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ferguson complete coverage

&nbsp;On the eve of the anniversary of Michael Brown being shot and killed during a confrontation with a police officer, Brown's father said Saturday that the family is still mourning the 18-year-old's death. 
Several weekend events are planned to commemorate Brown's death, Among them was a parade on Saturday led by Michael Brown Sr., starting at the memorial on Canfield Drive in Ferguson that marks the site where Brown was fatally shot by former officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. 
Time has not healed his wounds, Brown said before the procession, in which several hundred people, a drum corps and some cars joined in on the five-mile route to Normandy High School. 
"At the end of the day, I still lost my boy," he said. "I'm still hurting. My family's still hurting." 
Brown said the anniversary brings back all of the grief and raw emotions, but that it's important to continue standing up to concerns about police brutality and the use of force. His son's death helped spur a national "Black Lives Matter" movement. As the parade began, he took an armful of stuffed animals and placed them in the middle of the street where his son died. 
The U.S. Justice Department and a St. Louis County grand jury cleared Wilson, who resigned in November, of wrongdoing. A separate Justice Department investigation of Ferguson's justice system found evidence of a profit-driven court system and widespread racial bias by police. 
Onlookers were mostly scattered in small clusters on Saturday. Ferguson interim Police Chief Andre Anderson stood alongside St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar and Capt. Ron Johnson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol on West Florissant Avenue -- the site of protests, looting and riots in the aftermath of Brown's death -- waving to parade participants and shaking hands with some. 
A vocal group of about 30 people marching in the parade began chanting "Hands up! Don't shoot!" as they neared the officers, then "Pigs in a blanket fry like bacon." Otherwise, the crowd was peaceful. Police presence was limited mostly to officers at intersections keeping traffic away from the parade, and there were no immediate reports of confrontations. 
Darius Simpson, 22, made the trip to Ferguson from Eastern Michigan University for the weekend and was in the parade. Simpson, who is black, said he had never been an activist until Brown's death, but said a visit to Ferguson last year during the height of the unrest changed him. 
"Something snapped in me, seeing the memorial, seeing how Ferguson reacted inspired me to take it back to Michigan," Simpson said. 
St. Louis resident Carlatta Bussey, 41, brought her 7-year-old son. "I wanted to show him he needs to stand up for what he believes in," said Bussey, who is black. "It's important for him to know he has a voice." 
Marches were planned later Saturday in St. Louis and on Sunday, again starting on Canfield Drive. The Sunday march will stop just before noon for a moment of silence to mark the moment Brown was killed. 
Brown's father said a lot of families in the St. Louis area and across the nation are hurting because they've lost loved ones to police violence. Though some groups are pledging civil disobedience in the St. Louis region, Brown urged everyone to mark his son's death in peace. 
"No drama," he said. "No stupidity, so we can just have some kind of peace." 
&nbsp;

Nation/World

usFERGUSON

Michael Brown's father says family still in mourning 

ferguson

Sheldon Richardson is angry. He's also confused, frustrated and struggling to think of ways he can help ease the tension back home in St. Louis. 
As a young black man who grew up in Missouri, the Jets defensive tackle has strong opinions about the shooting death of Ferguson resident Michael Brown, 18, and the death from an apparent chokehold of Staten Island resident Eric Garner -- both unarmed black men who died at the hands of police. Richardson didn't mince words Thursday when asked about both grand juries that declined to bring charges against the officers. 
"A guy got murdered. And a guy got off for it. It's just that simple," he said of the Brown case. "It just happened in New York, too, so it's not just in St. Louis. It's getting where it's pretty bad everywhere now. So much for the justice system." 
Richardson called Darren Wilson, who shot Brown, "a pig" on Twitter. He stood by those remarks while saying he wasn't making a blanket statement about police. "I've got friends who are cops," he said. "It was referring to one guy . . . The actions are being done by police officers, who I feel are doing wrong. You're supposed to protect and serve, but you're out killing people." 
Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo, the New York City officer who used an apparent chokehold on Garner, are white, but Richardson said this isn't "a white or black thing." 
"I'm far from a racist . . . Someone got murdered. It's just that simple. In cold blood," he said of Brown. "There have been a lot of victims or people who committed crimes that's been apprehended with guns in their hands, and he was unarmed and he died. Six shots? That's a little overkill to me." 
He was surprised Pantaleo wasn't indicted because it was an "open-and-shut case," he said. 
Richardson supported the five Rams who protested the Ferguson non-indictment with a "hands-up" gesture before Sunday's game, but he doesn't plan to follow their lead. 
"Being on camera right now talking about it is me doing something," he said, adding that teammates have expressed opposing views in the locker room on both cases. 
At season's end, he plans to return to St. Louis and try to bring constructive change. 
"Destroying Ferguson is not what I wanted to come from the verdict of the grand jury. I actually wanted my whole city to stay intact," he said. "I don't think we'll bounce back from that, Ferguson, anyway. 
" . . . I just want my hometown to stay as peaceful as possible. But I don't blame them. I know where they're coming from, and I understand. But that's not the solution."

Sports

Football

New York Jets

SPRICH05

Ferguson, Staten Island killings infuriate Sheldon Richardson

richardson cropped

Something's got to be done to end the killing by white police officers of unarmed African-American men. 
The Brown and Garner cases are different. Brown was a suburbanite, Garner a city dweller. One lived in Ferguson, Missouri, the other on Staten Island. 
Brown was caught on tape stealing cigarillos; Garner had been warned by police about illegally selling loose cigarettes. 
But the only thing that matters is what happened when police confronted the men -- neither of whom was armed. 
Brown, we now know, was more than 100 feet away from Police Officer Darren Wilson when the officer fired multiple times -- not 35 feet away, as officials in Missouri initially said. The distance casts doubt on Wilson's story that he feared Brown would overtake him. 
But because a local prosecutor gave a grand jury the case -- and because the grand jury acts in secret -- that information did not reach the public until after the panel decided not to charge Wilson. 
As for Garner, we saw the video. 
And New York Police Department officials said they believed Officer Daniel Pantaleo used an apparent chokehold -- a move that is banned by the department. 
Again, a grand jury decided against charges. 
In Missouri, there have been allegations that the prosecutor dumped evidence on a grand jury rather than assuming the traditional role of advocating for an indictment. 
On Staten Island, some questioned why there was no special prosecutor -- who, unlike the Staten Island district attorney's office, would not have to be concerned about maintaining good relations with the police department. 
A question to ask in both cases: Why did both prosecutors rely on grand juries rather than filing charges? The result could have been trials, where witness and expert testimony, evidence and judges' explanation of the law and how it applied would have been public. 
The use of grand juries in both cases accomplished little other than to deepen the distrust between African-Americans and police. 
Last week, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he believed African-American communities had to help defuse that animosity. 
But African-American communities want, and need, the kind of policing many white American communities have -- not what's in Ferguson, where police, even after Brown's death, are viewed as an occupying force armed with military equipment. 
In New York City, officials were quick after Garner's death -- and a series of other violent incidents involving police -- to announce that police officers would be retrained. 
That alone can't re-establish trust, as long as the view that white police officers can kill African-American men with impunity survives. 
Which is why it is essential that the U.S. Justice Department investigate the Garner and Brown cases aggressively. 
This isn't just about trust with police, it's about trust in the nation's legal system.

Long Island

Columnists

Joye Brown

LIJOY04

U.S. probe of Brown, Garner deaths is necessary

Eric Garner

eric garner - cropped/alo

I wrote a column on Friday about the riots in Ferguson. It basically said what others have: High crime rates in African-American communities are the problem, so leave the cops alone -- a sentiment I mostly believe. 
But a story my father told his young children kept me from pressing "send." 
It happened at a men's store on Madison Avenue in the 1950s. My father was eyeing jackets on the racks when a black gentleman walked in to do the same. Within seconds, the manager was tailing the man conspicuously. 
My father's a good person. And he has a sharp antenna for the feelings of his fellow man. So he stayed close to the other shopper in the unlikely hope that he might believe the manager was tailing both of them. 
When the manager was called to the register, my father tugged on the man's sleeve and whispered conspiratorially: "I've had it with these jerks" -- as if white people are followed all the time, too. "Tell ya what we do. You put your hands in your pockets like it's a stickup and we rush the register together. Just before we get there, I hit the ground and shout, 'Waste 'em Eddie! Just for laughs. Whaddya say?" 
"What did he say, Daddy? What did he say?!" we children asked. But, alas, we were disappointed. The man thought my father was nuts, justifiably perhaps, and hurriedly left the store. 
Thinking of that reminded me of failing to catch a cab near City Hall in the 1980s. I was with black friends, and vacant cab after cab ignored my outstretched hand. I was obtuse to the reason why -- for about the first dozen cabs. 
Then I thought of the British Virgin Islands, where I worked as a reporter in my 20s. The islands were predominantly black, and I recall feeling a few glaring eyes myself. But I also remember sneaking into a fancy resort to swim on Sundays, and only once being ejected -- the time I brought a black friend. None of the all-black staff dared throw me out when I was solo, even though I'm pretty sure they all suspected me of trespassing. 
I think they thought I might be somebody, or related to a somebody, and they didn't want to risk offending me. They didn't fear that of my friend. 
That's gotta hurt. 
William F. B. O'Reilly is a Republican consultant who worked on the Rob Astorino campaign for governor.

Opinion

William F. B. O'Reilly

OPORE01

Whites might see racism, but we don't feel it

O'Reilly: Whites might see racism, but we don't feel it

Racism iStock Cropped

John Asbury

Hundreds of protesters rallied in Herald Square and blocked Manhattan streets on Black Friday, as demonstrations were held nationwide to protest a grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
From about 1 to 8 p.m., groups of nearly 1,000 protesters marched from Times Square to Herald Square, and then to lower Manhattan.
The bustling crowd outside Macy's and the chime of Salvation Army bells were quickly replaced Friday afternoon by chanting protesters and bullhorns. 
Chanting "hands up, don't shop" and carrying signs saying "out of the stores," protesters shut down Broadway as they marched to Times Square and then went down side streets through traffic. It marked the fifth day of protests in Manhattan since the Ferguson decision was announced Monday night.
NYPD officers made several arrests for blocking intersections and crossing streets illegally. At Herald Square, police arrested three people after officers said they disobeyed orders. Police did not give the total number of arrests.
The protests were mostly peaceful, with dozens of officers and police motorcades keeping watch of marchers. 
About 200 protesters marched last evening through TriBeCa, headed to One Police Plaza, chanting, "While you're shopping, kids are dropping." When they reached NYPD headquarters, nearly twice as many officers surrounded about 100 protesters.
The protests were organized by the Rockaway Youth Task Force and the Million Hoodies Movement for Justice. Organizers sought to draw attention to the shooting of Brown, 18, who was black, and the decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson, who is white. 
Tommy Wozniak, 22, of Hempstead joined the protest, holding a "Blackout Black Friday" sign.
"I think it's a day across the nation that holds people's attention," Wozniak said.
"In the wake of this police brutality shift in our culture, people should take this meaningless day and pay attention to something that's important. We're going to . . . make them pay attention."Elsewhere Friday, demonstrators temporarily shut down two large malls in suburban St. Louis.
Organizers said they targeted Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, to show African-American buying power and redirect attention to civil rights issues. They said blacks nationwide have a spending power of $1.1 trillion.
/yes/vg"People are not buying stuff and making an actual impact economically," Ari Joseph, 32 of Brooklyn, said. "Hopefully they start thinking with their pocketbooks as the only way to effect change."
The protesters' message wasn't always clear, ranging from Ferguson to Black Friday to police brutality to oppression and Nelson Mandela.
Groups of visitors were caught off guard, some filming the roving group of activists blocking streets and sidewalks.
Lori Unilever, of Leonia, New Jersey, was suddenly surrounded by protesters as she waited in Times Square to buy Broadway tickets.
"We're puzzled. We don't know what it's all about," Unilever said. "This is a strange location for it."Black Friday protests also took place in Chicago, Seattle, northern California and other U.S. cities.
"We want to really let the world know that it is no longer business as usual," Chenjerai Kumanyika, an assistant professor at Clemson University in South Carolina, said at a rally at a Walmart in Manchester, another St. Louis suburb.The rallies have been ongoing since Monday night but have grown more peaceful over the week, as protesters turn their attention to disrupting commerce.
With AP

NYPROT29

In New York, other U.S. cities, Black Friday rallies protest grand jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri

Ferguson protesters: 'Hands up, don't shop'

NYDEMO--cropped/cem

Michael Brown's parents said Wednesday they don't believe Ferguson, Missouri, Police Officer Darren Wilson's version of the confrontation in which he shot their son to death, nor do they understand how he can proclaim his conscience is clear.
Michael Brown Sr. and his son's mother, Lesley McSpadden, appeared in interviews on "CBS This Morning" and NBC's "Today" two days after a county grand jury decided to not indict Wilson.
In newly aired segments of Wilson's interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, shown Wednesday on "Good Morning America," the 28-year-old officer said he "never wanted to take anybody's life" and feels sorry about Brown's death on Aug. 9. He said he understands Wilson's parents' anger because they are grieving for their 18-year-old son, and, "I'm sorry that their son lost his life." 
Reacting to Wilson's assertion in an interview segment aired Tuesday that he had a clean conscience over his actions, McSpadden said, "His conscience is clear? How could your conscience be clear after killing somebody even if it was an accidental death?" 
In Wilson's account to the grand jury as well as the interview, he said Brown punched him, reached into the patrol car to grapple for his gun and then came at him so menacingly that he feared for his life. Even after he shot and wounded him, Brown kept advancing at him on the street, Wilson said.
"I don't believe a word of it," McSpadden said. "I know my son is far too well . . . he would never do anything like that. He would never provoke anyone to do anything to him and he wouldn't do anything to anybody." 
Brown Sr. said the officer's account "sounds crazy." He added: "For one, my son, he respected law enforcement. Two, who in their right mind would rush or charge at a police officer that has his gun drawn?"
The Brown family has not ruled out filing a wrongful-death suit. The federal government is conducting its own investigation of the shooting death of the unarmed, young black man by a white police officer. Brown's killing -- and the grand jury's decision announced Monday night -- has prompted protests nationwide.
The Rev. Al Sharpton gathered Brown's parents at his National Action Network headquarters in Harlem Wednesday alongside the families of Eric Garner and Akai Gurley, who died in separate NYPD-involved events, for a "bonding prayer."
"They share each other's pain and understand what we don't understand," Sharpton said before the families held hands and bowed their heads.
"Not only do they share the pain of being victims of police conduct, but this will be their first Thanksgiving with an empty seat at the table," he said.
Garner died July in Staten Island after a police officer placed him in an apparent chokehold. A grand jury is investigating the death.
Gurley was shot last week in Brooklyn by a rookie cop who the NYPD said accidentally discharged his weapon. The officer is on modified duty pending the investigation. 
Earlier in the day, Kimberly Ballinger, Gurley's girlfriend, formally identified his body at a Brooklyn morgue. 
Sharpton said he does not condone the looting and violent unrest that broke out in Ferguson on Monday night. 
"Anyone that engages in violence is not on the team of justice, is not on the team of Michael Brown," he said. "You cannot confuse civil disobedience with violence."
Wilson, who remains on paid administrative leave from the Ferguson Police Department, told ABC that his life has been stressful since the shooting. He said he even grew a beard to hide his identity. 
"You're always looking, you're always wondering if someone'll recognize you, if someone is following you. Just every possibility you can think of," said Wilson, who got married last month and whose wife is pregnant.
Wilson said it is unclear whether he can return to the Ferguson department. His ambition had been to spend his career there and retire as a sergeant after 30 years. 
"I mean, you think they would accept me? You think it'd be safe for me?" Wilson asked. 
McSpadden, Brown's mother, described her days since the grand jury decision as "sleepless, very hard, heartbreaking and unbelievable."
With Emily Ngo and
Anthony M. DeStefano

USWILS27

Michael Brown's parents question Darren Wilson's account of shooting

Crowds incensed over a grand jury decision not to indict in Ferguson, Missouri's fatal police shooting rose up across Manhattan Tuesday night, with thousands fanning down from Times Square to Union Square and crossing major bridges, blocking key arteries -- from the Lincoln Tunnel to the FDR Drive -- before returning to midtown. 
In largely peaceful but tense demonstrations under the eye of the NYPD, people chanted, "Black lives matter" and "Hands up, don't shoot," a day after the Missouri grand jury declined to hand up criminal charges against Officer Darren Wilson, who is white, in the August shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, an unarmed black man. Stuck motorists honked in support. 
"I can't just sit by and watch people take authority and abuse it," said Shavina Que, 28, a Forest Hills sales analyst who said she thought of her future children as she navigated down Seventh Avenue in lower Manhattan. 
In contrast to Ferguson, where buildings and cars were set ablaze and gunfire erupted, there were few scuffles and just a handful of arrests reported. 
The NYPD said 10 people were arrested Tuesday night in Times Square, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. Four people were charged with resisting arrest and six with disorderly conduct. There were no injuries, police said. 
Officers walked alongside demonstrators and others blocked marchers' access to roadways with motorcycles or cruisers. Parts of the FDR Drive were shut down in both directions in lower Manhattan. 
Later, several hundred demonstrators gathered in front of the United Nations and raised their hands in a moment of silence. Others crossed into Brooklyn. 
Hundreds marched through the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Crown Heights, Prospect Heights and Clinton Hill. They were tailed by police on foot, on scooters, in cruisers and by at least one police helicopter. 
"It's where the tears can't fall no more," said Terrance Coffie, 45, a computer lab manager from Harlem, referring to how heartsick people felt. 
Demonstrators said they were buoyed by the diversity among marchers. "It shows solidarity," said Stephanie Eugene, 21, of Crown Heights. 
When hundreds of other protesters returned to Times Square before midnight, they chanted and held signs, some with images of Brown and others with marquee-style lights saying "Unite 4 Justice." 
Travis Morales, a 62-year-old self-described revolutionary communist, shouted chants over a megaphone. "There has to be no business as usual," he said. 
Kevina Newton, 18, a New York University student from the West Village, joined the protest near Times Square after she, her mother and grandmother had taken in a Broadway show. 
"I wanted to be part of the movement," she said. "I feel like there has been a lot of injustice" against people of color. 
Several hundred people marched up the West Side Highway early Wednesday into Harlem, the end of a demonstration that was peaceful. 
About 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, many of the people remaining in Times Square sat on the ground and listened to speakers as motor traffic flowed freely. 
About a dozen City Council members made clear their disappointment with the lack of an indictment of Wilson by staging a walkout at City Hall during a council meeting. 
Earlier, NYPD Commissioner William Bratton said the department was giving demonstrators "breathing room" to express outrage. 
Mayor Bill de Blasio tried to create distance between the NYPD's recent fatal encounters with unarmed black men and the Ferguson shooting. "Each and every incident is different," he said.

New York

NYFERG27

NYC demonstrations mostly peaceful but take over roadways

Arrests made as protestors march in NYC

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Hundreds of demonstrators chanted and marched through Times Square Monday night after a St. Louis County prosecutor announced that Ferguson, Missouri, Police Officer Darren Wilson would not face criminal charges in the Aug. 9 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. 
"Justice for Mike Brown!" chanted the crowd of up to 400 people, who marched from Union Square to Times Square. "If we don't get it, shut it down." 
The Manhattan crowd was peaceful in the hours before the much-anticipated announcement about the racially charged case in which an unarmed black teenager was shot dead by a white police officer. They watched silently as the announcement was read by St. Louis County prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch shortly before 9:30 p.m. in Clayton, Missouri. The grand jury voted not to indict Wilson on any criminal charges. 
At one point, protesters in Times Square threw fake blood on NYPD Commissioner William Bratton and members of his security detail. 
NYPD officers lined the streets and stopped traffic as helicopters soared over the mostly peaceful protests. 
Natalie Catton, 30, of Brooklyn, said she lived in St. Louis for nine years. She said she's tired of police brutality. 
"When I heard the ruling, there was nothing in my head, only tears," said Catton, who is white. "It's going to continue everywhere. We have a problem." 
Activists chanted slogans, like, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, these racist cops have got to go." 
They held up their hands and chanted, "Hands up, don't shoot." They held up signs that read, "Black lives matter. We want an indictment." 
Eric Aviles, 42, of Harlem, said he marched out of anger over the grand jury decision and demanded policy changes. 
"How can you shoot an unarmed man and get away with it?" Aviles said. "It's not right." 
Cailys Grullon, 24, from the Bronx, said she marched out of "a personal call." 
"Justice is not being served," said the native of the Dominican Republic. "People have the same right to justice as police." 
Michael Weston, 28, of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, said during the march in Times Square, protesters want to let those in power know things must change. He said his "quiet anger" at the decision changed to "loud anger" through the march. 
"My hope is that it shows solidarity," said Weston, who is black. "We're mad. There have been so many cases and so many verdicts like this. We're tired of it." 
Leah Feygin, 27, of Fort Greene, Brooklyn, who is white, said her goal was to inspire others. 
"I just hope the people will be more active and realize there is an issue here, a race issue." 
The Rev. Al Sharpton told a Harlem crowd and reporters at the National Action Network: "The decision was expected, but still an absolute blow to those of us who wanted a fair trial." 
Sharpton stood with the family of NYPD choking victim Eric Garner and said he would meet with Brown's family Tuesday morning in Ferguson. 
"We said from the beginning, that we had little or no confidence in this local prosecutor and called for federal intervention," Sharpton said. "We wanted to be here tonight to show a bond with them and collectively show the pain of having a loved one taken by police." 
Sharpton called for an additional federal investigation into Brown's death. He criticized Missouri prosecutors comparing Brown's shoplifting of cigarillos to a fleeing felon. 
He also lumped Brown's shooting with recent cases in New York, such as Garner's death. 
"Let it be clear, that we're dealing with the same attitudes in this city," Sharpton said. "We can lose a round, but the fight is not over." 
Harlem residents reacted with chants of "No justice, no peace." 
Residents filled the room on West 145th Street as they watched the televised news conference from Ferguson. Audience members cried out when the decision was announced. 
Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) released a statement asking that the decision be "respected by every American -- whatever their race or political affiliation." 
"Today's grand jury decision also shows how wrong it was for so many of our leaders to have implicitly prejudged this case by accepting the narrative that a police officer with an unblemished record had murdered an innocent man in cold blood and in broad daylight," King said. 
New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, a Democrat, tweeted, "How to make sense of the senseless? My heart goes out to Michael Brown's family." 
"What we need now is reform and action, not violence or vengeance," New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, a Democrat, said Monday night in an email. 
Working Families party National Director Dan Cantor and Center for Working Families Executive Director Valerie Ervin said: "The moral logic of this decision would be incomprehensible if it weren't so routine. Another young Black man is killed, and somehow, no one has committed a crime. We must tell the truth about the nation as we see it: all lives are not given equal worth." 
Bracing for an emotional outpouring, police in many cities were on alert. 
Before McCulloch's announcement, Bratton said the force was ready to respond, and the department was "anticipating there will be demonstrations. But I am not anticipating anything getting out of control." 
Also before the announcement, the Urban League of Long Island said: "The killing of Michael Brown has forever left a void in the hearts and lives of his parents, family and friends, who lost a son and a loved one much too soon. The killing of Michael Brown has also brought to light many of the unfortunate blemishes -- criminal justice disparities, volatile police-community relations, unemployment and economic inequities -- that tarnish our great nation and that prevent us from being the best of whom we can be." 
With Emily Ngo 
and Ivan Pereira

LIFERG25

Ferguson grand jury decision not to indict officer in Michael Brown shooting death disappoints NYC protesters

Ferguson Reaction New York - cropped /lii

The story of America is race. And its bitter fruits are on display again in Ferguson, Missouri. &nbsp; After centuries of grappling with poisonous relations between those of different skin colors, it sometimes feels that we’re no closer to bridging that gaping divide. Race is our country’s core issue, the one big thing we simply can’t resolve, and it’s at the core of so many of our lingering problems — like education, housing and, yes, justice. &nbsp; St. Louis prosecutor Robert McCulloch’s announcement Monday night that a grand jury decided not to indict white police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of black teen Michael Brown set off a paroxysm of rage in Ferguson and protests around the country that continued yesterday. Some of the images from Ferguson were sadly familiar — buildings and police cars in flames, tear gas billowing across roiling streets, windows shattered, looters emptying stores. We can, and do, condemn that violence. But we can, and must, understand the context in which it took place. Otherwise, we’ll remain locked in our viper’s nest of distrust and hatred. &nbsp; The truth is that residents in Ferguson were not reacting only to this decision. Nor were protesters in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Oakland and Chicago, nor the marchers who threw fake blood on New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton in Times Square. We view moments like Ferguson through our personal prisms, and for many, those prisms contain events that spawned emotions that still are raw. &nbsp; Millions of black Americans once drank from “colored” fountains and went to “colored” schools. Driving-while-black is still justification for being pulled over. Black men are far more likely to be arrested and sent to prison than white men. And they’re far more likely to be shot by police officers. &nbsp; For many blacks, the decision was another entry in a long ledger stretching from Rodney King to Amadou Diallo to Trayvon Martin. Next up: the Staten Island grand jury looking at the Eric Garner case. &nbsp; McCulloch’s announcement — after an incomprehensible preamble that succeeded only in putting nothing to rest — followed long-standing complaints from residents of mostly-black Ferguson about the way they’ve been treated by their mostly-white police force. Some of the protesting might have played to the dozens of cameras present, and some might have been opportunistic looting, but much of the rage clearly was real. And much had to do with the fact that another police officer would not face any consequences for the death of another black man. &nbsp; The tension was evident even in the face of President Barack Obama, our first black president, as he pleaded for calm. &nbsp; We don’t pretend to know exactly what happened on Aug. 9, or whether the grand jury’s decision was the correct one, or whether Wilson was justified in shooting Brown. Perhaps two ongoing federal Department of Justice investigations can provide more clarity. &nbsp; What we do know is that once again we are reminded of our sad legacy of race relations, and that if we fail to heed this latest lesson and resolve our differences, we’ll be condemned to wallow in them forever.

VPFERG25

Editorial: Race relations – America’s tragic challenge

Editorial: Race relations – our tragic challenge

Ferguson - cropped

It turned out we didn’t need to know what the verdict was in the Michael Brown case in Ferguson, Missouri, to confront some ugly facts and emotions. 
In the afternoon came word that the grand jury considering the fatal police shooting of the 18-year-old had reached a decision. The cable news channels began to roll out talking heads, and show video of Ferguson. They&nbsp;pictured the streets where nothing had been announced, and shared learned analysis of the&nbsp;big thing&nbsp;that&nbsp;hadn't happened&nbsp;yet. 
And then the preparations for potential violence began in Ferguson, and the speeches from the governor and other politicians, and the worrying of Americans who remember past riots, and the worrying of other (or the same) Americans who remember black men gunned down and cops uncharged. 
As I write this it is nearly 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, meaning the announcement of the decision is about an hour away. But I don’t think we’ll know much more after the announcement, because we know so much now. We know we are a nation with a nearly 400-year history of racial strife. We know each of these racially charged incidents, those that involve cops and those that don’t, from Rodney King to Trayvon Martin to Abner Louima to Michael Brown, take their place on the timeline of American race relations. 
Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9. The shooting brought on huge protests and the wildly militaristic overreaction to the protests by the cops shocked the nation. 
So there is a grand jury. And deliberations. And the politicization that always accompanies such situations. 
It seems like we’re not getting anywhere with race relations anymore. It seems like progress has stopped. It seems like every time something like this happens so many people pick sides based on who looks more like them, who earns more like them, who lives more like them or talks more like them. 
It will&nbsp;be hard to judge the grand jury decision once it is released. I won’t have heard the evidence. That’s true of everyone else, too, but many will judge the decision as right or wrong, instinctively, the minute it is announced. And there may be violence. And there may not. 
But in the hours building up to the announcement, as we watched the news and worried and waited and discussed it all on Twitter and Facebook and, in many cases, took our pre-assigned and pre-decided sides without a whit of information, I felt I was learning quite a bit. 
We are a terrified nation, scared of “the other.” We are an angry nation, sure that “they” are getting away with something. We are a frustrated nation, feeling unheard and convinced that the other side always gets the megaphone. 
We are a devastatingly divided nation, because of our history, our behavior and our prejudices. 
Regardless of the decision. Regardless of the response to the decision. &nbsp;

Lane Filler

OPFIL24

Decision on race in America is in 

Filler: Decision on race in America is in

Wednesday, Oct. 22

Ferguson Oct. 22, 2014 -- cropped lt

We've had plenty of rhetorical villains since the fatal police shooting of a black teen in Ferguson, Missouri, grandstanders stirring up fear in vengeful tones, and we've ha violence and looting, mostly by nonresidents taking advantage of a tragedy to enrich themselves. But we've had heroes, too, and, at the young man's funeral, we had calls for engaged citizenship and a stop to community disruption. 
Healing may be on the way. 
"Show up at the voting booths," said Eric Davis, a cousin of the slain Michael Brown, addressing Ferguson blacks at the service. While he said more voting would thus let others know "we have had enough," there is another way of looking at it, namely that it is a mode of self-governance, not just observer-governance, of assuming responsibility, of cooperatively sharing in decisions that matter. 
It hasn't been happening. While blacks constitute 67 percent of Ferguson's population, just 7 percent bother to vote in local elections, and so it's no wonder that the mayor and most members of the city council and school board are white. A funeral oration is not enough to change that. There need to be numerous energetic organizers out there, and some note it would help as well to have the local elections coincide with national elections when the turnout is many times higher. 
Even with all of that, it's the quality of candidates that counts, and there's the never-ending need to hold them accountable by paying attention to what they do and speaking up when there's good reason. If the police department needs changing, you can then make it happen. 
Another topic at the funeral was the looting and rioting. Bishop Edwin Bass of the Church of God in Christ has been quoted as saying it was "imperative" to avoid it, powerfully explaining that now was a time "to immerse the family in the warm affection and abiding peace of the beloved community." What ought to be mentioned, too, is that the Ferguson riots afflicted blacks themselves. African-American poverty activist Robert Woodson has pointed out that the damage has included lost equity in homes, closed businesses, interruptions in bus services and thousands of children missing school for two weeks. 
It could have been worse. Someone who has kept the situation more in hand than it might have been is Capt. Ronald Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol, a black commander assigned by Gov. Jay Nixon to strive for Ferguson orderliness after the shooting. He has done such an impressive job that a New York Times story says "he has redefined leadership in crisis: equal parts police official, preacher, mediator and neighbor, unafraid to convey his inner conflict, unafraid to cry." Just seeing him interviewed on TV makes you understand that the Ferguson story has brought us heroes others should do their best to learn from. 
For still another heroic healer, look to Gail Babcock, a retired white Ferguson resident who in one sense is not retired at all. Mentioned in several news accounts, she is hard at work with a nonprofit organization that serves young people of all groups by teaching them, helping them have fun, involving them in community life and assisting with such issues as paying off court fines. She is especially concerned at the moment with locating counselors to assist them in coping with the shock of recent events that she herself finds disturbing. 
It is through such factors as all of these - political awakening, spiritual calm, character showing itself and civic responsibility - that communities cohere and ultimately thrive. Ferguson and similar communities may need still more, such as increased family stability, improved education and poverty programs empowering the poor to self-rescue, but it is worth our attention that something dreadful has already been followed by signs of hope. 
Jay Ambrose is an op-ed columnist for McClatchy-Tribune.

Commentary

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Ambrose: 4 signs of possible healing in Ferguson

Living in Ferguson -- cropped

The shooting and subsequent rioting in Ferguson, Missouri, like the killing of Trayvon Martin or countless incidents before it, will not produce a "national conversation" on race. If Americans can elect a black man president without ever having such a conversation - we've done so twice - we're not about to have one over the umpteenth violent death of a young lower-class black male. 
Regardless, a conversation - on any topic - requires shared predicates and vocabulary. You can't have a conversation about global warming with interlocutors who contend that thousands of scientists around the globe, speaking different languages and working for different governments and unaffiliated institutions, are co-conspirators in a vast enterprise for no apparent gain. You can't have a conversation about government's impact on the economy with people who believe that the federal government spent $800 billion - dropping it from helicopters or otherwise - without creating a single job. 
And you can't have a conversation about race with people who believe that claims of racism are inherently bogus, or who have convinced themselves that Democrats, the president very much included, intentionally encourage black dependence on government for political reasons. The common denominator among those views is a crude form of denial - a refusal to acknowledge the legitimacy of experience outside the universe of talk-radio claptrap. 
David Frum's new article in Foreign Affairs echoes Tom Edsall's insight that contemporary politics has become a do-or-die battle over diminishing resources, with older, whiter, conservative Americans determined to prevent the flow of government benefits away from them and toward a younger cohort. For some conservatives, that contest is defined by race. 
Here is how Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg summed up the racial anxiety of evangelical and tea party Republicans (whose perceptions were starkly different from those of moderate Republicans) in focus groups he conducted: "Their party is losing to a Democratic Party of big government whose goal is to expand programs that mainly benefit minorities." Thus the crucible of Obamacare. In effect, legions of conservatives have reasoned that the Affordable Care Act is not a response to a problem previously addressed by every other advanced nation; nor is it the culmination of a more than half-century-long project of the Democratic Party - one that began back when segregationist Democrats controlled the Senate. Instead, they conclude, it is an effort designed to generate dependency and transfer wealth from whites to browns. 
In a 2013 poll, 61 percent of white conservatives and 56 percent of whites ages 65 or older agreed that discrimination against whites would increase due to rising racial diversity. That's hardly grounds for a warm embrace of a multiracial future. As Edsall and others have noted, political scientists have found an increase in racial resentment among white conservatives since Obama - the nation's demographic change incarnate - was elected. 
In a May YouGov poll, only 14 percent of Republicans deemed past discrimination a "major factor" in lower average wealth levels among blacks. (Aggressive impediments to wealth creation were a major theme of Ta-Nehisi Coates's essay that same month.) Only 8 percent of Republicans agreed that discrimination "in getting a quality education" is currently a problem for blacks. 
Consider that. In a nation where even middle-class wealth is often inherited, and the fortunes of Rockefellers, Fords, Kennedys and Mellons are famously known to endure through generations, 45 percent of Republicans said that 250 years of enslavement followed by more than a century of legally and socially enforced economic and political disenfranchisement are simply "not a factor" impeding black wealth creation. 
Another 35 percent of Republicans polled said that the history of discrimination was only a "minor factor." So 350 years of official discrimination followed by decades of diminishing, but still discernible, racism produced no great economic ills. 
You can impose all the caveats on this you like. Blacks, too, possess varying degrees of racial animus. And liberals, of course, have their own blinders, delusions and prejudices. But a belief that white advantage in American society - including a median household wealth gap of around 20-to-1 between whites and blacks - is exclusively a product of the character failings of blacks is a kind of lunacy. Americans frequently dismiss turmoil in the Middle East by noting that religious and tribal tensions there were centuries in the making. But here, massive barriers to black success disappeared when Lyndon Baines Johnson signed civil-rights legislation? 
Two months after Obama's pivotal, political March 2008 speech on race, Washington Post reporter Kevin Merida wrote a story about Obama campaign volunteers encountering explicit racism while soliciting support. When Merida sought comment from the campaign, it responded with a bromide about "the core decency, kindness, and generosity of Americans from all walks of life." The deflection was political, yet honest in its way. Indeed, we are mostly a decent, kind and generous folk. Just don't try to have a conversation with us about race. 
Francis Wilkinson writes editorials on politics and domestic policy for Bloomberg View.

OPWILKINSON27

Wilkinson: Obama will never have a conversation on race

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I found myself in full agreement with David A. Love's "A police state threatens all of us" [Aug. 21], regarding the militarization of police around the country, as funded by the federal government. This is, at the least, very troubling and encourages overly aggressive action by police. 
However, he made a needlessly incendiary attack on the Israeli National Police and Israeli Defense Force, which have trained U.S. police in anti-terrorism techniques. Love asserts the Israelis "have years of experience occupying Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and suppressing their rights." 
To equate the unconstitutional manner in which some police in our country have handled relationships with black and Hispanic communities with the methods that Israel needs to apply to suppress terrorist attacks is misguided at best. Unfortunately, it has become politically correct to attack Israel and paint Israelis as oppressors. 
Love should also recall the field hospitals that Israelis set up around the world in places of catastrophes, and the tens of thousands of Palestinians, Syrians and others that Israel treats in its hospitals for free, before he calls them an exporter of human rights suppression. 
Michael D. Brofman, New Hyde Park &nbsp;

Letters

OPLTR28B.WEB

Letter: Don't compare Israel and Ferguson

22 Mideast Israel Palestinians -- cropped

A news anchor is getting backlash for suggesting that police use “water cannons” on protestors in Ferguson, Missouri.&nbsp; 
CNN International news anchor Rosemary Church wondered Tuesday why the police are using a strategy that involves the use of tear gas and stun grenades. 
“Why not, perhaps, use water cannons?” she asked during a broadcast of CNN International. “At least it’s not going to have the same sort of effect."&nbsp; 
Church then continued to tweet about the incident in Ferguson to her 31,000 followers. 
“Tear gas &amp; stun grenades were earlier fired by police in response to molotov cocktails,” she tweeted. 
But there is something Church didn’t address on Twitter – her water cannon comment. 
“Are you just never going to say sorry?” one Twitter user asked. 
Within the past 24 hours, nearly 5,000 people mentioned Church’s name and Twitter handle (@RosemaryCNN), according to Topsy, a social media analytics firm. A YouTube video of the water cannon comment, which was published Tuesday, has been viewed more than 20,000 times. 
Some people called Church’s suggestion disrespectful and offensive, referencing&nbsp;the use of water cannons on protestors during the civil rights movement. 
“Obviously Rosemary Church doesn’t know her Civil Rights history to suggest water cannons in Ferguson!” one user tweeted.&nbsp; 
“Will be very disappointed if @CNN lets Rosemary Church slide with that water cannon comment. Ignorant and offensive. Unacceptable,” another tweeted. 
While some users defended Church, saying she may not know U.S. history, everyone seemed to agree on one thing: she should apologize.

CNNblast

CNN anchor Rosemary Church under fire for suggesting 'water cannons' in Ferguson

Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson: Complete coverage

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