Ferguson: Through the eyes of those who lived there

One believes Ferguson is on the verge of martial law, and residents could soon have their constitutional rights suspended. A second is trying hard to fathom the reasons behind the looting and rioting.

Another says her legal guardian, who is her great aunt, was Michael Brown's art teacher for years.

A fourth believes police seem to be making matters worse and worries about the safety of her elderly parents.

All are Missouri State University students. Two grew up in Ferguson and two in nearby Florissant.

Robert Colyer, a 20-year-old political science major, says some rights have already been taken from residents with the imposition of a curfew and police actions that appear to suppress media coverage. Colyer is black.

"If they don't get the National Guard troops and the militarized police out of Ferguson, you will see more and more of that," says Colyer, who was born in Ferguson and lived there until about age 9.

Colyer said he has been pulled over for no reason by Ferguson police while driving and never charged with a crime. He says he believes he has been the victim of what is called racial profiling.

"Those cops do have a tendency to harass people of African American descent and minorities in general," he says.

Brown, 18, was unarmed when he was shot and killed by a white Ferguson officer last week. Colyer believes Brown was killed in "cold blood." Local police are investigating the incident, as is the U.S. Justice Department.

Colyer criticizes media coverage for not reporting how peaceful residents of Ferguson have banded together to try to prevent burning and looting.

"There have been righteous people protecting the stores," he says.

Abrillia Hamilton, 22, grew up in Florissant, a city north of St. Louis next to Ferguson. The Florissant-Ferguson School District serves both cities. She is a special education major at MSU. She is black.

Her great aunt, she says, taught art to Brown in elementary and middle school and attended his high school graduation.

Hamilton wonders why the Ferguson officer used a gun and not a Taser.

"I do believe there are a lot of different things that could have happened differently," she says. "We may never know what happened."

Racial profiling occurs in Ferguson, she says.

She is not confident justice will be served. Assuming that the officer did, in fact, act criminally — which is not known at this point — she does not believe he necessarily will be tried and convicted.

Hamilton says she does not know if the looters are even from Ferguson.

"I think it is an unhealthy way to try to be heard," she says. "But I do believe that it has been a very loud way of getting people's attention."

Carla Williams, 31, is a graduate student in MSU's physical therapy program. She also grew up in Florissant. Her parents still live there. Williams, who is white, was married in Florissant in 2007.

"I am shocked," she says. "It wasn't the kind of place where you would expect a thing like that to happen.

"It seems to me that people are taking advantage of the existing chaos, looting, burning down that gas station," she says.

"The cops feel very threatened and there are people saying 'kill the police,' " she says. "But the police are being so aggressive they are almost making the backlash even worse. It makes me nervous. My mom and dad are still there and they are old."

Melanie McCrary, a 20-year-old theater major, is angry that Brown was shot and killed. She is black.

"He did not deserve to be executed," she says.

And she is angry at those who have resorted to violence and looting.

"I really am struggling to understand the people in my community," she says.

"I have come to realize that a lot of people are angry and a lot of people do not know how to cope with their anger," she says.

McCrary has visited her family in Ferguson since the protests and rioting began. When she viewed the burned and looted stores, she said, she felt less safe in a place where she had always felt secure.

"You get a little nervous because you don't know what people are doing," she said. "I don't know if they are aiming to hurt each other."