear .

[sgtsabai]

Well I see our resident racists have shown up, a couple still missing. Mike Brown doesn't have to be a baptist preacher, he was murdered. That cop didn't know diddly crap about him so his past has nothing to do with anything. Dawg whistles, dawg whistles. Many of you have a suspect past, admit or not.

[Ulysses G.]

Michael Brown was not murdered. He was shot in self-defense when assaulting a police officer.

[rapom]

Well I see our resident racists have shown up, a couple still missing. Mike Brown doesn't have to be a baptist preacher, he was murdered. That cop didn't know diddly crap about him so his past has nothing to do with anything. Dawg whistles, dawg whistles. Many of you have a suspect past, admit or not.

No, he was not murdered. It was ruled justifiable homicide. His death came as a result of his own actions, after he had assaulted a police officer, attempted to take his gun, tried to flee and then charged at the officer, while being instructed to stop. Case closed. My question to you. What suspect past, do you have? For people to vilify this officer and make Brown a racial hero of this incident is distasteful. One year later, supporters are having a so called silent protest, today. There has already been vandalism committed, police officers shot at and at least one looter, shot by police. History repeats itself. All this,"because black lives matter". If the officer had been black and the victim white, it would have been second page news.

[NickJ]

How about teaching kids not to grab police officers guns........Dont Grow Up To Be Like Mike campaign.

[Publicus]

Stopped for jaywalking, which the right conveniently omits as it creates its own fiction scenario a year later.

It is all a part of the ongoing national police crimewave of the serial killings of black Americans, unarmed ones in particular.

The cops have not been in shootouts against the unarmed black citizens they've killed. The cops have assaulted unarmed black Americans for jaywalking, playing in the park, driving without a license tag, changing lanes, crashing a summer pool party, test driving a car; driving while black.

This is a national police crimewave so it needs to be addressed by responsible mainstream Americans.

[Ulysses G.]

No, he was not murdered. It was ruled justifiable homicide. His death came as a result of his own actions, after he had assaulted a police officer, attempted to take his gun, tried to flee and then charged at the officer, while being instructed to stop. Case closed.

That is it in a nutshell. What I find amazing is that people are still protesting about it. Surely there are some cases where a black man did not cause his own death that need protesting about?

[sdanielmcev]

Well I see our resident racists have shown up, a couple still missing. Mike Brown doesn't have to be a baptist preacher, he was murdered. That cop didn't know diddly crap about him so his past has nothing to do with anything. Dawg whistles, dawg whistles. Many of you have a suspect past, admit or not.

Race has nothing to do with this.

[sdanielmcev]

Stopped for jaywalking, which the right conveniently omits as it creates its own fiction scenario a year later.

It is all a part of the ongoing national police crimewave of the serial killings of black Americans, unarmed ones in particular.

The cops have not been in shootouts against the unarmed black citizens they've killed. The cops have assaulted unarmed black Americans for jaywalking, playing in the park, driving without a license tag, changing lanes, crashing a summer pool party, test driving a car; driving while black.

This is a national police crimewave so it needs to be addressed by responsible mainstream Americans.

Jaywalking? It must be nice living in your world of unicorns and Landru. Talk about fiction.

[chuckd]

Stopped for jaywalking, which the right conveniently omits as it creates its own fiction scenario a year later.

It is all a part of the ongoing national police crimewave of the serial killings of black Americans, unarmed ones in particular.

The cops have not been in shootouts against the unarmed black citizens they've killed. The cops have assaulted unarmed black Americans for jaywalking, playing in the park, driving without a license tag, changing lanes, crashing a summer pool party, test driving a car; driving while black.

This is a national police crimewave so it needs to be addressed by responsible mainstream Americans.

Jaywalking? It must be nice living in your world of unicorns and Landru. Talk about fiction.

Officer Wilson stopped and told the two thugs to stop walking down the middle of the street and get on the sidewalk.

As he was driving off he heard of the strong armed robbery at the convenience store and noticed the two of them fit the description of the thieves.

He reversed to question them and the incident began.

[chuckd]

The few minutes of silence didn't last very long.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Ferguson: Man opens fire on police, gets shot

By Associated Press August 10, 2015 6:52 am

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) -- A man who opened fire on officers in Ferguson, Missouri, on the anniversary of Michael Brown's death was critically wounded when the officers shot back, St. Louis County's police chief said early Monday.

Chief Jon Belmar said at a news conference that officers had been tracking the man, who they believed was armed, during a protest marking the death of Brown, the black, unarmed 18-year-old whose killing by a white Ferguson police officer touched off a national "Black Lives Matter" movement.

The man approached the officers, who were in an unmarked police van, and opened fire, Belmar said. The officers returned fire from inside the vehicle and then pursued the man on foot when he ran.

The man again fired on the officers, the chief said, and all four officers fired back. He was struck and fell.

http://www.gopusa.com/news/2015/08/10/ferguson-man-opens-fire-on-police-gets-shot/?subscriber=1

[impulse]

Brown was a scumbag thug and a bully who was destined to be shot by someone. Just happened to be a cop.

I don’t think many people would disagree, with the possible exception of a few family members in the protest crowds.

But the protests aren’t about him. The protests are about years of abuse on the part of the police in the city. His shooting was just the catalyst.

If you protest against police brutality, you get back page coverage in the local paper and no national, much less international press. The state’s attorney general doesn’t bother to investigate, and the FBI fills out a couple of forms and nothing happens.

Throw in the killing of an unarmed man and some violent demonstrations, and all of a sudden the issue gets some proper attention. It’s sad that it works that way, but it does.

I’m sure the majority of the protestors would prefer to have a better poster boy than the one they’ve got. Just as I’m sure that a tiny subset of the “protestors” are actually hoodlums looking for an excuse to filch that 50” TV they’ve had their eyes on.

But the root of the protests is years (decades) of shabby treatment by the people we pay to protect and to serve. Not to intimidate and abuse.

And if you scratch just a little deeper, you find that the problem isn't one of black and white, it's about haves and have nots. The entire legal system has been stacked in favor of the haves. The cops are just the first public point of contact with that decadent prison industrial complex. And minorities are disproportionately represented in the have nots.

Edited August 11, 2015 by impulse

[chuckd]

The few minutes of silence didn't last very long.

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Ferguson: Man opens fire on police, gets shot

By Associated Press August 10, 2015 6:52 am

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) -- A man who opened fire on officers in Ferguson, Missouri, on the anniversary of Michael Brown's death was critically wounded when the officers shot back, St. Louis County's police chief said early Monday.

Chief Jon Belmar said at a news conference that officers had been tracking the man, who they believed was armed, during a protest marking the death of Brown, the black, unarmed 18-year-old whose killing by a white Ferguson police officer touched off a national "Black Lives Matter" movement.

The man approached the officers, who were in an unmarked police van, and opened fire, Belmar said. The officers returned fire from inside the vehicle and then pursued the man on foot when he ran.

The man again fired on the officers, the chief said, and all four officers fired back. He was struck and fell.

http://www.gopusa.com/news/2015/08/10/ferguson-man-opens-fire-on-police-gets-shot/?subscriber=1

Apologies for quoting myself, but...

It seems young Tyrone wasn't at fault after all. Those nasty policemen showed up in plain clothes and in an unmarked van.

He had no way of telling they were police. He thought he was simply shooting at four guys in a van.

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Activists: Man Who Shot At Cops Not To Blame, Police Shouldn’t Have Used ‘Plain Clothes Officers’

CHRISTIAN DATOC

Reporter

The activist group Organization of Black Struggle defended the actions of Tyrone Harris — the man who opened fire upon and was then shot by police officers in Ferguson, Mo. on Sunday night — by shifting the initial blame back upon the police department.

“It was a poor decision to use plain clothes officers in a protest setting,” Kayla Reid, a field organizer for the group, said on Monday. “It made it difficult for people to identify police officers, which is essential to the safety of community members.”

Harris was shot shortly after peaceful protests marking the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown’s death turned violent on Sunday.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2015/08/10/activists-man-who-shot-at-cops-not-to-blame-police-shouldnt-have-used-plain-clothes-officers/#ixzz3iTXQ1rM3

[Scott]

A post with a link that does not work properly has been removed.

[Ulysses G.]

Brown was a scumbag thug and a bully who was destined to be shot by someone. Just happened to be a cop.

I dont think many people would disagree, with the possible exception of a few family members in the protest crowds.

But the protests arent about him. The protests are about years of abuse on the part of the police in the city.

Then it is just plain stupid to use Michael Brown as a poster boy. Everyone knows that much of the black community lied to make the police look bad in his case and rioted for no good reason. Why would anyone take such people seriously?

[impulse]

Brown was a scumbag thug and a bully who was destined to be shot by someone. Just happened to be a cop.

I dont think many people would disagree, with the possible exception of a few family members in the protest crowds.

But the protests arent about him. The protests are about years of abuse on the part of the police in the city.

Then it is just plain stupid to use Michael Brown as a poster boy. Everyone knows that much of the black community lied to make the police look bad in his case and rioted for no good reason. Why would anyone take such people seriously?

Wattaya figure, they'll send a nice guy in to get shot to raise interest in the police behavior?

You play with the hand that's dealt to you. Not the one you wish you had. Their hand sucks, but they're getting mileage from it.

[Ulysses G.]

I would go for the "I can't breathe" guy, Eric Gardner. The cops were not indicted, but at least he was not a violent thug and people felt sympathy for him.

Edited August 11, 2015 by Ulysses G.

[impulse]

I would go for the "I can't breathe" guy, Eric Gardner. The cops were not indicted, but at least he was not a violent thug and people felt sympathy for him.

He would have been a much better poster boy. But I'm not sure the FBI or the Missouri Attorney General's office would be investigating the Ferguson police for a protest over a guy who died in Staten Island.

[Publicus]

Missouri is a state whose law on police use of guns continues to be inconsistent with the SCOTUS decisions on the issue. There in fact usually is some sort of law or prosecutor almost anywhere that protects police in their national crimewave of serial killings of unarmed black Americans. The rightwing racism among the police is more than evident.....

Here are 7 racist jokes Ferguson police and court officials made over email

The US Department of Justice found many, many things wrong in its investigation into the Ferguson Police Department, including a pattern of racial bias. But perhaps the most disturbing findings were the racist email exchanges between police and court officials, which show outright hostility and prejudice toward the St. Louis suburb's black residents.

Here are the seven emails the Justice Department uncovered, all of which come from current employees and were apparently sent during work hours:

http://www.vox.com/2015/3/4/8149699/ferguson-police-racist-jokes

[sdanielmcev]

Ah, yes. The lefts' constant barrage (in true Hitlerian style) sleight of facts. Michael Brown was a thug.

[impulse]

Ah, yes. The lefts' constant barrage (in true Hitlerian style) sleight of facts. Michael Brown was a thug.

Yes, he probably was.

And based on the information coming to light as a result of the furor sparked by his death, so are some of the cops in Ferguson.

Which is kind of ironic, eh?

Edited August 11, 2015 by impulse

[sdanielmcev]

Ah, yes. The lefts' constant barrage (in true Hitlerian style) sleight of facts. Michael Brown was a thug.

Yes, he probably was.

And based on the information coming to light as a result of the furor sparked by his death, so are some of the cops in Ferguson.

Which is kind of ironic, eh?

I believe you mean paradoxical. As a means of being able to enforce the law against the thuggish, yes, cops are forced to become as brutal as their opponents. However, it is on the side of law and order. So the rest of us can sleep peaceably. Hopefully.

Being a bad cop means not enforcing the law,not succumbing to whatever whim the the media and its' lemming-like minions have on their plate that season.

[impulse]

If cops are as brutal as their thuggish opponents, then they're not on the side of law and order. A thug in a uniform is a thug.

If they're not going to follow the law of the land and protect and serve all of the citizens regardless of race and economic standing, they need to find another line of work.

If you want to strap on a gun and be a cop, learn to deal with people from different backgrounds with respect and to de-escalate rather than exacerbate the perfectly natural tension of an interaction with the police.

You want a nice easy job in law enforcement? Become a night watchman at a warehouse. Then you can yell and scream and pull a gun on any stranger you run into.

Edited August 11, 2015 by impulse