#Ferguson: A Year Later

Last week, I found myself in the St. Louis area on business.  I decided that since it was only a 20 minute drive to Ferguson that I at least wanted to see the city to see what it was like.  I had no idea that I would leave with an empty feeling inside.

Arriving in the city didn't feel like arriving in any other city.  All of the stories in the media over the past year and has turned Ferguson into somewhat of a "haunted house" type of feel.  You're looking around as if to expect to see something "pop off."

But as I drove through the city, I didn't see media vans and cameras.  I didn't see any protesters (most protests occurred during the evening and I was there during the morning).  The city appeared just like any other city.  There did appear to be tension in the air just from some of the locals we came into contact with, but for the most part, just another day in an every day city.

We thought about just turning around and leaving, but then I decided to pull over and Google the Mike Brown incident.  I wanted to learn more about where it occurred.  Maybe we were on the wrong side of town and the commotion that we see each night on TV is elsewhere.  That's when I came across the street name where Mike Brown was shot.  It was about a 10 minute drive from where we were.

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I wasn't aware of the memorial dedicated to Mike Brown.  When I drove down the street where everything happened, I was actually surprised to come up on it so quickly.  There was very little traffic at the time and the few cars that did drive by did so slowly.

Four kids, no older than 12 years old, came walking by the memorial.  They barely looked at it as they crossed the street and said "hello" to us on their way into their apartment.  I didn't want to ask them if they knew Mike Brown or not, but somehow I knew that they did.  What did the memorial mean to them?  Did it make them hate cops more or did it make them fear cops more?  Did they look at Mike Brown as some sort of martyr for allegedly standing up to an officer or did they look at him as a troubled kid who took things too far?

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Once I drove past the memorial, I pulled over to get a closer look at some items placed on the side of the road.  This is where I felt the bottom of my stomach drop.  I saw stuffed animals with names written on their shirts: 

• Aiyana Jones, a 7-year old killed in a police raid in Detroit.  
• Tamir Rice, a 12-year old killed on a playground in Cleveland with a toy gun.
• Sandra Bland, a 28-year old arrested for resisting arrest despite never being initially charged with a crime.

There has to be another way for cops to do their jobs without incidents like these.  Why does everything have to end in tragedy?  At one time, being a black man made you feel like prey, but I never imagined that feeling would extend to black women and black children.

If you've read my blog long enough then you know that I have no tolerance for criminals.  But you also know that I believe in the punishment fitting the crime.  We'll never know if Mike Brown actually tried to harm that officer on that day because he's not here to tell his story.  A lot of people have not gotten to tell their stories because they are dead.

As we left Ferguson, we were silent for a good 20 minutes.  However, before we got outside of the city limits, we saw two kids walking down the street and it made us wonder if they would make it home that day.  So many never did.

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25 Years Later We're Still Fighting The Power - @PublicEnemyFTP

I remember turning on the TV and seeing this video for the first time. I was mesmerized as a 16 year old to see the power within the video of a group of people coming together for a united front.  Even at such an early age I recognized what that video meant to me as a black teen.  It meant that there was still work to do to bring about equality in the United States among the races.  I had no idea how much more this video would mean to me 25 years later after Michael Brown and Ferguson, MO.

Seeing the unity that "Fight The Power" displayed in a rap video was nothing short of amazing.  This wasn't a group of rappers coming together on their own for a cause like "Self Destruction" or "We're All in the Same Gang."  This was a video about a rap group marching down the streets of Brooklyn during the time of a political rally and the people just randomly started joining in.  It was just recently that I found out that the neighborhood people showed up only by word of mouth.  There was no plan to have them all there.

I got on board the PE train with their first album, "Yo! Bum Rush the Show!" in 1987.  I was fascinated with the side of blackness they taught that I couldn't get anywhere else at the time.  Remember that this was roughly five years before people starting regularly using the Internet.  In fact, a majority of the black history that I learned as a youth came from listening to Public Enemy.  I would listen to their album and then go to my city library to learn about the people they mentioned.   Stokely Carmichael.  H. Rap Brown.  Huey P. Newton (Huey Freeman on the "Boondocks" series is named after him).  These were people that were never talked about in any history books that I read at school.  And regardless of how people felt about them and what they represented they were still a very important part of black history which is essentially American history.

The video also contained images that will forever be embedded in my brain of Angela Davis, Medgar Evers, Jackie Robinson, signs that encouraged voter registration, and most importantly, youth participation.  There were kids everywhere in this video.  Also, one of the most powerful scenes at the time was at the 6:00 mark when teenager, Tawana Brawley, was shown standing in all white.

Tawana was part of a huge rape case back in 1987 when she accused six white men of raping and defiling her.  Although it was ruled in 1988 that she made up the false allegations against her accusers, she has always stuck by her story and said that the rape occurred.  Seeing her smiling and participating in the video was a sign that she was still standing strong with the support of the black community.  The community had her back.  That sentiment was also shown in Spike Lee's movie, "Do The Right Thing," with a scene that displayed graffiti on the wall that said "Tawana told the truth."  I can still remember the applause in the theater when people saw it during the movie.

"Fight The Power" would prove to have an impact on the consciousness of many people of all colors as it depicted how black people came together to promote unity.  Another important part of the video to note is that it showed how blacks can be peaceful yet firm in making an impact on society.  Despite the "nervous" police presence according to P.E. front man, Chuck D, there were no incidents.  Not one.

Enter 2014.  Music has changed tremendously.  The only people rapping about political consciousness aren't on the radio.  Gone are the days where KRS-1 is rapping "Why is That?" or Gang Starr is dropping knowledge on "Who's Gonna Take The Weight?"

I'll continue to hold on to old school rap although I know it's next to impossible to pass down to younger generations.  They just aren't buying into things from back in the day.  However, I'll do what I can to expose them to conscious rap with hopes that it catches on.  I won't let Public Enemy die with my generation.

So, click on the video below and "Fight The Power" in 2014.  We still have a long way to go.