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A grand jury in St. Louis, Missouri has chosen not to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson for the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American teenager. The decision follows three months of deliberation by the jury of nine whites and three blacks, including four hours of testimony from Wilson himself. The grand jury decision set off outrage in Ferguson and communities across the country who see Brown’s killing as part of a wide-scale pattern of police mistreatment of people of color. In a statement, the Brown family said: "We are profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions." We hear from St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch and go to the streets of Ferguson where Amy Goodman interviewed protesters last night.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re broadcasting from just outside the Clayton County Courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri where, on Monday, a grand jury voted not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the killing of unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown. After three months of deliberation that included testimony from Wilson himself, the jury of nine whites and three blacks decided that Wilson should not be tried for any of the criminal charges he faced. Not first-degree murder, not second-degree murder, not voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. Many are questing the timing of the release of the grand jury decision, which came late at night instead of in broad daylight. Soon after the grand jury decision was read, police fired tear gas at protesters in Ferguson. The grand jury decision set off outrage in communities not only throughout St. Louis, but across the country who see Brown’s killing as part of a wide-scale pattern of police mistreatment of people of color.
Here in Ferguson, at least a dozen stores were broken into and burned. A number of businesses burned for hours before firefighters arrived. Sporadic gunfire was heard throughout the night in the Ferguson streets. Police arrested at least 61 people. A large crowd gathered outside the Ferguson Police Department as the grand jury’s decision was announced. The crowd included Michael Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, who broke into tears after hearing Wilson would walk free. In a statement, the Brown family said "We are profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions." The statement continues, "While we understand that many others share our pain, we ask that you channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change." The family has asked for support of the Michael Brown Law, which would ensure police officers wear body cameras. St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch announced the grand jury’s decision here at the Clayton County courthouse Monday night. McCulloch said jurors had found "that no probable cause exists to charge Officer Wilson with any crime."
BOB MCCULLOCH: The duty of the grand jury is to separate fact from fiction. After a full and impartial and critical examination of all the evidence in the law and decide that evidence supported the filing of any criminal charges against Darren Wilson. They accepted and completed as monumental responsibility and conscientious and expeditious manner. It is important to note here that and say again that they are the only people, the only people who have heard and examined every witness and every piece of evidence. They discussed and debated the evidence among themselves before arriving at their collective decision. After their exhaustive review of the evidence, the grand jury deliberated over two days, making their final decision. They determined that no probable cause exists to file any charges against officer Wilson and returned a no true bill on each of the five indictments.
AMY GOODMAN: Bob McCulloch, the prosecutor himself, faced public scrutiny throughout the grand jury investigation, with calls for him to resign over allegations of a pro-police bias and questions raised about an unusual grand jury process that resembled a trial. McCulloch bristled when a reporter asked what message the grand jury’s decision had sent.
REPORTER: Mr. McCulloch, you’re somebody questioned by many members of the community with cases that have happened in the past, so how do you feel making this — announcing this decision and what message do you think it sends to the community that says that they have had numerous members of their community, young, predominantly black males killed by police with impunity, what kind of message do you think this decision says to them?
BOB MCCULLOCH: Well, a much better message than what you are sending, that young men being killed with impunity. They are not being killed with impunity. We look at every case that comes through, and whether they are young black or white men.
REPORTER: I think people looking at this from around the country are going to be struck by the fact that there is not a single law in the state of Missouri that protects and values the life of this young man who unquestionably was shot and killed dead. There is no dispute about that by the police officer. What do you say to people who wonder, is there something wrong with the laws here that allows this to happen? That after this happen says, we just move on, essentially, and this is justice? Is this really justice or is there something wrong with the laws in the state that would say this is OK?
BOB MCCULLOCH: It is another question that, really, I don’t have an answer to that question, that what’s wrong with the law. There are no laws to protect us. Every law out there is to protect the safety of every individual regardless of their age and regardless of their race. And so, if those laws are not working, then we need to work to change them.
AMY GOODMAN: Shortly after the grand jury’s decision was announced, President Obama spoke in a nationally televised address and urged protesters to stay peaceful and police to exercise restraint.
PRES. OBAMA: We need to recognize that this is not just an issue for Ferguson. This is an issue for America. We have made enormous progress in race relations over the course of the past several decades. I have witnessed that in my own life. And to deny that progress, I think, is to deny America’s capacity for change. But, what is also true is that there are still problems and communities of color aren’t just making these problems up.
AMY GOODMAN: There you’ve got the voices of officialdom. Now for the voices from the streets. Democracy Now! is on the ground in Ferguson Monday night as protesters were met by walls of police officers, many in riot gear and heavily armed. The burning and property damage was worst on West Florissant, a strip of largely black-run businesses. The National Guard, heavily touted by the governor? We didn’t see them there. We did see, though, a heavy police presence just blocks away on South Florissant, home to the Ferguson Police Department headquarters. That’s where we began. We’re here on South Florissant. Down the road are fires. Cars are on fire. We’re following a group of protesters. Right now the police in riot gear. We have also seen state troopers are moving in. So, we are going to follow the protesters who are walking down the street.
POLICE OFFICER: Move back! Move back!
AMY GOODMAN: Here is clergy who are talking to the police. They are just shouting "move back!"
POLICE OFFICER: Move back! Move back! Move back!
REV. WALTRINA MIDDLETON: A militarizing force [Indiscernible]
POLICE OFFICER: Move back!
CROWD: Don’t shoot!
POLICE OFFICER: Move back!
CROWD: Don’t shoot!
POLICE OFFICER: Move back!
REV. WALTRINA MIDDLETON: They have a right to assemble. Do not [Indiscernible] people.
POLICE OFFICER: Get out of the street!
PROTESTER: We’re out of the street but where do we go? Where do we go?
POLICE OFFICER: Move back!
POLICE OFFICER: —onto the sidewalk.
REV. WALTRINA MIDDLETON: We were trying to. We were there. They told them to move, and we were told that we could peacefully assemble here, and we did. And now they’re here and Officer Wenning [sp] is still being aggressive. They’re not bothering anyone. Can they stand here? They have a right — we were told that under the rules of engagement that they could peacefully assemble. They are here. They are here.
POLICE OFFICER: [Indiscernible] are breaking the rules ma’am. Where I need you to be is on the sidewalk
REV. WALTRINA MIDDLETON: OK, we have a right to peacefully assemble.
POLICE OFFICER: But this is breaking the law.
REV. WALTRINA MIDDLETON: The Street is blocked off, isn’t it?
POLICE OFFICER: Yes, ma’am, it is.
KATRINA REDMON: My name is Katrina Redmon, and I’m very disturbed with the police presence out here. People were peacefully protesting. People got maced and teargassed. This is ridiculous. Look, all these officers for what reason?
PROTESTER: They thought [Indiscernible] black people was going to calm us down?
KATRINA REDMON: This is ridiculous to me.
PROTESTER: We don’t give a [Expletive].
KATRINA REDMON: And this is, unfortunately, what my city has turned into.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the grand jury decision not to indict Officer Wilson?
KATRINA REDMON: Obviously that is a problem. It’s the reason that everyone has a problem the fact that officer Wilson wasn’t indicted. I mean, he killed an unarmed black teenager. There is no excuse for that. I mean, it was a man that was killed and it’s somebody that walked away from it. And this is the reason that we are all out here because nobody gets answers. Nobody has had an answer since this has all happened. And that is a problem for us. And we want answers, essentially. Because it seems like the only way you can get away with murder is if you got a badge.
PROTESTER: If you got a badge you can get away with murder baby!
KATRINA REDMON: Which is unfortunate.
AMY GOODMAN: What will you be doing beyond tonight?
KATRINA REDMON: I’m going to continue to follow up and protest and make sure our voices are heard. Just because he wasn’t indicted doesn’t mean that the people of Ferguson or Florissant or Hazelwood or the surrounding areas are going to rest. If we have to come out here every single night and protest and make it be know that is a problem for our city with the black community, we will. I have no problem coming out here every single night to protest.
AMY GOODMAN: How do think things could change where you’d feel some hope?
PROTESTER 1: I mean, really I feel like all they had to do was indict him and things could have been peaceful. Things have been peaceful up to the point where they said that they don’t care and he didn’t do anything wrong. So, all they had to do was admit that they were wrong and right that by arresting him and things would calm down, at least a little bit, until they try to tell us he innocent again.
PROTESTER 2: At the end of the day black live don’t matter to them, at the end of the day. At the end of the day, black lives don’t matter to these cops, at the end of the day. We be locked up more than everybody in this whole community. You know what I’m saying? Get charged real quick, everything. We get false things put on us and everything. These cops is grimy. Everybody on his police force needs to get fired including the captains all the way down to whoever. Everybody got to get fired. Rubber bullets onto women and children. Peaceful protest. You know they don’t care about no black lives. They know that. Come on, now. Black lives don’t matter. Let’s be one hundred. Black lives don’t matter.
PROTESTER 3: That’s the truth.
PROTESTER 2: Black lives don’t matter. I ain’t sugar coating nothing man. Black lives don’t matter, y’all.
PROTESTER 1: Black lives don’t matter to nobody but black people. So, we going to show you all how we feel, and that’s what it is.
PROTESTER 2: Come on. It is what it is. Drug down the street, left there for four hours. Trash get picked up quicker than that. Come on, now. Come on, now. That’s disrespectful. That’s disrespect.
PROTESTER 3: What he say, what he say. We going to shake the heavens.
PROTESTER 1: We going to shake the heavens. If we don’t get it, shut it down.
PROTESTER 2: Disrespectful from the jump.
AMY GOODMAN: Are you going to be — were you out protesting from August 9th?
PROTESTER 2: Of course, of course. I straight seen people get shot with rubber bullets. I didn’t get shot. You feel me? I’m blessed.
PROTESTER 1: We’ve been gassed, we’ve been teargassed—
PROTESTER 2: Been all that. Black lives don’t matter to these people.
PROTESTER 1: Maced and everything, and chased. People have been beaten. That’s what happened the first day. That’s how the rioting started the first day. A little boy got bit by a dog and it just cracked off since then.
PROTESTER 2: On citizens, on citizens. They firing onto citizens. Matter of fact, they firing onto their "so-called" citizens. That’s how they look at us, their "so-called" citizens.
PROTESTER 1: They raised $400,000, $400,000 for Darren Wilson. For what? What is he going to do with $400,000 now? he just got a paycheck for killing someone. That is a nice paycheck — for killing somebody.
PROTESTER 3: He got a medal for killing a kid.
PROTESTER 1: Yeah, for killing a kid.
AMY GOODMAN: Do you think it’s possible the federal government will bring civil rights charges —
PROTESER 3: No.
PROTESER 2: No.
PROTESER 3: No.
PROTESER 2: No.
PROTESER 3: No.
PROTESER 2: No.
PROTESTER 2: It’s like, it’s like end of like a hundred something days ya’ll.
REV. WALTRINA MIDDLETON: I’m Reverend Waltrina Middleton with the United Church of Christ National Youth Office. And I am here to keep the peace, but also mostly to support and stand with these young people who have a right to peacefully assemble and to express themselves. And I feel like they have a right as a natural reaction to be angry and to be heard in response to such suffering and pain. For so long, they’ve been told to be quiet, to be silent, and just to conform, and now they have an opportunity to express themselves. For many of us, we’re not used to hearing these young people articulate themselves in this way, but this is their street, this is their home they have a right to be here and they have a right to say, you know what? One of our brothers was murdered and killed and we are responding to that pain. And I think sometimes in this society we’re not used to, especially, to hearing young people of color speak so firmly and strongly about their rights.
AMY GOODMAN: What is your response to the grand jury decision not to indict officer Wilson?
REV. WALTRINA MIDDLETON: I’m hurt by it. I wonder myself, I’m looking forward to seeing what evidence was presented to them, to see if they had an opportunity to make a fair and balanced decision. It’s hard to really say because we don’t know what was put before them. But I do think that it is important that we take a look at this system to see if it is actually working. Is justice having an opportunity to prevail? Is democracy actually taking place. Because when you have a young person who dies and with all the evidence that we have been presented to show that he was unarmed and not a danger or a threat, why is it that they chose not to take this case to trial or to have an indictment? It is troubling to know that, what message is being sent out here to these young people is that their live don’t matter. They have the position of, I have nothing to lose because I could just die on the street walking home, so.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you describe the police to me who are out here tonight?
REV. WALTRINA MIDDLETON: I do feel as if the demeanor is quite aggressive. I think that we were told that young people have a right to peacefully assemble. We were told that they have a right to come here and express themselves, and every thing they were promised is being denied. Everything that they have asked them to do, they have complied. They said to move back, they moved back. They said move to the sidewalk, they moved to the sidewalk. And basically, they’re trying to push them out and once again silence them. And when you come to young people who are armed, just dressed in their winter clothes with militarized weapons and tear gas and all of this gear and guns and whatnot, it is intimidating, it’s aggressive. How do you expect people to respond, especially after an announcement like that?
AMY GOODMAN: As we walk back behind the police cars and the riot police, there are several buses that say Missouri Department of Corrections, waiting to be filled.
ZECHARIAH WILLIAMS: My name is Zechariah Williams, I’m 19. We are standing in front of the corner coffeehouse. And it’s broken into. As you can see glass everywhere. They did this to everything. They broke into beauty supply, they broke into Earn’s, they broke into T-Mobile, they burned down a Walgreens, the fish place on the corner, burned down a Little Caesars. They broke into that bank.
AMY GOODMAN: And who is they?
ZECHARIAH WILLIAMS: Police in that bank because they broke into that one too.
AMY GOODMAN: And who is they?
ZECHARIAH WILLIAMS: Just the people that’s out here rioting.
AMY GOODMAN: How do you feel about the grand jury decision not to indict officer Wilson?
ZECHARIAH WILLIAMS: It’s sad to see. That’s sad to see, like, they’re family going through that. They’re not showing no type of mercy. They tried to charge them on five charges and they didn’t indict him on neither one of them.
AMY GOODMAN: Why do you think that is?
ZECHARIAH WILLIAMS: People protect their own. That’s true. People will protect their own.
AMY GOODMAN: Have you ever been bothered by the police?
ZECHARIAH WILLIAMS: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Have you ever been arrested?
ZECHARIAH WILLIAMS: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: And what happened then?
ZECHARIAH WILLIAMS: Well, one time when I got arrested, I got punched in my mouth and —
AMY GOODMAN: By?
ZECHARIAH WILLIAMS: Officer Dewight. Sergeant dewight. Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Were you able to bring charges against him?
ZECHARIAH WILLIAMS: No.
AMY GOODMAN: So, we’re standing in front of taco bell. The window has been smashed. We are right in front of AutoZone. It looks like it is about to blow with flames coming out on top of it. Across the street is the tire shop, Auto Tire. There a bunch of young people going in there. They’ve smashed the windows. A lot of cars going by. A lot of smoke here. This very much feels like ground zero. And people — young people are saying they don’t care about us. This is West Florissant, ground zero for the protests. This is Ferguson, Missouri.
PROTESTER: I’ve been all— I’m from St. Louis. I’ve been al over there. I just came from where they just announced the verdict at and they shot tear gas. Everything on fire. And this is not what our youngsters were supposed to represent, because this is a new era civil rights movement. I didn’t expect it out of them, but I can’t blame them for it. Civil disobedience, 'cause ain't nobody — it’s just reckless property. And then all of them been knowing and they been over here so — to keep a tab because I’m 43 years of age. All of these over here, they already got their insurance and they already had three months to prepare for this. So, they’re not losing out on anything. They probably relocate. But as far as the money value or the monetary value, everything is still going to be the same.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re back on Canfield Drive. There are some helicopters at the sky — there’s smoke in the air because West Florissant is on fire. But here is the stuffed animal Memorial for Mike Brown who was gunned down right here in the road between the apartment complexes. There are dozens of animals, stuffed animals, a baseball cap — it might be Mike Brown’s original baseball cap. This is the place where on August 9 officer Darren Wilson killed Mike Brown. Today, a grand jury decided not to indict officer Wilson for that killing.
PROTESTER: After they played us like that with Darren Wilson, I expect expect for [Expletive] to go hard. It is was it is. Ain’t no stopping us. No justice, no peace.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I am Amy Goodman with special thanks to our crew here on the ground, to Sam Alcoff and to Renée Feltz and to Aaron Maté. That report after midnight last night. Today, we’re standing in front of the Clayton Courthouse where the grand jury has deliberated over the last months. They call it the Justice Center. When we come back, we will be joined by guests who’ve been here on the streets as well as a legal expert to talk about exactly what the grand jury did or did not decide. This is Democracy Now! We will be back in a minute.
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On Monday St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch announced the grand jury had found "that no probable cause exists" to charge Officer Darren Wilson with any crime in the death of Michael Brown. The jury deliberated for three months and heard dozens of hours of testimony, including from Wilson himself. But did they hear the full story? McCulloch himself had faced public scrutiny throughout the grand jury investigation, with calls for him to resign over allegations of a pro-police bias and questions raised about an unusual grand jury process that resembled a trial. We speak to Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who is just back from Ferguson. "I don’t think we can take away anything from this decision not to indict other than that it is now officially open season on black folks when it comes to police violence," Warren says.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We are in Clayton, Missouri, right next to Ferguson, Missouri, where we spent all last night. Today we’re standing in front of — well, the Clayton Courthouse where the grand jury has deliberated close to two dozen times over the last few months, before they came out with their decision yesterday, announced by the prosecutor Bob McCulloch. Our guest right now, in New York, we’re joined by Vince Warren, the Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights who will help us decide — will help us understand the decision that the grand jury made. And with me here in subfreezing weather, here in Clayton is Osagyefo Sekou, he is the Pastor from the First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain Massachusetts, dispatched to Ferguson by the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He went to high school in St. Louis and has family in Ferguson. We’re going to go first to Vince Warren. Can you explain the grand jury decision?
VINCE WARREN: Yes, thanks Amy, and good to see you Sekou. It is almost inexplicable. The first thing we have to remember is that this is not a verdict. This hasn’t gotten to verdict. This was an indictment. So the grand jury was asked to consider evidence in order to prefer charges so that the police officer could go to trial, but they did not do that. What was so strange about it is I’ve never seen, in my years, I’ve never seen a prosecutor take such a hands-off approach. And to listen to that press conference, Amy, you would think that he had just sort of spread out the pieces of paper on the table and said, grand jury, do your thing. Let me tell you, prosecutors never do that. There’s a reason why they say prosecutors can indict a ham sandwich. It’s because they can entirely control that process.
Now, they did release some of the transcripts yesterday. And I took a look at some of them, and what I saw, which people need to know, is that this wasn’t just the grand jurors listening to the testimony I idly. The prosecutors are framing the evidence. And as you heard in that press conference yesterday, there was more talk about what Mike Brown did than there was about what Darren Wilson did. It was almost as if in that grand jury process looking to charge Darren Wilson, that they were really charging Mike Brown. And I also noticed in some of the transcripts that they were setting up — the prosecutors were setting up the sense of fear, even asking the Police Sergeant when he got to Mike Brown’s body, when he first got there, leading them into the testimony to say, yeah, there were people that were agitated, there were people that were upset, there were people that were moving around. And of course there were people that were agitated because Mike Brown’s body was on the ground. But they’re setting this up so that essentially to play into the defense of Darren Wilson, that he acted reasonably out of fear for his life, A, B, that he acted reasonably and pursuant to the law because he thought that Mike Brown was breaking the law.
So what we have is a grand jury system that for most people in the world seems to play out like it was, gosh, what can we do, the evidence was really overwhelming. But I don’t think the evidence was. You only have one set of that story. Unfortunately, in this process, Mike Brown’s side of the story never gets told. What we do know is the prosecutors were setting this up so that it was in the best light, in my view, it was, from what I’ve seen, in the best light for the police officer and his "reasonable belief" that his life was in danger, so that is why he shot.
I don’t think we can take away anything from this decision not to indict other than that it is now officially open season on black folks when it comes to police violence. That feeling that most of us had yesterday when we were listening to the decision, that feeling in your stomach, that unsettling feeling like there’s nothing we can do — that is what injustice feels like. We have to remember that the folks on the ground feel that same way but they felt this for a long time. This is not a media event, this is life for people in the black community in urban areas. This is life for people in Ferguson. And so, yes, people are upset. People are acting out. People are disrupting the status quo. People want to shut it down, and frankly, I think that they should.
We should be thinking about the folks in Ferguson as pro-democracy protesters, as anti-structural racism protesters. Because when you think about what they’re challenging on that big a scale, we know that a grand jury decision in one way or another is not when a solve the structural racism problem. What solves the structural racism problem is getting to people like Bob McCulloch so that he can’t do the thing that he did in a press conference. If you notice, he on the one hand said this was a justified shooting by the police officer but then on the other hand said, oh, but we have to change the system. Those are completely inconsistent. It makes no sense. It makes no sense legally and certainly doesn’t make any sense politically.
What we have with the protesters, and I’m happy that the Center for Constitutional Rights and Arch City Defenders locally on the ground, The National Lawyers Guild and Advancement Project have organized 300 lawyers to come down to be able to help represent the protesters because this is what our democracy looks like. Let’s not think about this as these people are burning folks here or these people are throwing rocks here, that entire picture that you’re looking at, Amy, that you are involved in, that is the state, the representation of the state of our democracy for black folks in America. It is messy, can be ugly, it’s full of passion but people should not turn away from it. People should not try to tamper down and control it. People should begin to understand that if that is what we are dealing with, if that is where we are as a society, we need to think about structural changes in order to change the status quo.
AMY GOODMAN: Vincent Warren, the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office has released Darren Wilson’s testimony to the grand jury showing the officer described the 18-year-old Michael Brown as looking like a "demon" on the day of the shooting. Wilson said, "And when I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan." Wilson went on to claim that Brown punched him twice and was concerned the third punch could be fatal or knock him unconscious. He defended his decision to shoot Brown multiple times. Wilson said, "At this point it looked like he was almost bulking up to run through the shots, like it was making him mad that I’m shooting at him." In addition to the testimony, the prosecutors released images of Darren Wilson in the hospital after the altercation. One of his cheeks was red, but wasn’t heavily bruised. So, here we have Darren Wilson, four hours of testimony, Mike Brown was not there to give his side of the story.
VINCE WARREN: That’s right, Amy. It is important to recognize that at this moment, we have to become clear as a society that police officers can commit crimes even while on duty. And police officers can and do lie particularly, particularly in these types of legal proceedings. I would note that — I was looking through some of the Sergeant testimony and when he first talked to Darren Wilson, when the Sergeant got to the scene, he talked to him about what happened but he didn’t write it down. And the reason why he said he did not write it down was because he was multitasking. Now, that kind of evidence collection becomes critically important because it gives — if you don’t have it, it gives the police officer the opportunity to change his story, to present the facts in the light that is more favorable to them. And you can certainly do that in a criminal trial when you’re the defendant. But remember, police officers have two duties. One is that they have to preserve the evidence in order for people to find out what happened but it sounds to me like Darren Wilson was afforded the opportunity to create an evidentiary narrative that supported his version of the events. This is a huge problem and is not unique to Ferguson. This happens all over the country in every criminal context that we can think of. Ask any defense attorney about this and they will tell you that the way this went down with the prosecutor’s office, with the police department was so shady, it was so shady that you can’t have any confidence, any confidence whatsoever that the story that Darren Wilson told is in fact what happened.
AMY GOODMAN: Vince Warren, we want to thank you for being with us. Stay with us. We’re going to go to break and then we’re going to be joined by Reverend Sekou here in Ferguson, though, usually in Massachusetts. He’s been here for months organizing on the ground. We also be joined by Jelani Cobb, Professor at University of Connecticut, Head of Africana Studies, writes for the New Yorker, has been writing extensively about Ferguson. Yet, we were with him last night on the streets of Ferguson. Ferguson has erupted. This is Democracy Now! We will be back in a minute.
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"It is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard." Those were the words of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in March 1968, weeks before he was assassinated. Today parts of Ferguson are still burning after a night of protests following the grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson, who killed Michael Brown. At least a dozen shops in the Ferguson area have been broken into and burned. A number of businesses burned for hours before firefighters arrived. We speak to Rev. Osagyefo Sekou of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Jelani Cobb, director of the Africana Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut and a contributor to the New Yorker. "For over 100 days [the protesters in Ferguson] have been primarily nonviolent in their approach to this," Sekou says. "They gave the system a chance, and the system broke their heart."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman. We are broadcasting from St. Louis, Missouri, from Clayton and Ferguson. And despite the subfreezing weather here, Ferguson is on fire. Our guests are Reverend Osagyefo Sekou, Pastor from the First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts who was dispatched to Ferguson by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, went to high school here in St. Louis and has family in Ferguson. And Jelani Cobb is with us. Associate Professor of History and Director of the Africana Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut, also a contributor to the New Yorker magazine. Reverend Sekou, let’s begin with you. Describe the scene of the streets. In fact, when we’re finished here, these protests are not finished. You’re headed to yet another protest right behind us. We are standing in front of the Clayton Courthouse where the grand jury deliberated over the last months. The Clayton Courthouse is called the Justice Center.
REV. OSAGYEFO SEKOU: Well, it seems the case that the name of the center is inappropriate given the high level of repression and undemocratic engagement by the prosecutor, the Governor. These young people have been betrayed every level of government. As West Florissant burned last night, democracy was on fire last night. The Constitution shredded. And young people who have been backed into a corner, abused by the police system for many years — as you mentioned earlier, I went to high school here. I remember being told by my mother and my sister not to go through Ferguson. I remember police sticking their hands in our underwear and accusing us of being drug dealers when we were just some preppy kids with argyle socks attempting to go on dates. The rage that we have seen today, last night, is a reflection of the kind of alienation and the few options that young people feel like they have to express their democratic rights at this moment.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to talk about what burned and what didn’t. We were on South Florissant. In fact, I saw Jelani at South Florissant. The riot police were lined up. There were armored vehicles, automatic weapons. They were really taking on the protesters. But when we went to West Florissant where the buildings are, the businesses, mainly black-run businesses, there was no National Guard in sight. When we were here months ago, when we were here months ago on West Florissant, you cannot even make a turn there. They had completely sealed off the area. But last night, to our shock, we drove unimpeded right down West Florissant. People were breaking windows. They were setting the buildings on fire. This is black Ferguson that was left by the National Guard, is that right?
REV. OSAGYEFO SEKOU: Yes. I was there for some two hours and witnessed first-hand the lack of response by the fire department, the casual nature, the way in which the way the police engaged. They eventually shot tear gas. But what we are seeing now is this was a primary example of the racial divide in Ferguson, in St. Louis, and the nation. Because this story has always been about Mike Brown and bigger than Mike Brown. Every other day in America, every other day, some black or brown child is subject to the arbitrary violence of the state with little to no recourse that every other day in America, a mother is writing a funeral program that would perhaps be the elegy of the democracy.
AMY GOODMAN: Jelani, I saw you on South Florissant. That is where the Ferguson police — the newly built Ferguson Police Department is. Describe the scene and what you saw.
JELANI COBB: Initially, there was a crowd gathered out there. People were silently hoping against hope that there would be — that there would be an indictment. And there was none in the offing. People were there. They were hearing the long-winded and insulting statement the prosecutor Bob McCulloch gave before announcing that there would be no indictment. Then you begin to see tensions ratcheting up. But as that happened, there was kind of a noose structure that the police enacted. They were on the kind of north side of the street. And then in short order, you saw armored vehicles and a very significant number of police kind of marching in formation with weapons — some had weapons drawn. There were tear gas canisters that began to be fired. They had people hemmed in, in essence, on South Florissant.
And as you said, on West Florissant, it was shocking to see the lack of police presence there. And so, we heard earlier in the evening, we heard from Governor Jay Nixon as well as last week on Friday at a press conference that Mayor Francis Slay of St. Louis gave, and they use the word "restraint." They said that the police would be restrained in their response. It seemed as if somehow they gotten the message, perhaps, that people wanted to be treated like human beings. And then we saw what restraint looked like last night. Restraint was a kind of nonchalant approach to what was happening on the black side of town with a hyper-vigilant approach to what was happening on the white side of town.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to read a quote of Dr. Martin Luther King. This was what three weeks before he was assassinated. It was March 14, 1968. He said, "It’s not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent and intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say, tonight, that a riot is the language of the unheard." That is Dr. Martin Luther King three weeks before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, April 4, 1968. Reverend Sekou?
REV. OSAGYEFO SEKOU: It is quite relevant to this moment, the reality that these young people face. We hear it all the time for 100 days, them saying that I’m ready to die because I don’t have anything to live for. School systems have betrayed them. The President has betrayed them. Eric Holder has betrayed them. Governor Nixon has betrayed them. Chief Jackson has betrayed them, the electoral system has betrayed them. They have extremely limited options, school systems decrepit, no economic opportunity. And so — then on top of that, to see their brother, their son laid in the street for 4.5 hours and to have wound upon wound that they are in a situation where that the destruction of property seems the only way that they can vent their rage because they have been given no recourses. And so, while the president calls for calm but is not dispatched enough resource to hold Darren Wilson and a draconian police force accountable, we of simply betrayed them. It is a shame that the nation has engaged as such behavior among the most vulnerable young people in our nation.
AMY GOODMAN: What about the issue, Jelani Cobb, of civil rights charges being brought against Darren Wilson? I mean, Eric Holder, the Attorney General, is retiring — leaving his position, but he did come to Ferguson. Yesterday, President Obama was in the White House and he honored 18 people. Among them were three posthumously; James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Mickey Schwerner. The state did not bring charges against the men who killed these three civil rights workers in 1964. But then the federal government did.
JELANI COBB: Right. There’s been this conversation around this. One of the things that happens here, is that people will say the narrative that we have heard, we heard Mayor Giuliani say something along these lines, former Mayor Giuliani of New York, say something along these lines that people are rioting, that they have no respect for democracy, that they have no respect for other people’s lives, other people’s property. In fact, people have rioted and rebelled last night precisely because of the opposite. Because the traditional mechanisms of democracy have failed them. So, people did not riot immediately. There was some small scale skirmishes, but largely, people kind of withheld their anger in hopes that the actual system of legal recourse would grant them some relief in a situation of Michael Brown’s death. That did not happen. And failing that, people began to enact the plan of last resort.
When Eric Holder came here in the summer, he counseled restraint, he counseled people to give the legal system an opportunity to work. And last night was a refutation of that. That given all their patience, that given all their hope, given all their idealism, despite what we’ve seen with Trayvon Martin, despite what we’ve seen with John Ford, John Crawford, rather, in Ohio, despite what we’ve seen with Oscar Grant — all these circumstances that we can outline — people still had faith that the legal system might give them a modicum of justice. It is difficult to say that there’s a likelihood that there’s going to be civil rights charges now. It would be very difficult to prove that this was done kind of racially motivated or that Mr. Brown was intentionally deprived of his civil rights. And so, I’m not much more optimistic than the people who were out on West Florissant rioting that the legal system will give any kind of recourse.
AMY GOODMAN: In 162,000 cases in 2010, grand juries, these federal cases, grand juries decline to return an indictment in 11. Of 162,000 federal cases. Reverend Sekou, this is the first night of protest, and I wanted to ask a question about the timing. There was a big discussion about whether the decision would be announced 48 hours later, 24 hours. In the end, they decided to announce it at night — late at night. Why? Did that contribute to what happened in the streets?
REV. OSAGYEFO SEKOU: I mean, it was clearly orchestrated in such a way that it created a context of provocation. That it was during the summer that it had become evident that the later it got, the hotter it got in terms of people’s relationship to the police. And so is seems that way. But, as we think about this reference to the civil rights movements, these young people have been in the street for over 100 days. A third of the way of the Montgomery bus boycott. With limited resources, limited access to the civil rights tradition, limited support from various institutions and infrastructures. But for over 100 days, they been primarily nonviolent in their approach to this. They gave the system a chance, and the system broke their heart. And then many of them right now as we speak, 125 of my colleagues are in the streets right now prepared to engage in acts of civil resistance in a nonviolent tradition. There will be ongoing nonviolent protests. I mean think about that. This is the second longest protest, I believe, brother here’s story, in 50 years of black people, calling America to account, making her say and be honorable to the things she has placed on paper. And so, rather than demonizing these young people, we should be celebrating. Because what they’re doing is stretching that living document of the Constitution and creating a space for the possibility for America to be true to what she said on paper.
JELANI COBB: Can I add, can I add to this, Reverend Sekou? One of the things that we saw that was personally most inspiring here was that people began here in a community they said was not extensively organized. And they taught themselves rapidly how to organize. And they came out in that brutal, unforgiving, relentless heat of August and protested and marched and protested and a thunderstorm struck in that first week. You saw thunder and lightning in the sky, and people were marching and protesting saying, black lives matter, hands up, don’t shoot.
We saw the weather change. We saw an early winter set in. And despite all of those obstacles, despite the aspersions from the official parts of this community as well as from other individuals that were in unsympathetic to this cause, people came out again night after night after night, and they refused to let Michael Brown’s death be in vain. I think that is what we should take from this. This story is not over. The flames are a preface, they are not a coda. This story has not ended. I think that people will find some means of achieving justice in the long haul, and that people here are committed to doing whatever they need to do for as long as they need to do it to make sure that that happens.
AMY GOODMAN: And tonight, what are the plans? In terms of organized protests and what you understand of what else will be happening?
REV. OSAGYEFO SEKOU: Well, there are actions happening right now as we speak throughout Clayton, bearing witness to the injustice that these young people have experienced and that this city and community has experienced. There will be a action and people will be gathering at Kiener Plaza at noon today and subsequent action and there will be ongoing actions every day on every hour in this place for over 100 days. People have been in the street willing to put their bodies on the line, risking arrest, tear gas, pepper spray, because they are trying to keep alive the best of the democratic tradition.
AMY GOODMAN: Jelani Cobb, we have ten seconds. Your final thoughts?
JELANI COBB: The only thing that I can say is this, Ferguson is America. That what happened here is not atypical. This is a national problem and something that we all need to be mindful of it, or we will see more Fergusons in the future.
AMY GOODMAN: There are helicopters flying overhead right now. We’re standing in front of what is known as the Justice Center where the grand jury said no indictment. That’s right, they refused to indict officer Darren Wilson for the killing of Mike Brown, an 18-year-old African-American teenager August 9, 2014. That does it for our broadcast from Ferguson and Clayton. I want to thank our guests Osagyefo Sekou Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain, as well as Jelani Cobb and Vince Warren and special thanks to our team.
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Ferguson Erupts After Grand Jury Decides Not to Indict Darren Wilson
A grand jury here in St. Louis, Missouri, has chosen not to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson for the fatal shooting of unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown. The decision follows three months of deliberation by the jury of nine whites and three blacks, including four hours of testimony from Wilson himself. The grand jury decision set off outrage in Ferguson and communities across the country who see Brown’s killing as part of a wide-scale pattern of police mistreatment of people of color. Shortly after the verdict, police fired tear gas on protesters in Ferguson. At least a dozen buildings in Ferguson were broken into and burned and sporadic gunfire was heard overnight. At least 61 people were arrested. We’ll have more from here on the ground after headlines.
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel Forced to Resign
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has been forced to resign under pressure from President Obama less than two years after taking office. Obama announced Hagel’s departure on Monday.
President Obama: "Last month, Chuck came to me to discuss the final quarter of my presidency and determined that having guided the department through this transition, it was an appropriate time for him to complete his service. Let me just say that Chuck is and has been a great friend of mine. I’ve known him, admired him and trusted him for nearly a decade since I was a green-behind-the-ears freshman senator and we were both on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee."
The announcement comes just weeks after a spokesperson for Hagel said he intended to remain in his post until the end of Obama’s presidency. Hagel had criticized the Obama administration’s war on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, writing in a leaked memo last month that the president’s policy could implode over a lack of clarity on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Hagel will keep his post until the Senate confirms his successor. Topping the list of contenders is Michèle Flournoy, a former undersecretary of defense who heads the think tank Center for a New American Security, which is funded mainly by military contractors. She would be the first woman to lead the U.S. military.
Report: U.S. Drone Strikes Kill 28 Unnamed People for Every 1 Target
A new report finds U.S. drone strikes kill 28 unidentified people for every intended target. While the Obama administration has claimed its drone strikes are precise, the group Reprieve found that strikes targeting 41 people in Yemen and Pakistan have killed more than 1,000 other, unnamed people. The 41 targets have been reported killed as many as six times each. In its attempts to kill al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri alone, the CIA killed 76 children and 29 adults. Al-Zawahiri remains alive.
Iran Nuclear Talks Extended for 7 Months
Secretary of State John Kerry has announced talks over Iran’s disputed nuclear program will be extended for seven months after world powers failed to meet a self-imposed deadline. A long-term deal would allow Iranian uranium enrichment and relief from crippling U.S.-led sanctions in return for extensive international inspections. Kerry said the talks have been "tough."
John Kerry: "These talks are not going to get easier just because we extend them. They’re tough. They’ve been tough. And they’re going to stay tough. But in these last days in Vienna we have made real and substantial progress and we have seen new ideas surface."
Talks are expected to resume next month.
Hong Kong Authorities Arrest 30, Clear Protest Site
In Hong Kong, authorities have arrested more than 30 pro-democracy protesters as they cleared a key protest site in the district of Mong Kok. The authorities took action in response to a court order to clear Argyle Street, a main thoroughfare which protesters had shut down for two months as part of their campaign for free elections.
Mexico: 11 Held in Maximum Security Prisons After Protest
In Mexico, 11 people arrested during last week’s mass protest over the disappearance of 43 students have been moved to maximum security prisons in different states. Authorities made the arrests last week after tens of thousands gathered in Mexico City’s main square to protest the students’ disappearance at the hands of police in collusion with a drug gang. The detainees face charges of attempted murder and riot. Supporters say the arrests mark an uptick in repression by Mexican authorities responding to the nationwide unrest. At a march in Mexico City Saturday, Ana Cruz Olguín said her daughter, Hillary Analí González, was detained arbitrarily and sent to a prison in the state of Nayarit.
Ana Cruz Olguín: "I am appalled by what has happened. I don’t want any other parent to experience what I am with my daughter. I hope that no other parent has to cry for their children, as I do. I hope that none of this repeats. I demand that they free my daughter. She is a good student, she is a good girl, she has never attacked anyone nor had any problems."
Marissa Alexander Takes Plea Deal in Warning Shot Case
In Florida, an African-American woman facing decades in prison for firing what she says was a warning shot into a wall near her abusive husband has taken a plea deal. Marissa Alexander’s case generated national outrage after she was sentenced to 20 years in prison, even though she didn’t kill anyone, while, in another Florida case, George Zimmerman was acquitted of shooting African-American teenager Trayvon Martin dead. Alexander’s attorneys unsuccessfully tried to use Florida’s "Stand Your Ground" law in her defense, saying she feared for her life when she fired the shot. After an appeals court ordered a new trial over faulty jury instructions, Florida prosecutors sought a 60-year term, three times her original sentence. On Monday, Alexander took a plea deal to serve three years, a sentence she has nearly completed. She is due to be released on January 27.
British Journalists Sue London Police over Spying
In Britain, a group of journalists is suing London’s Metropolitan Police after obtaining surveillance records that show they were spied on for years. One of the journalists, Jason Parkinson, said police collected details about his clothing, his partner and which protests he was covering.
More Bill Cosby Events Cancelled amid Growing Rape Scandal
Venues in Washington State and Connecticut have become the latest to cancel appearances by comedian Bill Cosby amidst a growing scandal over reports Cosby drugged and raped women over a period of four decades. At least 18 women have now accused Cosby of sexual assault, including former model Jewel Allison, who told the New York Daily News, "We may be looking at America’s greatest serial rapist that ever got away with this for the longest amount of time."
Jewel Allison: "Why this case now, I believe, is holding a lot of weight, is that we’re having a series of women, finally, thank God, coming out and saying, 'This happened to me,' 'This happened to me,' 'This happened to me, too.' And so even if you blacked out or you don’t remember the entire rape or the entire assault, there’s strength in numbers."
A former NBC employee, Frank Scotti, told the Daily News he acted as a fixer for Cosby, guarding his dressing room while he was inside with young models, and helping Cosby pay off eight women. Reports have also focused on the media’s role, particularly since claims against Cosby surfaced years ago. Robin Mizrahi, a former reporter for the National Enquirer tabloid, told the Guardian she filed a story in 2005 about a woman who accused Cosby of drugging and assaulting her. But under pressure from Cosby’s attorneys, her editors killed the story in exchange for a favorable, front-page interview with Cosby.
University of California Students Stage Walkouts, Occupations over Tuition Hike
State university students across California have staged a mass campus walkout as part of ongoing protests over tuition hikes. At UC Berkeley, students have occupied Wheeler Hall since last week when the UC Board of Regents approved plans to raise tuition by up to five percent annually over the next five years. Students have occupied other buildings across the UC system, from Santa Cruz to San Diego.
Obama Awards Medal of Freedom to 18, Including 3 Slain Civil Rights Activists
And President Obama has awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 18 people, including three civil rights activists murdered by the Ku Klux Klan 50 years ago. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Mickey Schwerner were targeted by the Klan after traveling to Mississippi to register black voters. In a White House ceremony, Obama noted it took more than four decades to bring the organizer of the murders, Edgar Ray Killen, to justice.
President Obama: "In that freedom summer, these three Americans refused to sit on the sidelines. Their brutal murder by a gang of Ku Klux Klan members shook the conscience of our nation. It took 44 days to find their bodies, 41 years to bring the lead perpetrator to justice. And while they’re often remembered for how they died, we honor them today for how they lived: with the idealism and courage of youth."
The Presidential Medal of Feedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor. Other recipients Monday included actress Meryl Streep, musician Stevie Wonder, actress and activist Marlo Thomas, Native American activist Suzan Harjo and Chilean novelist Isabel Allende.
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