Sunday, August 17, 2014

The Morning After the First Curfew in Ferguson, MO

Last night was the first night of the State Imposed Curfew in the city of Ferguson.  The curfew was to run from midnight until 5:00a.m.  As stated by the Governor and others this curfew was imposed to give the citizens of Ferguson some peace from the civil unrest that has been targeting their community since the shooting death of Michael Brown.

I was very encouraged by the response of the citizens of Ferguson to the curfew.  The first four interviews aired by KMOV channel 4 St. Louis were very positive.  These citizens said they understood and were grateful for the action.  The intended to abide by the request.  They also said that they would continue to peacefully protest each day up to the curfew.

I was further encouraged by the New Black Panther Party Leader, Malik Shabazz and his efforts to encourage the protestors to disburse by the time of the curfew.  Shabazz and others from his group went throughout the protest with bullhorns requesting the people to disburse before the curfew deadline.  To me this showed that they want to be heard, but they also want to honor the residents of Ferguson by not advocating violence.

But unfortunately not everyone had this same thought process.  One young man interview by KMOV as he lead a group of protestors towards the police, stated, “They got guns.  We got guns.  We are ready.”  That type of thinking is what causes problems.  This also happened after the curfew.  Oh and by the way, the young man, whom I will withhold his name (but KMOV was not as generous) was not a resident of Ferguson.  He came from outside of the area.

It is also interesting that just 45 minutes later the police had to respond to a report of a shooting at the site of the protests.  One protestor had shot another one and critically injured that person.

My question is this, “Why don’t people protest the shooting of a protestor by another protestor?”  It would seem to me that if you want “justice” which is what they are chanting, then you would want justice for the others that are being gunned down and critically injured.

So, far this makes six protestors who have been shot by other protestors, not by police.  That is unacceptable.

Peaceful protest is a right in our country.  I applaud that right.  But when it gets out of hand we need to take a step back and ask ourselves, “What are we trying to accomplish?” 

Let’s stop the violence.  Let’s begin the healing.  Let’s restore the community to a place where neighbors can live, laugh, love and congregate together.  Let’s get the flow of groceries and necessities started back up.  To do that the senseless looting and violence need to stop.


In the meantime, please continue to pray for our communities in North County St. Louis.

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