West County Democrats

I recently attended a seminar where the topic was storytelling.  Toward the end of the hour, the presenter separated the class into groups with each group given the task of explaining “Ferguson” to a person, newly arrived from another country and unaware of the situation.

I was nervous about working with strangers but intrigued as to what the group would say.   I asked who remembered when Michael Brown was shot by Officer Darren Wilson in August of 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri.  There were blank stares:  one person was out of the country; another commented that she would always remember 9/11;  and the rest could not recall the specific day.  However, I vividly remembered the shooting and how “Ferguson” came to be. 

Ferguson is a city and community in north St. Louis County.  My husband’s family lived close by in North County.  When we drove to visit, we would often exit on West Florissant and turn left.  If we turned right at that same exit, we would be in Ferguson. 

Normally, I have the TV on during the day and occasionally watch. I remember that Saturday when Michael Brown was shot by the way the situation unfolded on the TV news. First I saw bulletins about a shooting in North County St. Louis County so I paid attention.  The image of a young black teen dead in the middle of a street next to a police car was hard to watch.  I began listening to the coverage, which included telephone calls from frightened neighbors in the apartment complex, describing the shooting.  I finally sat and watched as more police arrived at the scene and more people gathered, yet the body of the young black teen still lay on the ground hours later.  It became clear the situaiton was escalating and would not be a “normal” situation.  

By the end of the evening we continued to watch the eruption of riots, protests, vandalism, fires, shootings and arrests.  Our children asked if Grandpa was ok, which he, of course, was.  Out of town relatives called to ask if we were ok, even though we live almost an hour from Ferguson.  In the coming days, the National Guard was called in with armored vehicles to support police with riot gear.  Protesters arrived from other cities in buses and marched.  The protests extended to other areas of the St. Louis area.  A couple of weeks later I weaved through protesters and police in riot gear to attend a meeting at the county courts building in Clayton.  The controversy continued to develop and affect others lives.

On the way to visit Grandpa one day, my daughter and I decided to first turn right at that same exit to see “Ferguson”.  We were surprised to discover that the area where the death, riots and vandalism occurred was confined to an area was only about two to three blocks long.  We saw those areas where stores were boarded up and fires started.  Protestors were still gathered (peacefully) around a tented area on one street corner.  The area where it all happened was only a small section of a main street, although the TV coverage made it appear that all of Ferguson (including the St. Louis area) was rioting and ablaze. 

That one day stretched into weeks, months and years.  Ferguson became a symbol for conflict between police and young black men; a city where a young black teen died that became a national movement for “Black Lives Matter”. 

I believe “Ferguson” has impacted our entire region and has became associated with the identity of the entire St. Louis area.  Often I am asked about Ferguson when I am traveling and say that I am from St. Louis.  

Do you remember that day when Michael Brown died?  How would  you explain “Ferguson” to a stranger?  What do you think Ferguson has meant to our area & our nation?

Submitted by Jennifer Hoffman, WCD Member