Police have lost sight of purpose, some say
FERGUSON –
As demonstrators encounter what they call heavy-handed police night after night in Ferguson, some are complaining the taxpayer-funded police are "waging war" on the very populace that pays them.
"Why is your gun pointed at me? Why are you looking down the sight of your gun? I paid for your gun, I paid for your bullets, I paid for your boots you walk in, I paid for the armored vehicle that you have driving around here," said Kennard Williams as he watched marchers pass by along West Florissant Avenue. "And it's like they're declaring war against citizens and it's disgusting."
The concerns come in the context of a city where blacks are underrepresented in government, despite constituting a majority of the population.
The largely white law enforcement presence that polices the demonstrations each day stands in sharp contrast to the protestors, the majority of whom are black. That disparity is in line with the overall racial disparity in Ferguson, where blacks make up nearly 70 percent of the population, while whites hold most government leadership positions.
Don'yell Harris marched Tuesday night. He said police should protect and serve, not use weapons against the crowd.
"We pay taxes. We should have a say so in what ... goes on in our government," Harris said.
Police say they are committed to protecting the right of assembly for peaceful protestors but that "agitators" insert themselves among demonstrations, which results in the use of tactics the protestors say are heavy-handed.
Protesters counter the large presence of police itself invites confrontation, and that police often escalate their use of force too quickly.
Ferguson's racial makeup has changed dramatically over the past 25 years, shifting from about 75 percent white to 67 percent black. In a recent New York Times op-ed, Jeff Smith, a former Missouri state senator, attempted to explain why the proportion of blacks in elected leadership has not changed with the population.
In St. Louis City, he said, which has more minorities among the leadership, "well-established churches, Democratic ward organizations and other civic institutions mobilize voters in black wards. But because blacks have reached the suburbs in significant numbers only over the past 15 years or so, fewer suburban black communities have deeply ingrained civic organizations."
Voting turnout has also been low. As MSNBC reported last week, only 12.3 percent of eligible voters in Ferguson cast a vote in the city council and mayoral election. Harris expressed hesitance about voting and appeared skeptical that leaders listen to people.
"We don't have a say so except voting. You want us to vote for all these people but we can't pitch in with what we feel should go down in all this," Harris said.
Nowhere has that skepticism been more pronounced than in the demonstrators' view of how the Michael Brown case is being handled by St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch. Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer, Darren Wilson.
On Wednesday morning, a grand jury began hearing evidence in the Brown case. A couple dozen demonstrators marched in front of the Justice Center in Clayton where McCulloch's office is located. They believe McCulloch will use the grand jury as cover not to indict or charge the officer.
Some, including Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, have called for a special prosecutor to be appointed instead. Tuesday night, Gov. Jay Nixon said he would not ask McCulloch to recuse himself.
