We ask you, America, not to look away. Don’t pretend Ferguson is so far away. This is America, these are our children.
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It’s too easy for us, in our cozy homes far away, to detach from what’s happening in Ferguson, and what’s happening in cities all over the United States, where police brutality has become such a normal part of daily life that it disappears from the news.
But the death of Mike Brown, a soon-to-be college student (not that it matters, he was also a son, a friend… a human being) who was unarmed when shot by police, has risen to the forefront. Just days after a man was killed in a Walmart, and days before another young man was killed while lying on the ground in Los Angeles, the killing of Mike Brown is a reminder of so many unarmed young Black men who have been brutally murdered by police and security guards in the last few years.
But we ask you, America, to please not look away. Please, don’t pretend that Ferguson is so far away from wherever you live. It’s right next door. It is a part of us. These are our children.
Time for a change, in laws, in the criminal justice system, in any system that presumes one race is more dangerous than another.
Don’t shoot. And don’t look away.
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The Civil Rights Act is 50 years old. These two pictures were taken 50 years apart. Behold our progress. #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/8PNn8eteO2
— Jackie Summers (@jackfrombkln) August 13, 2014
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Such a powerful image from the student of Howard University. #MichaelBrown pic.twitter.com/RsuPS8zAhE — Benjamin Crump, Esq. (@attorneycrump) August 14, 2014
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Weapons safety rule #2: “Never point your weapon at anything you do not intend to shoot.” http://t.co/tAtnqaOvW5 pic.twitter.com/Y3mdBsuiWZ
— Paul Szoldra (@PaulSzoldra) August 12, 2014
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Locals posing with their #HandsUp by a burnt down gas station in #Ferguson @vicenews #dontshoot #MikeBrown pic.twitter.com/9ygdIInc7V — Alice Speri (@alicesperi) August 13, 2014
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My neighbor, Michael and I supporting #MikeBrown #DONTSHOOT pic.twitter.com/WubkuF31Mk — Michael Butler (@MOMichaelButler) August 14, 2014
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I counted 70+ SWAT officers. Guns trained on crowds. Insanity. pic.twitter.com/stev2G6v4b — Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 13, 2014
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Younger than #MikeBrown, but not that much younger #Ferguson #dontshoot @vicenews pic.twitter.com/CmxiIzfDIZ — Alice Speri (@alicesperi) August 13, 2014
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Don’t look away.
Don’t detach. This is America, our America. Regardless of your skin color, victims of police brutality are our family.
Speak out, speak up.
as a brit, the photographs of this paramilitary police department are arresting, they almost look like soldiers. and if as according to the below article (which i found on reddit), they are now harassing local and international press, they are out of control Two KSDK-TV photojournalists and reporter Elizabeth Matthews were filing a story about the cancellation of school in the Ferguson-Florissant school district. Matthews said they reported from a Ferguson neighborhood just outside a perimeter established by police. The crew was working out of a SUV and a larger “live” van. At least one other TV crew from Al… Read more »