Early Monday, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon signed an Executive Order deploying the National Guard to help keep peace in Ferguson.
Wow. When most of us think of national troops being sent for security purposes to a state within our borders, we think of Eisenhower and 1957. The President sent troops to Arkansas to help protect the lives of nine African-American students who enrolled in Central High School after the historic?Brown v. Board of Education?Supreme Court decision. White Southerners were so angry that the lives of these students were greatly endangered just by them showing up at the doors of the former all-white high school. Now, in 2014, clashes between protesters and the police have gotten so out of hand, Governor Nixon is sending in national troops.
More clashes occurred Sunday as a preliminary private autopsy report claims 18 year old Michael Brown was shot at least 6 times by Officer Darren Wilson. In an official statement, Nixon said:
“Given these deliberate, coordinated and intensifying violent attacks on lives and property in Ferguson,?I am directing?the highly capable men and women of the Missouri National Guard to assist . . . in restoring peace and order to this community.?
Protesters and people around the country are furious that Wilson has not even been arrested. The police and executive authorities in Ferguson, St. Louis, and Missouri, do not appear to be as concerned about preventing such clashes by conducting a transparent and thorough investigation into the killing of an unarmed teenager; rather, they seem to only be focused on preventing further violence.
Yes, security is essential, and I, personally, do not support looting, attacks on the police or other protesters, or any other acts of violence and destruction. I also do not support excessive police exertion of authority and tear gas being thrown at crowds of American citizens. The police and some media outlets focus mostly on rowdy protesters, but people who are actually there often have differing tales, saying that a lot of the police force’s actions against them are without provocation.?And while I am angry,?I am not in Ferguson. The anger I feel at the Michael Brown killing and subsequent actions on behalf of the police is intense, and I am sitting in the comfy confines of my home in Charlotte, NC. I cannot imagine how irate I might be if my town was ravaged the way Ferguson has been, mainly because the police do not seem to care about revealing all aspects of this case.
With an arrest and release of the “official” incident and autopsy reports, the people of Ferguson will undoubtedly cool down and peace will permeate. ?A community feels that at the very?least they should be able to expect an arrest when an unarmed teen is gunned down in broad daylight. Yet, we are over a week into this tragedy and this has not occurred. With pictures of dogs taunting protesters and police in riot gear, many have already compared 2014 Ferguson to scenes from the Jim Crow South. Now, with the National Guard going into this Missouri town, we?are realizing that this comparison isn’t actually hyperbolic at all.
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Edited by D.H.
