Subtitles by explosiveskull
The whole scenery's finna change.
Wait, so where we at right now?
- We're going to the Northside. - Northside...
So, you finna go into, um...
We finna pass into the three poorest,
three out of the five poorest zip codes
in the state of Missouri.
And they all touch each other.
Ain't that magic.
♪ Do you believe in magic? ♪
Two of the worst high school, middle school,
and elementary schools all come out of these zip codes.
We are straight up raising children that cannot read.
You know, like that's really fucked up.
Then you be like damn, who gonna help the kids at home with the homework?
Parents can't read the shit, you can't read it.
That shit is directly rooted back to slavery.
Like you can't read, you a slave.
You know, and the cycle continues.
I don't think people... I love to tell people from out of town,
St. Louis is, I don't know what year it is...
It's not 2014.
... but it's not 2014.
Twenty-one, put me on at Canfield with two and send me another car.
Are there any available Ferguson units who can respond to
Canfield and Copper Creek, advise?
Twenty-five out... going down Canfield.
Get us several more units over here there's going to be a problem.
Ferguson police just killed a man in front of my apartment.
He was unarmed.
He had his arms in the air, and they shot him
ten times, at least.
Right before Mike got shot, I was sitting inside the house,
uh, me, my lady, and my kids.
I was on the bus just coming from church.
It was a regular Saturday for me. I was actually at home.
August 9th, I was working.
They got machine guns out.
I see that big boy right there.
I was running errands.
And I think I was kayaking.
I used to work at a furniture store.
On August 9th, I was probably wearing this shirt.
They aren't telling me anything.
They haven't told me anything.
They wouldn't even let me identify my son.
The only way I knew it was my son was from people out here
showing my his picture on they phones.
That's how I learned about him. I was able to look on their phone
and say, yeah, that's my son.
I'm so sorry.
Laying in the street for hours.
Hours.
Settle down? That motherfucker shot my baby eight times.
Settle down?
They left him out there for four and a half hours.
I automatically started thinking of a lynching.
In all honesty, I was scared and I didn't want to go outside.
This shit crazy.
The body was covered up right there in the street.
That camera that's right up there right now,
that wasn't right there, they just put that one up
but there was a camera on the side of this building
and they took that camera down.
That's what I'm saying like, there was a camera out here
that saw that whole thing and they took that shit down.
When they actually came out here to start touching the body,
man, they had these folks with big white sheets blocking the whole...
nobody couldn't see nothing.
Nobody couldn't see nothing.
They blocked everybody view from being seen,
from seeing anything.
No answers, we got no answers,
we all was treated like criminals so we all upset.
Ain't nobody was going nowhere.
So that night, you know, you could see the fear, you know,
from the people leave them.
Put your hands up.
Put your hands up. Put your hands up.
That fear, man, it went right into the police.
It was like everybody was yelling at the same time.
That wasn't no chant, man. That was just like, that was like, that was beautiful, man.
When I seen that though, I was like, man, we got to make sure
like, we keep that, you know, energy alive.
Come on son. Come on, sit down and get a break.
- You want to draw... - Come on, sit down.
You want to draw something?
Ah, Byron, stop biting the table.
This going to be my fighter right here. Come here.
Come on. Come on.
Fight.
You don't want to fight me? Come on, let's fight.
Hit me.
Get him, Byron, get him.
He going to be my little fighter though. For sure.
- Give me five. - Pow. Bam, bam, bam.
Bam!
We gon' let them know that we are one.
Enough is enough.
We are one.
We are one! We are one!
Say it louder. - We are one.
I mean, we lost another good brother.
I heard he was starting school on Monday,
I mean, going to college. This ain't right, man.
We just, we gotta show, we gotta show our love out here. We got to.
We are one.
We want justice for Mike Mike, Big Mike, Michael Brown. Y'all hear me?
He got stopped walking, the same way I got stopped.
From the time I was in junior high.
That was my first experience. I was 13 years old.
And that dude was walking down the street doing nothing.
They say he tried to yank away from him.
They shot him one time, that's a warning shot.
Other than that, no need to shoot no more.
He put his hands up 'cause he felt he had no other chance.
He was gonna get shot if he kept running.
I want everybody to put their hands up. This the way we'll be all day long.
- Put your hands all the way up. - Put your hands up!
I want your hands all the way up
because this how he was when he got shot.
- Yeah! - When he got assassinated.
When he got executed.
This how he was. So, we gotta do it like this.
Let's keep it real. Okay?
The police department wanna come out here and cover up something
that one of their law enforcements did, man.
Then you come out here and you wanna sic the dogs on us, you know.
It's time for us to unite, man.
Say it loud! I'm black and I'm proud.
- Say it loud! - I'm black and I'm proud.
- No justice. - No peace.
Protest. They got the police out here.
We tax paying citizens, they bring out fucking K-9s.
- Y'all supposed to protect and serve, not kill. - No fear.
Keep going. No fear.
Keep going. Hands up brother. Hands up.
We want answers.
We want answers. We want answers.
You know, we not just here just to be ranting and raving.
We want to talk about this issue.
Remember, y'all stood for this.
You, you, you, you. Y'all stood for this.
I don't want y'all killing my child because she walked out the door,
y'all having a bad day, "Move out the way, motherfucker."
The constant denial of our humanity by not even looking us in the eye.
You killed a boy, you have to answer for that.
You don't just get to shut yourself in an office.
Put your hands up. Put your hands up. Put your hands up!
Don't shoot.
The chants kept people energized. It kept them going.
It actually kept them feeling like there was actually a direction.
Here we go.
- No justice, no peace. - Say what?
No justice, no peace.
We are marching on West Florrisant
towards the police barricade in Ferguson.
Police fired a warning shot.
A flare up.
Needlessly provoking the crowd.
It got those young brothers and sisters riled up.
They weren't riled up before then. They was out there,
they was mad, they was upset but they weren't doing anything.
It just set them off.
Don't shoot. Don't shoot. Don't shoot. Don't shoot.
There was no fear in the heart of people anymore.
This is the military police.
This is not the police from our hood.
We're trying to mourn and you came here with 300 cop cars,
in riot gear and K-9 units.
This is the same thing that pretty much got us here.
We here.
We here. They ready to drop the teargas, man.
We our keepers.
We got to be our own keepers.
We got to love one another.
Murderers!
They down there...
Goddamn, shit.
And that's how you know it's time to go.
People are doing 90. Shit.
L.A. 1992, this is so sad, man.
This is so fucking sad.
We're walking up on the barricade now.
I don't even think I can count the number of police vehicles out here.
This fucking breaks my heart.
Ahhh. Okay.
I'm trying to walk around... trying to walk around
this way because my car is over there.
I'm genuinely trying to get back to my car.
You have to walk all the way down that way until all the police end,
cross the street...
So, you gonna send me where it's dangerous and people are rioting and looting,
when I'm trying to walk in police presence to get back to safety?
- You shouldn't have come here. - I shouldn't have come here?
- I have a right to be wherever I am. - You're correct.
So to tell me I shouldn't have come here, that's the attitude
that got them doing what they doing.
That's not helpful, officer Neff.
How ridiculous. Now I'm mad, ha.
We about to get out of here. They got on gas masks.
You know what that means.
- They coming now. - Here they come. There they go.
Woohoo! St. Louis West side, what it do.
We had a peaceful protest over there the whole day.
Candlelight vigil over there, you know,
but that ain't the story that you hear about August 10th.
We begin in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson.
Police are calling for calm this morning after a night of looting and fires.
This all started when what was supposed to be a very peaceful
vigil tonight for Michael Brown turned into this.
Teams of thieves using the protest as an excuse
to steal jeans, shoes, and expensive tire rims.
The Quik Trip was broken into. The glass was busted out.
Details surrounding the shooting that sparked this fire, in great debate.
At ground zero, police painted over threatening graffiti.
And as sundown approaches, officials are fearful of another night of looting and violence.
They say that a building burning is worse than a black person getting shot,
right, because this building serviced white people and this black body did not.
A building's a building. You can rebuild a building.
You can't resuscitate a life after it lies on the ground
for four and a half hours with eight bullets in it.
Um, and so, I don't consider that violence, right, like...
I consider that a righteous nonviolent direct action.
The question that solidifies violence to me are...
were there any people harmed?
Did any people die?
Like that qualifies violence.
A building is a building.
That's a revolutionary act.
That's strategic.
They don't tell you the fact that the police showed up
to a peaceful candlelight vigil of just a bunch of people
holding up candles 'cause they hurting and boxed them in
and forced them onto a Quik Trip lot.
They put property over people and say we got a problem
in St. Louis because a Quik Trip burned down.
But ain't no alchemist, no doctor,
no wizard on this planet can bring back Mike Brown, Jr.
I'm a mother of five.
I'm a grandmother of five.
That mother lost her child.
If we don't come together now, when?
And for the ones who have they feet on people's necks,
when do you feel like enough is enough?
'Cause you gotta know that when you keep pushing somebody up
in the corner they gonna come out swinging.
Well, we swinging.
No more of our sons.
No more of our sons. No more.
Tell them don't shoot, hands up.
And that's when the protesters was just in the streets like,
"Hell no, we ain't going nowhere."
You know, we was occupying the streets that we paid for.
I was just blown away by the sense of community.
Black, white, everyone coming together for this common cause.
People from the black middle class,
people from the hood driving by honking their horns.
Supportive. I get chills just thinking of it now.
A lot of people didn't do it justice when they put it on their timeline.
'Cause when you in the heart of it,
you get to see faces and you get to feel that black love.
There they go.
Here they come.
Don't shoot.
You are unlawfully assembled.
You need to disperse immediately
or you will be subject to arrest.
Do it now.
Hands up.
Shoot, man, we put our hands up. What's good, man?
We got our hands up, we ain't did nothing.
We retreating and you still shooting.
- Get the fuck out of here! - We retreating, you still shooting.
Move it along. Keep it going.
You ain't gon' out shoot them.
It sound good, it feel good,
it look good, but you ain't gon' out shoot them.
They got more jails, they got more guns,
they got more bullets.
So, you not gon' win that battle, man.
You know somebody that got a sound system, get on the phone and call them.
You know somebody that got a car they can carpool somebody to a meeting or to a rally, do that.
You know, that's progressive. That's progress.
That's positive, but burning down Quick Trip
ain't gon' get us nowhere but them with more guns in our face,
shooting more of our kids.
Understand what I'm saying?
Right now is the time for us to influence the people
who don't think like we think.
Have the right conversations.
Use your social media.
I'm telling you, I got on Twitter yesterday and got to work, man.
Use these things the right way.
What we gon' do? Where we gon' meet at?
- What's good? - Okay?
Feel me?
Let's do it the right way, man.
Let's influence the world right now.
We got the stage, so let's do it. This is it.
You want to know what it look like, what it sound like, what it feel like?
This is it.
Okay. Here's a t-shirt,
uniform skirt, long socks.
Get dressed.
Put some deodorant on.
- Cover your mouth. - Your mouth.
- It's your mouth. Turn around. - Your mouth.
You're gonna come home and you're gonna get three pages done.
Three pages of homework done.
No.
Uh-uh. I don't wanna hear it because yesterday you sat down and you watched TV all morning.
You didn't lift a finger.
Yesterday? What?
You didn't lift a finger to do any page of homework.
I was thinking about it.
I ran out of time, because I was going to do it after dinner.
- Those are called excuses. - How are they excuses?
'Cause they are.
Kenna, she was six when the movement first started.
Day one, she was with me.
There were a lot of questions about why we were out there
and it was my opportunity to educate her on how things have never
been right for black folks in America and this is just another
example of that and this is what we have to do.
I dropped out of school for a whole semester
and it set my graduation date back six months.
So many opportunities were lined up.
My professional network was large.
Soon as something happens and I feel like my community is at war,
I'm like to hell with all of that.
None of that matters for me anymore.
Fine, I don't want a kiss.
Get out.
Nope.
Get your backpack. Nope, nope.
Get out.
Love you. Have a good day.
- Five works. - I want you to come in.
I have to go do something.
Go.
I'll come see you today at lunch time.
Lunch.
Enjoy.
Have a good day.
I want her to think for herself.
To resist and participate in democracy, that is your right,
and that cannot be taken away from you.
Renewed anxiety after Ferguson police announced the name of
the officer involved in the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown.
The officer that was involved in the shooting of Michael Brown was Darren Wilson.
But it was the release of documents and surveillance video
that shows what investigators called a strong-arm robbery of
a box of cigars in the day of the fatal confrontation.
What are you saying, chief?
Did he, did he know that he was a suspect in a case or did he not know?
No, he didn't. He was walking...
It had nothing to do with the stop...
Because they were walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic. That was it.
Six days to get that lie together and it still ain't working.
They full of it.
All of them over there at Ferguson.
All evidence seems to suggest he was killed in cold blood
and to come down here and to not release any information,
any incident report on the murder,
but release information about, "Well, Mike maybe wasn't the perfect guy," is appalling.
Hands up, don't shoot. Hands up, don't shoot.
You must disperse immediately or be subject to arrest.
It's our right to protest and we don't have weapons.
Why you got guns pointed at us?
I went to school in the West Bank.
I saw the checkpoints come up
and I saw that the tanks were out there.
I didn't see no difference between the West Bank and Ferguson.
Just to know that like 5:00 in the afternoon you see police
with M16s strapped across their bodies asking you for an ID
to see if you even live in this area and it's just like
you don't even live in this area.
Like how are you gonna keep me out.
In a peaceful manner, you must disperse.
Just listen to what he said. Step back.
We don't need you in jail, little brother.
We need you out here.
- Leave the area. - We don't need you in jail.
- Return to your vehicles. - Your family needs you.
Return to your homes. This is not open for discussion.
You gon' shoot me too?
We are literally on our knees with our hands in the air
and we could see red dots, like flicking through the crowd.
There's this red dot going across someone's forehead
and there's a red dot going across someone's chest.
Look at how everybody's out here, hands up.
Peaceful.
Signs.
That's all they got are signs
and look what the fuck they got...
- Don't touch me. - Let her go.
Let me go.
People like picked up teargas and I was like, yeah, I'm one of them.
Like my hand, like, I don't think I have like fingerprints on my, like, fingers and stuff.
But after a while, you like, if I'm gonna die,
I'm gonna die for a real reason today.
- Go on, man! - Go, go, get inside.
Our hands are up and they are marching toward us.
We in our yard.
Uh-huh. See.
Davion.
Oh, God.
This my shit.
- Go on with that bullshit. - Hey, De. Hey, De.
- Let's go. - No fuck that shit. This my shit.
This my shit.
We know what it is. This my shit.
- Let's go. Let's go. - No, fuck that shit.
- Davion. - This my shit.
Hurry up, go get in the house.
- What is that? - This right here?
This is some kind of shotgun shell that they shot.
I got a bunch of different stuff.
These are the big rubber bullets that they shot.
I don't know how this thing comes out or something,
but it comes out real fast and it hurts, it's huge.
This is a CS smoke canister.
You pull the pin and throw it and it explodes,
blows up and then lets the stuff out of here.
This is made in Jamestown, Pennsylvania.
Uh...
Oh, this is another form of a CS.
Sometimes you'll get hit by it and don't feel nothing
and then go get in the shower.
When water touches it, then it'll activate it.
Burns.
It's just a bad feeling.
This was empty, no name on it.
I think this was a teargas canister.
Something that got shot out of a gun and then just releases gas
out of holes, like...
- All of this is chemical warfare. - Chemical munitions.
Yeah. That you are not supposed to be able to use on US soil.
She got teargassed.
Mm-hmm. In her stomach.
She was in jail.
Um, what else?
That's pretty much it.
She slept in a tent.
Oh yeah.
Slept in a tent.
...last night, where after hours of peaceful protesting,
small groups took to the streets with intent of committing crimes
and endangering citizens.
That is unacceptable.
So, to protect the people and property of Ferguson today,
I am signing an order declaring a state of emergency
and ordering the implementation of a curfew in the impacted area of Ferguson.
We cannot have looting and crime at night.
We can't have people fearful...
We can't have police officers killing people.
Governor, my question is, how do you plan to enforce the curfew?
Tonight we will enforce that curfew.
We won't enforce it with trucks.
We won't enforce it with teargas.
- Thank you. - We'll communicate.
We'll talk about, you know what, it's time to go home.
- Thank you. - It's time to go home.
If you have not seen a hand-in-hand approach last night
some things were different and precipitated that and you saw that.
You saw that. But I can tell you because someone's standing in the street,
there's not going to be an armored truck coming out.
You saw people sitting in the street and they got a chance to get up.
And that's the way it's going to continue.
Thank you.
This ain't fucking Iraq. This is not Iraq.
This is St. Louis.
So, don't tell us you're going to fucking shoot us, okay.
Don't fucking tell us you're going to shoot us.
We are not in fucking Iraq.
This is fucking North County.
You guys are the aggressors.
You guys are the ones that pushed us.
There was a 12 o'clock curfew.
There was a fucking 12 o'clock curfew.
It is 10:33.
What the fuck happened?
The last days of the Ferguson Police Department
we are witnessing it.
Your silence is consent.
You are just as wicked as the police officer
that shot Michael Brown
because you didn't say nothing, and you know he shot him for absolutely nothing.
So, call your tanks, call your armored vehicles.
Do what you gotta do but we ain't going nowhere.
Nowhere, every night.
Missouri governor, Jay Nixon, activated the National Guard
after declaring a state of emergency in Ferguson and in a statement,
he said the guards mission will be "limited".
When Jay Nixon brought the National Guard in,
I like... incre...
I just... I don't like...
As a Marine, it hurt my feelings for real, man,
to see the National Guard,
these guys like little brothers, man...
With respect to the National Guard I think it's important just to remember
this was a state activated National Guard
so it's under the charge of the governor.
This is not something that, uh,
we initiated at the federal level.
These are issues of local jurisdiction and I've gotta make sure
that I don't look like I'm putting my thumb on the scales one way or the other.
Let me ask you, this is a...
I'm waiting on me to have a black president,
I still ain't had me one.
And didn't he teach constitutional law, at Harvard?
Wasn't he a constitutional professor?
Ain't no constitution in Ferguson,
so tell that nigga he need to teach a new class,
or bring is ass to Ferguson Burger Bar and figure out why we ain't got no constitution.
Holy....
See they're media too.
We gonna go up the street.
They're pushing us in. They're pushing us in.
They just shot... started shooting teargas down at the other end by McDonald's,
right by the media and now they're pushing us in.
You can see people running.
- Fuck. - Fuck.
Erica. Eri...
Good evening, the images from this weekend of violence in the streets, stores being looted.
Crowds of people breaking into stores along West Florissant overnight.
The police chief of St. Louis County told the reporters
the violence is destroying this city.
You see bottles of booze come out.
A lot of open containers.
You see people smoking a little dope.
And I hate to keep bringing that up every night,
but it really does become part of the mix.
My mother used to tell me nothing good ever happens after midnight.
It was obvious military tactics.
Come in, cut off they communications.
Round them up, you know what I'm saying.
You ready?
No, come on man don't do that. Come on, don't do that.
- Don't do it. - Fuck. Fuck.
Then, once we got them under control, have the news people,
have a combat photographer come in and say like, hey, look they going crazy.
Yeah, they going crazy because we just cut off they communications
and shot a couple of them.
Don't shoot!
And then, later on, everything calm and all that
and then everybody home like, oh, hey, they rounded up the insurgents.
We in they country, how are they insurgents?
You know what I'm saying?
That's what was going on in Ferguson, man.
This way. This way. They fucking throwing teargas at us.
Here they go.
Fucking throwing teargas at us.
Get back. Where the fucking cameras at now besides ours?
Y'all got all them fuckers stealing rims and shit.
KSDK, KMOV, CNN, MSNBC.
I'm calling all you motherfuckers out. Where y'all at now?
It's six o'clock in the morning.
Please get this.
His mama finna...
Damn, they gon' tear our neighborhood up now.
Where the fire department at?
- There's no fire extinguisher? - No.
Who made the call?
Who made the call? Did somebody call and say there was a fire?
Don't worry about it, it's going right back up.
It'll be right back up tonight.
Don't even worry about it y'all let them know that.
I'll be out here next time. Don't worry about it.
Motherfuckers gon' have to set me on fire.
And y'all tell them.
Because y'all know 'em. I know y'all do.
Stop being fucking cowards, man.
Y'all did that. That's wrong.
Y'all did that shit to him!
That's wrong!
- This is bull man. You know I'm... - Listen, listen.
Y'all burnt that man shit up.
No, I don't care.
No, that's wrong, y'all shouldn't touch his shit, that's wrong.
Man, the police did that shit! They burnt that man shit up.
The fuck wrong with y'all?
Ain't gon' be no peace now.
It was clear that it was, it was set with gasoline
because a lot of that stuff was pretty wet.
There was water on a lot of that stuff from the morning dew and what have you.
When Ferguson Fire Department showed up on scene...
they came, they put the fire out and then after the fire was put out, uh,
they got back in the fire truck and they left and the police followed them.
There was no investigation to see how this fire was started.
And like I said, I just thank everybody for everything they're doing
and just say keep fighting.
You know, because we only lose when we stop fighting.
You know, so, that's all I got to say.
This was actually the first camera that I got when I first started cop watching.
I just put my stickers on it, you know.
Put a picture on my camera so when the police look
and they can see that Copwatch sticker on there.
Got some walkie talkies, this two of them for me.
So, when I leave I give one to my wife.
So, the cops don't come in Canfield, like, no more doing none of that crap.
They do stranger stuff and that's because we done changed,
we made them change what they doing.
That's all I want.
You know, don't give them an opportunity to gun somebody down in the street.
Be out there to watch them.
I don't go out with no weapons or nothing like that.
I go out with my camera. That's my weapon, you know,
and the fact is that since the police are not being held accountable,
we have to hold them accountable.
- I wanna go. - You wanna go?
- Go. Daddy... - Sorry.
- ...I wanna go. - You can't go.
Daddy.
- Huh? - I wanna go.
I'm sorry, you can't go.
Daddy gotta go do work, man.
Okay? Come here.
Daddy gotta go do work, man.
I'm sorry.
Daddy sorry.
All right? We can hang out later, okay?
Uh-oh.
- All right? - Okay.
- Okay? - Okay.
Uh-oh.
Watch out, son, let me get out this door.
Excuse me.
I'll be back.
- Okay. - Okay.
No matter what, I still kind of love my father
even though he wasn't there for me when I was coming up.
My dad called me, man, when all this was going on.
He said he seen me on TV and he was like, man,
and he said he was proud of me, man.
And I can't remember my dad ever telling me...
- Tell you he was... - ...he was proud of me.
- So that was a big deal. - That's what's up.
And I was, I was happy, you know.
Yeah.
I grew up in this shit.
The cops beat me up before.
Like... police rolled up on me on the street, man.
Snatched me up in they car and yeah, beat me up.
They shoot and kill somebody every year.
I was living out there, what, six, seven years.
That shit crazy.
Yeah.
I ain't never have a record before I moved into Ferguson.
I moved to Ferguson when I was like 20.
Now my record longer than my goddamn leg.
I'm like, this shit's stupid.
Good afternoon.
We are here today to announce the latest steps
from the Justice Department's ongoing efforts
to address the situation in Ferguson, Missouri.
We have determined that there is a cause,
there's cause for the Justice Department to open an investigation
to determine whether Ferguson Police officials have engaged in a pattern or practice
of violations of the United States constitution or federal law.
Anybody growing up here you tangibly know when you crossing the county line
that you gotta drive a little differently.
Your behavior changes because you know how policing changes.
I'm crawling out here.
I'm barely doing 30.
Florissant alone last year made $3 million off just traffic tickets.
This how they do, you go up to court and he'll be like,
okay, you ain't got no money, go back to jail until next week.
And that's called a debtor's prison and its unconstitutional
and criminal by nature, but they still do it
and they do it publicly without no accountability,
without no questions asked. Nothing. It's just the norm.
And I got like four sets of tickets right now that are totaling up to about $2,000.
A girl named Kiana, she said she had a job.
She had some tickets when she was like 17,
from when she first started driving.
Her fines was like $2,000.
They locked her up for 14 days.
Lost her job, became homeless.
Homeless for two and a half years.
All them nights you sit in jail when you just got time to think about and think about it.
Come August 9th there's a whole thousands of people in the streets, same problem.
Same result.
Same anger.
Yeah, I ain't never gonna call the police again.
Remove yourself from the street.
Any violations will result in arrest.
We ready.
We ready for y'all.
- Say what? - We ready.
What?
We ready, we ready for y'all.
...the sidewalk.
We need you to go to the sidewalk.
We are human.
- We are willing to go to jail. - It's going down on your watch.
- But treat us like humans and not like animals. - Don't look down.
Don't beat us like dogs when you do arrest us.
I ain't letting nothing, I ain't letting none of y'all...
We will continue to fight for our rights.
Link up.
We are human. We are human.
We will continue to fight for what we believe in.
Show me what democracy looks like.
This is what democracy looks like.
Show me what democracy looks like.
The ultimate justice is that this police department is gone.
There is no more Ferguson Police Department.
Past an indictment. Past a conviction.
They need to be gone. We're sick of it.
We're tired.
There's no denying that we are unmoved.
It's no denying it.
You either join it or you stay home.
You either for it or you against it.
It's simple as that.
And if you're against it, don't come.
If you come and you're for it, be with us.
March with us. Chant with us.
- Stand with us. - We're not going anywhere.
We're not going anywhere.
Everybody else can join this shit. You know what I'm saying?
Like, this is a group of people, we don't talk every, every day,
you know what I mean?
We came out here and we stood up for our rights,
and anybody can do that.
What is your message to a national audience?
My message, my message personally, my message is,
it's been 52 days and I've spent more time in jail
than Darren Wilson.
- That's my message. - That's our message.
- I love black people. - Yes, I love black people.
We love black people. We love humans.
- We doing this for you. - We doing this for you.
Excuse me, excuse me. What's your name?
You going to turn me down on camera?
What's your name?
Where were you at?
MoKaBe's.
I'm forever indebted to Mike Brown because of him,
along with Brittany, they saved my life.
I was in a car accident two years ago.
Worst day of my life.
Um, I lost my dad.
Lost my uncle.
And I was the only one who made it out of this car accident.
I went through serious depression for a long time.
For almost, for over a year.
Somebody handed me a bullhorn one day and that was it.
I just had a different type of passion.
Then I met her, I met Brittany
and that just offset everything.
Like, you know what I'm saying?
The sun it kind of burned a little bit when I was in it too long.
Water tasted different, like, you know what I'm saying?
Like, its real like it's not even an exaggeration.
Like, food tasted different. You know what I'm saying?
I could actually feel, like, when people touched me.
I just didn't feel like I was going through the motions.
I didn't feel like I was just, like, surviving.
I didn't feel like I was just making it through the day. You know what I'm saying?
I actually felt like I had something to live for.
You know what I'm saying? That I had some type of purpose.
You gotta get on your right or left knee.
You get on the right, you usually get on the right...
Oh, I got a bad knee.
So, that means you have to say yes to marrying me.
So, Brittany Lynn Farrell, will you marry me?
- Yes. - You gotta put it on, bruh.
Give me your finger, bruh.
Which one is it? This one?
Can I get up?
I'm married.
Loving a black woman has to be one of the most beautiful things
I've ever done next to bringing a life in this world.
I think about it every single day.
It is one of the best decisions I've made.
Love, love, love. Revolutionary love, love, love.
♪ Now, I can't pledge allegiance To your flag ♪
♪ Cause I can't find no Reconciliation with your past ♪
♪ When there was nothing equal For my people in your math ♪
♪ You forced us in the ghetto And then you took our dads ♪
♪ Swim inside the river Get delivered from the craft ♪
♪ Of the witches In this business... ♪
- What's up, boo? - Hi.
- How was school? - I had a great day today.
- Oh, you did? - I had a awesome day.
Mm-hmm.
- How was your behavior? - It was great.
Okay.
Can you, can you take me to the talent show?
- When is the talent show, Kenna? - I don't know.
I got to look at the paper.
March 31st.
Its 6:30 to 8 PM.
Is that your day, is that our day with you?
I think so.
I just challenge these ideas of normality.
You have your normal family.
Your normal family is a heterosexual couple
with some children.
Why is it that you not questioning this new normal of
single parent households since you so for the family?
You know, if your normal is limited opportunities for people of color,
why aren't you questioning that normal?
If that normal is 18-year-old teenager laying in the street for four hours...
but that's your normal, right?
Everybody wants things to be normal.
I feel like, if you are not questioning normal
you are not paying attention.
Vonderrit was killed October 8, 2014.
It reenergized us in a way.
- Whose block? - Droop block.
Whose block?
It brought people together and out in the street to disrupt.
We did not choose this life.
We have to make change.
We have to I'm telling you because if we don't,
it's going to happen again.
It's going to continue to happen.
If you can hear me, clap three times.
If you can hear me, clap two times.
If you can hear me, clap once.
All right.
If you doing Copwatch trainings,
if you doing people's assembly, if you doing a rally,
if you doing a disruption, fill the map up.
Disruption is about not stopping.
Meaning, we got to fight back, but you got to resist.
You got to cut the strings that government's actually putting on us.
You gotta cut the strings that those police officers are afraid of.
If we don't do it, if we let it die,
it's our fault if this transformation don't happen.
We realized if this is really gonna be and get at the issue for real,
we gotta create a space for people to come in.
And that was the birth of what became Ferguson October.
We turn to Ferguson, Missouri
where activists are calling on people
to join them this weekend for a national protest
against police bias and violence.
What we're going to see this weekend is a massive show of force
by peaceful demonstrators coming from all over the country,
all over the world possibly.
All across the US, people was watching St. Louis,
watching Ferguson.
Come and sacrifice your body, you know.
It's the moment.
- Hands up. - Don't shoot.
My life matters. My life matters.
Thank you, thank you. I am so inspired. This is beautiful, y'all.
We just want to thank you for coming out.
Let me just get like a hand clap,
how many of you guys got the real deal from Twitter?
When everything is going down, how many of you guys got the real deal?
We're gonna show Twitter how beautiful this is right now.
We're gonna take a selfie with the crowd.
We're gonna hashtag it Ferguson October and we want to make this trend around the world
and show the world how we came out for our community today.
Good... and real.
Thou shall not kill.
Oh, say can you see a generation of young people that are saying
to this community,
we will transform this racial background
into a pristine playground where all of God's children can laugh, play, and sing.
Red, yellow, black, brown, or white we are all, all, all,
all precious in God's sight.
If you took a selfie of social justice when you might find
and when you realize that here in Ferguson, Missouri
is that we have a society,
we have a nation that is over incarcerated and under educated.
If you took a selfie of social justice.
If you took a selfie of social justice what we would conclude is -
- It's some bullshit. - Let them speak.
Let them speak. Let them speak.
Let them speak.
This is what democracy looks like.
Show me what democracy looks like.
This is what democracy looks like.
Show me what democracy looks like.
This is what democracy looks like.
Show me what democracy looks like.
This is what democracy looks like.
We been at this for 65 days and counting.
We ain't got no answers for nothing.
All the stuff that y'all saw on CNN... we ain't need CNN for that
cause we got off our ass and went there and talk to Pookie and Ray-Ray
that live in Canfield and found out what happened.
I didn't need MSNBC.
Darnell told me he died with his hands up.
So, I believe Darnell.
I don't need Don Lemon to confirm what happened
cause I'm there.
Cause I'm there.
The people who want to take the time to break down racism
y'all did not show up.
When the tanks and the armored trucks was there
and the teargas was there
and we was getting hit with the rubber bullets
and we said, you know what, I can't stay home for this.
They killing us.
Missouri is the new Mississippi.
Its people I thought that I just knew we could rely on
in these situations and we couldn't rely on them
and it broke my heart, man.
It broke my heart.
get up off your ass and join us.
When there was an armored vehicle on West Florissant
wasn't none of y'all there, man.
Wasn't none of y'all there.
Not one.
And at this point, I don't care about nobody opinion about what we doing.
I don't care about how it look. It ain't made for TV.
This ain't your daddy's civil rights movement.
And they wanna know, they wanna know when we going to go in the house,
we ain't never going back in the damn house.
So, you take that.
You take that.
And Imma tell the police this.
Imma tell the police this, you can take all the pictures you want,
you can record all the conversations you want,
you can document all the tweets you want, you can, you can Photoshop whatever...
Do what you gotta do cause we going to do what we gotta do.
♪ Hell you talking 'bout? Hell you talmbout ♪
♪ Fight back ♪
♪ Don't shoot ♪
♪ Hell you talking 'bout? ♪
♪ Fight back ♪
♪ Hell you talking 'bout? ♪
♪ Hell you talmbout? ♪
♪ Hell you talking 'bout? ♪
♪ Hell you talmbout? ♪
♪ Michael Brown, say his name ♪
♪ Michael Brown, Won't you say his name ♪
♪ Say his name Say his name ♪
♪ Say his name Won't you say his name ♪
♪ Hell you talkin' bout? Hell you talmbout? ♪
It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
It is our duty to win.
We must love and support each other.
We have nothing to lose but our chains.
- Whose streets? - Our streets.
- Whose Streets? - Our streets.
- Whose streets? - Our streets.
They going to take it down on his birthday, man.
That's fucked up, man.
And they got all these motherfuckers out here
with these cameras, man, to film this, man.
They removing the stuff and they loading it in a trailer right now.
God, man.
The real community is really, like, not feeling what they doing.
You know what I mean? I mean...
They having some little speech or some talk over there.
Hey, look, man, don't set that camera up, dog.
Please don't, man. Look, I live here.
Don't set that camera up, man.
Y'all not filming none of this, man.
Man, I ain't trying to talk to nobody.
Look, y'all not filming...
y'all cameras down here at this memorial today.
We not doing that, man. I don't care, man.
Look, and I'm tired of compromising with everybody
cause ain't nobody came down here to Canfield, talked to the residents.
I been out in this street.
- I talk to my community. - You think I don't know that?
No, you don't know how much shit we went through,
kicking mainstream media out of here and y'all bringing them back down.
And the fact that they removing the memorial and got mainstream media down here.
That's two in a one.
It's like, dog, you trying to take away our shit
and you going to allow them to broadcast that shit on national TV.
I gotta fucking live here when they leave.
I agree.
And that shit that happens after that shit happens, affects us, man.
And I'm getting my family out of here.
The day that the memorial had got taken up,
the security grabbed me up and security dude got his arm in my back like on the ground.
And so, he came back and he told me he was like, yeah, man,
they tried to get me to lie and make up a story on you.
And he was telling me... he was like, yeah, man,
they been paying them guys to come and take that stuff from the memorial
and they was like it's the Lipton Company that's paying them to do it.
And it's like they was taking it every day.
Where is my paper at?
I got a summons to go to court and everything.
They trying to sue me, man.
I was supposed to be gone, like, about two months ago
and they didn't give me no explanation of why they, uh,
why they going to, uh,
why they not going to renew my lease.
I been living here two years already now.
I ain't got no complaints and now you not going to renew my lease
and when I ask them they say, you know, it was a corporate decision, you know.
No matter how much I put into the preservation of that memorial,
I still ain't build it, the people did.
That in itself is, like, how you fight back for space...
like we fighting for our space, like, right here.
Keep it going. All right.
There you go.
Justice.
This is public property. The community has spoken.
The community said this is what we want.
- Okay. - Okay?
The grandmother and the mother want this memorial to continue.
So, let's be their voices.
Let's honor them and keep it moving.
I'm a resident that stay up here in Canfield
and just like a lot of the residents that's been still here,
we been making sure this memorial is still here.
And that them police ain't been able to come through and take it.
I'm out here with my family, you know what I'm saying,
because I don't want my child to be killed by cops
cause that'll kill me.
And I rather die, man, before my kid die, man.
So, let them kill me first.
And we out here for y'all, you know.
And we want, like she said, man, y'all come back out here.
Bring some teddy bears, let's build this back up.
Keep that memorial going on that grass.
This is public property.
You keep it going.
Be relentless. We are warriors. Okay.
One, two, three.
I'm gonna take a deep breath cause I actually feel like I'm in a panic.
Why?
- What does this say, mama? - What does it say?
- I don't know. - Read it.
- Rackims... - Ray...
Rasums kills.
Racism.
Black lives matter.
Racism kills.
Which one's your favorite?
Is it... it is our duty to fight for our freedom?
- No. - Which one?
I don't like that one.
The Assata chant is not your favorite.
- I am just hurt. - Why?
I'm kidding. That's my favorite one.
As time went by, the more involved that I got,
the nights... the late nights I spent on West Florissant or South Florissant,
the gas masks, the bullet proof vests,
the more dangerous it got for us,
the more emotionally involved she got into it
because she would be afraid that the police is gonna shoot me.
Or she would be afraid that I wouldn't come home, you know?
I caught her crying in the bathtub one day because she said,
What if the police shoot you and killed you like they shot Mike Brown?
I can't make her feel like that could not be a reality
but I have to reassure her that, you know,
I do this work for her and for other children like her because
Mike Brown shouldn't be dead right now.
The only thing I have to say to you guys really is
we just live here and this is our home.
I don't want to be a part of the problem here.
I don't want to have to defend my home, my family,
but by gosh, I'm ready to do it.
And that's... two years ago if you'd told me I'd own guns...
I'd have laughed hysterically.
And that's the way a lot of us live is in fear.
We live in fear of this whole situation.
Good evening, my name is Bernie Frazier.
And like all of you all, I'm a Ferguson resident.
There are a lot of people in Ferguson who have become
very fearful of living in this community.
But I would like to help you understand one thing.
There are many people who only have only been fearful for two months.
There are more people who've been fearful for two decades.
Please don't shoot me dead, I got my hands on my head.
What?
Please don't shoot me dead, I got my hands on my head.
What?
Please don't shoot me dead, I got my hands on my head.
What?
Please don't shoot me dead, I got my hands on my head.
What?
Please don't shoot me dead, I got my hands on my head.
What?
Please don't shoot me dead, I got my hands...
We're people. We're not animals. We're not dogs.
We're not criminals. We human beings.
We bleed just like you do. We breathe just like you do.
We wake up and go to work and punch the clock just like you do.
Give us what we deserve.
How can we respect the red, white, and blue when every time we see red, white, and blue
we being harassed, killed, assaulted, or our lives ruined?
We want an indictment.
We know you do.
You ain't gotta protect her from us...
We want an indictment.
...we gotta protect her from you.
We feel for you, sister.
We want an indictment.
These cops don't like it.
We want an indictment.
The argument around this gotta be,
do we need police in the current institute.
We gotta talk about policing as an institution
and it's a failed institution.
I'm thinking about these young knuckle heads out here.
They going to go crazy, man. And they going wild over
materialistic things that ain't going to get you out of poverty.
- Because they poor. - That's, that's...
all this is learned behavior.
Well, why rob somebody that you know ain't got shit?
- Cause you don't value... - Like that don't make no sense.
Same way...
You gonna rob me and you know all I got is five dollars in my pocket just like you.
So, it don't make no sense to even do what you doing down here.
Cause we ain't got shit. I'm in the same hood as you.
I get up and go to work every day.
When people not valued, people don't have no value.
And where they going, like, they going to catch the bus to go rob some niggas?
If they ain't got nothing, it's proximity.
It's who closest to you.
We gotta figure out if this person is breaking into my house,
do they need some help?
What kind of help do that person need?
Do they need drug rehabilitation?
Not jail, rehabilitation. Are they hungry?
St. Louis city spent a million dollars in 12 days going out to Ferguson.
You know, our military budget is damn near, what?
Almost a trillion dollars.
Got enough money to feed everybody in the country.
The problem is they want to spend the money on tanks,
teargas, guns, bullet proof vests, and somebody who wanna,
you know, pull up on you over, you know, over a joint.
But I think the problem is we having this conversation
and the people who can be held accountable ain't here.
...Missouri.
Here in the proverbial calm before the storm
as the grand jury here is trying to decide
whether or not to indict officer Darren Wilson.
He is the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed
an unarmed black teen by the name of Mike Brown back on August 9th.
As you likely know the story after that...
Next question.
Hi, governor, thank you.
Given that you've declared the state of emergency
and you've put the highway patrol under unified command,
does the buck ultimately stop with you when it comes to how any protest are policed?
I mean, uh, we're um, you know, it uh...
It uh...
You know I don't spend a tremendous amount of time personalizing this vis-à-vis me.
I, I prefer not to be a commentator on it.
I guess another way of putting that would be, you know,
is there any one official or agency ultimately in charge here in terms of response?
Well, I mean, it... you know we've worked hard,
uh, to establish unified command, to outline our responsibilities
and now with the additional assets provided by my order of
the Missouri National Guard our goal here is to, is to...
you know, keep the peace and allow some folks' voices to be heard.
While the same time the property and persons, person of,
persons of people in the St. Louis region are protected.
Remember peace.
Peace. Peace!
Four and a half minutes of silence.
Y'all when the verdict come out, hands up.
Mike Brown means?
We got to fight back.
Mike Brown means?
- We got to fight back. - Fight back.
- Fight back.
Shh.
Please turn your music down.
Love you, Ms. Lezley.
The jury approaching the stage to give the announcement.
- This is it, y'all, hold it down. - Hold it down!
Good evening.
And thanks for your patience.
Sorry I'm a little late getting up here, so.
But first and foremost,
I'd like to again extend my deepest sympathies to the family of Michael Brown.
As I've said in the past I know that regardless of the circumstances here,
they lost a loved one to violence
and I know that the pain that accompanies such a loss, knows no bounds.
On August 9th, Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson.
The grand jury worked tirelessly to examine and reexamine all of the testimony
and all the physical evidence.
Their burden was to determine probable cause exists to believe
that a crime was committed and that Darren Wilson was the person who committed that crime.
Our investigation and presentation of the evidence
to the grand jury of St. Louis County has been completed.
We've determined that no probable cause exists
to file any charge against Officer Wilson on each of the five indictments...
- It's going to be okay. - Love you, cuz.
We going to get justice. We going to get justice!
I love you, Lezley.
We going to get justice.
Nah. No, no, no.
They killed somebody's son.
That was somebody's child.
- Give her a minute. - Y'all murdered her fucking son!
Fuck that shit. I'll run through this bitch.
You're the only black man, with your fucking hand on your gun.
Everybody is possible to go through the same thing.
Everybody family has went through the same thing
once upon a time or another, of color.
You know what I'm saying?
Everybody done have a person in they family, like, enslaved by this.
You know what I'm saying?
Oh, shit. There it go.
No justice, no peace.
Good evening, everybody.
As all of you know, a few minutes ago the grand jury
deliberating the death of Michael Brown
issued its decision.
There are Americans who agree with it
and there are Americans who are deeply disappointed, even angry.
First and foremost, we are a nation built on the rule of law
and so we need to accept that this decision was the grand jury's to make.
Put your hands up.
They're shooting!
Understand that there's never an excuse for violence,
particularly when they're a lot of people in good will out there
who are willing to work on these issues.
Police beating sticks on the ground, antagonizing people,
calling people niggas and animals and shit.
Then said what you going to do. And left for an hour.
And let people loot and riot.
Darren Wilson's the man who everyone has an opinion about but no one knows.
Mm-hmm.
What's the most important thing you want the American people to know about you right now?
I'm really just a simple guy. That's all I am.
I mean, I do family things.
Um... spend a lot of time at home with the family.
You know, casual events.
We're just simple every day normal people.
A lot of people believe that you're not a simple guy.
You're not someone who was in danger that day.
You shot an unarmed teenager. You're a killer.
You're a racist. How does that hit you?
It hurts. You know, it's... that's not who I am at all.
And all these people making me out to be something I'm not.
All I wanted to do was live.
That moment before the second shot,
you guys are staring at each other and you said there was a look in his eye
like something you'd never seen before.
- Um-hm. - You described it as a demon.
Um-hm.
It was a very, very intense, intense image he was presenting.
- Demon? - Very intense.
And you're convinced that,
anyone who believes that part of you
is motivated by some kind of racial animus,
some kind of racism, they're wrong?
They are wrong.
You can't perform the duties of a police officer and have racism in you.
- We fed up. - We can't take it no more.
- They tricky. - This Darren Wilson.
Tell him to show his Darren Wilson band.
He has on a Darren Wilson bracelet.
It's very evident that we need accountability.
All of these officers come up here and they said their line
that they are commissioned by the St. Louis Police Association
and their manager has on two "I am Darren Wilson" badges.
And to be black in St. Louis
and to see people who are supposed to protect me
wearing things that support someone who killed someone
the same age as my brother is beyond unacceptable.
Good evening, my name is Curtis Bergdorf
and I am a commissioned police officer for the city of St. Louis.
Just a second. Pardon me.
Excuse me. First of all, you do not tell me my function here.
That's right.
Come on, Tef.
- Black power! - This is unacceptable.
- Don't touch me, man. - Man, that's them.
Fuck that, I don't care.
...take turns, fella.
Try to finish this out so they don't win.
I didn't hit not one person.
I didn't hit one person.
I didn't hit one person but I'm getting hit.
I'm getting hit. I ain't hit one fucking person.
That's the same shit we talking about, man.
Same exact shit we talking about.
They get to do whatever they want, man.
Whatever they want.
When all of this is gone, the lights, the cameras,
all of that is gone... I have to live here.
The history that I have between these people and myself
will not be eradicated when this story is not a news story anymore.
This is going to be my reality for a lifetime.
And we still going to protest,
aggressively.
- Whose streets? - Our streets.
...will never be defeated.
The people, united, will never be defeated.
How long you want to hold the freeway for?
- Until. - Until what?
People are here to get arrested. This is an arrestable action.
So, we're holding the line until.
I said Mike Brown means?
We got to fight back.
I said Mike Brown means?
We got to fight back.
Run us over. Run us over.
That's great, we're doing it for these people.
- Link up. - Link up.
We need reinforcements over here.
We need reinforcements.
If you're willing to be arrested...
I called and I told you, you would be getting the fuck arrested.
Get off the fucking hill if you're not here to get arrested.
- Can I have the charges? - What's the charge?
What's the charge? Do we have a charge?
- Do we have a charge? - Why is she being arrested?
- Can you please tell us why she is being arrested?
- Why is she being arrested? - Building's closed.
Um, the building's not closed. This is a public building.
- Why is she being arrested? - Just police.
Just police. You can't come in here.
Why is she being arrested? Why is she being arrested?
St. Louis County Police Headquarters.
Our enemy is directly the police.
There's no buffer between us and the cops.
They know who we are. They got files on all of us.
For all we know, them motherfuckers building
the craziest conspiracy cases against all our black asses.
It never stops. Can't clock out from this shit.
Free Brittany.
Yeah, wassup?
- The people united. - Will never be defeated.
Love you, girl.
It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
It is our duty to win.
We must love and support each other.
We have nothing to lose but our chains.
It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
It is our duty to win.
We must love and support each other.
We have nothing to lose but our chains.
The fact is, is that she tried to run us over.
Those are the facts.
She tried to run at least ten people over.
Right.
Is it any way that we could...
um, fight this whole thing?
Yeah, I think Alexis might have some sort of justification defense.
I don't know if you got one, Brittany, as it pertains to hitting the car.
A reasonable person can understand that you were basically striking the car
to help out the people who were there anyway
and that it wasn't necessarily a malicious act,
it was a act just to, you know, get the woman to stop.
Um, whether or not a jury will believe that,
and enough to exonerate you, I don't know.
Hmm...
You know a St. Louis County jury, I don't know.
- Right. - You know, I don't know.
'Cause they already have their perception on what this movement is and what the protest is.
- I think so. I think so. - Yeah.
I think so.
- Well, we'll see you next time. - Okay.
- All right. - Okay.
Okay. Let's go.
If I ended up with a felony, I don't know what I would do.
Just the anxiety that I have now, I couldn't get out the bed.
Like, I was having panic attacks.
So, I went to the doctor and she put me on a medication.
Like, it was really starting to affect my day-to-day activities.
And I still have work to do.
When I look at the police report,
they really focused on making me look like a villain, you know.
Um...
Let's see...
The female was screaming,
but it seemed more like tribal chanting than words.
The female then kicked her driver side door near the driver's window.
Prior to the female running towards her vehicle,
the protesters were in a line in front of her vehicle.
However, after the female ran to her vehicle
a group of about 20 protesters surrounded
S.M.' s vehicle near the driver and passenger doors.
The protesters started beating the hood of S.M.' s vehicle.
S.M. stated after they kicked her vehicle,
her vehicle was surrounded by the protesters.
She was scared the protesters
would pull her out of her vehicle
and start hitting, kicking, or beating her.
Like this is the narrative of every white person ever.
It's like, oh, in self-defense,
I felt like they were gonna beat me.
So, I don't know.
Yeah, it's some bullshit.
It truly is.
Federal investigators believe
the Ferguson, Missouri Police Department is racially biased.
Officials say the justice department probe
found that Ferguson overwhelmingly charges African Americans
with minor or petty offenses
that cause crippling debt, loss of homes, and jobs.
The city relies on the police force to serve essentially as a collection agency.
CBS News asked Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson
whether his department was biased.
There's not a racial problem in the police department.
A 2008 email by a Ferguson official saying President Obama
would not be in office long because
"what black man holds a steady job for four years."
The city and the police chief Thomas Jackson have agreed to
what they're calling a mutual separation.
Jackson followed city manager John Shaw out the door
and Ronald Brockmeyer, the top judge.
Before that, the city fired its top clerk.
Today, the City Council in Ferguson, Missouri
is expected to vote on a deal to reform that city's criminal justice system.
If it says no, the federal government has promised to sue.
Either choice could cost the city millions of dollars it says it doesn't have.
...especially for black people.
This main argument tonight has been the cost.
Southern plantation owners did not want to free slaves
because the cost would be too high.
If the state can spend at least $11 million to teargas peaceful protesters,
you can surely spend a fraction of that on equality.
Thank you.
I'm no longer a resident of Ferguson.
I live in St. Louis city right now, on the north side.
And that wasn't by choice. I was forced out of Canfield.
Okay.
So many of our residents in the beginning just left because
they didn't feel safe with the police how they been treating people.
So, I think honestly that the Department of Justice
gave you guys a slap on the wrist
seeing as how they just basically gave you guys
a failing record and they basically saying,
okay, this is going to be your punishment.
And then for you to have the option to vote yay or nay
you should be happy.
Hey, man, everybody keep on fighting, man.
That's the only way we going to get them to do something.
Thank you, Mr. Whitt.
You miss your daddy?
I did.
- You miss daddy? - Yeah.
I miss you, Daddy, I miss you.
I miss you too.
Some people grow up in what they think is like a...
what we would call like a real war with, like, planes and bombs
and guns and stuff... but this like a unseen war.
Where they wage war on the people
without anybody else knowing.
This era or generation we are raising activists.
You know, we have to create a generation of activists.
If there's going to be any change, it starts with our children.
And all these people that are about this are gonna start
raising their kids in another way.
And that's where the change gonna come.
Even these little kids that are in elementary school now,
this is becoming a part of their life.
In a few years, its gonna become a lifestyle,
not just what people may call a fad.
It's only been a year and so that we've been doing this.
It's gonna become a lifestyle
where we're fighting for what we want.
Yeah, I saw this interview with Malcolm X he was like,
if you stick a knife nine inches into my back,
you pull it out six inches, that's not progress.
You pull it all the way out, that's still not progress.
The progress starts whenever you begin to heal that wound that you, that you caused.
And what we're doing right now we're laying the ground of
pulling that knife all the way out by rebuilding our communities for our kids.
So that by the time they're of age
to lead this community and make decisions,
they'll be able to start that healing process that Malcolm was describing.
Hey!
What keeps me in the movement?
Um...
It's just this burning desire and vision and feeling
and love and passion and optimism about liberation.
Even though I might not ever live to see
what that really looks like,
I know what it feels like
and it's that feeling that keeps me going.
Has everybody got their candles lit?
Yes, sir.
Just like August 9th was the birth of a movement for us,
this day last year was the rebirth.
And sometimes democracy requires
that we use a little extra force.
So, I'm not mad about what happened on this day a year ago.
What started in the streets of Ferguson has inspired those around the world.
So, I want to say to you, if I get to say one thing it's to stay in this.
Because what we are doing is right.
We are winning.
The reality is these are our streets.
They were built on the backs of our ancestors
so we are going to claim them as long as we want to.
We will stay in the streets until we are equal citizens period.
I really wanna thank y'all for coming out. I love y'all.
This is... we don't do this because we hate the police.
We do this because we love each other.
- Yeah! - That's right.
This movement was born in love and love always wins.
Alexis, come here.
Make some love for her y'all.
Yeah, yeah!
It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
It is our duty to win.
We must love and support each other.
We have nothing to lose but our chains.
It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
It is our duty to win.
We must love and support each other.
We have nothing to lose but our chains.
It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
It is our duty to win.
We must love and support each other.
We have nothing to lose but our chains.
- I said Mike Brown means? - We got to fight back.
- Fight back. - Fight back.
- I said Mike Brown means? - We got to fight back.
- Who shut shit down? - We shut shit down.
- I said whose streets? - Our streets.
- Whose streets? - Our streets.
Whose streets?
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