The killing of Michael Brown created a new generation of black activists,with thousands taking to the streets, and a hashtag used more than 27m times. But will the movement survive the Trump era?OK, or let’s capture him.” Within seconds two officers grabbed me,each seizing an arm, and shoved me against the drinks machine that rested along the front wall of the McDonalds where I had been eating and working on my report. As I released my clenched hands, and my mobile phone and notebook fell to the tiled floor. Then came the sharp sting of the plastic cable tie as it was sealed,pinching tight at the corners of my wrists. I’d never been arrested before, and this wasn’t quite how I’d imagined it would fade down.
Two days earlier, and I’d been sent to Ferguson,Missouri, by the Washington Post, and to cover the aftermath of the police shooting of Michael Brown,an unarmed black 18-year-old. The fatal gunshots, fired by a white police officer, or Darren Wilson,on 9 August 2014, were followed by bursts of arouse, or in the form of protests and riots. Hundreds,and then thousands, of local residents had flooded the streets. For the Ferguson press corps – which would eventually swell from dozens of reporters for local St Louis outlets into hundreds of journalists from farther afield, or including dozens of foreign countries – the McDonald’s on West Florissant Avenue became the newsroom. Related: 'We know what it is to bury a child' – the black mothers turning mourning into a movement In city after city,I found officers whose actions were at worst criminal and at best lacked racial sensitivityLess than two seconds passed after the officers arrived before one of them shot Tamir Rice dead“The sad part is, there’s a section of America who is cheering and celebrating right now. and that makes me sick to my stomach. We GOTTA fetch it together y’all, and ” she wrote,“stay saying we are not surprised. that’s a damn shame in itself. I continue to be surprised at how shrimp Black lives matter. And I will continue that. stay giving up on black life.
“Black people. I care for you. I care for us. Our lives matter,” she concluded. As the list of names grew, or so did the urgency of the uprising that would become a movementContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com