Remembering Michael Brown: Why The Ferguson Police Department Must Be Disbanded

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Ferguson Police last year — By any spin necessary?

[Editorial]

Are the authorities in Ferguson trying to “spin” the focus away from the peaceful and effective protests over the execution-style killing of Michael Brown last year into a look-at-these-violent-Black-folks story?

It does seem rather fishy-smelly that a young man Tyrone Harris Jr., man who is 18, and had allegedly been exchanging fire with another group, both unconnected to the protests, supposedly then fired at the police and was shot and critically wounded on Sunday.

The authorities in Ferguson then declared a State of Emergency. Even before the shooting, the police had already come to the scene of the protests to commemorate the anniversary of Brown’s execution-style killing by Darren Wilson, dressed in riot gear; which was part of the problem last year, in that it inflamed passions and escalated confrontations between citizens and the armed security forces.

This is a fishy narrative, considering that it comes from the beleaguered, discredited and corrupt Ferguson Police Department and a similar incident earlier this year.

In March 2015 the Ferguson authorities, lo and behold, reported that during protests to keep the focus on the egregious killing of Brown by Wilson, a young Black man, Jeffrey Williams, fired at and wounded two police officers.

At the time it was reported that Williams also had been unconnected with the peaceful demonstrators. Williams’ lawyer, Jerryl Christmas, later claimed Williams not only had not fired at the police and that he had been beaten by police who coerced a “confession.”

So now suddenly, in the middle of the recent protests to keep the focus on the execution-style killing of Brown, the unarmed 18-year old boy who was chased down and shot to death by Wilson, another Black male fires at police?

The coincidence seems a bit too divine and convenient.

If there had been no Michael Brown -related protests going on in Ferguson, and an individual –as in Harris’ alleged case– had fired at police and then himself been critically wounded would there have been a State of Emergency Declared?

Presumably the emergency was declared to give the security agencies added powers to deal with those gathered for the peaceful protests right?

Both the current and the March incidents need to be investigated by authoritative agencies that have no connection to Ferguson or the St. Louis police departments.

Given the level of corruption of the Ferguson Police Department documented by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), nothing is beyond their capabilities; including diverting attention away from peaceful demonstrators and from their own criminal conduct exposed by DOJ by any spin necessary.

We don’t believe Steve Stenger, the St. Louis County Executive who declared the State of Emergency was just observing events on Monday and decided to make the decision. Especially when we recall the March incident.

The victims of the criminal conspiracy by the City of Ferguson and the police department –the innocent African Americans who were recipients of millions of dollars in tickets for concocted infractions and who were criminalized when they could not pay– are entitled to compensation.

The City and Police department must be held accountable and liable.

This is a police department that needs to be disbanded and recreated, including with new hiring to reflect the ethnic makeup of Ferguson which is over two-thirds African American.  The department had three African American officers out of a total of 53.

This would be a fitting legacy to the memory of Michael Brown.

This is a campaign that’s worth pursuing by BlackLivesMatter.

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