DOCSLIB.ORG

Coming to Ferguson: Building a Nonviolent Movement

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Coming to Ferguson: Building a Nonviolent Movement COMING TO FERGUSON: BUILDING A NONVIOLENT MOVEMENT Developed by the Deep Abiding Love Project, Summer 2015 | DeepAbidingLove.com FERGUSON IS EVERYWHERE According to Killed By Police, 555 people were killed by U.S. police in the first six months of this year.1 Five hundred and fifty‐five people . We hear about some of these cases, not all. Not the majority of them. And when we do hear about them, there always seems to be a police representative standing in front of a microphone justifying their actions, asking for peace and saying “This isn’t Ferguson.” Why do they feel compelled to say that? Because Ferguson is everywhere. Ferguson itself is a small municipality north of Saint Louis, MO. Darren Wilson, the Ferguson Police officer who murdered Mike Brown was one of about 50 officers in the FPD. It’s a small town, and and locals will tell you that compared to other places, the police aren’t even that bad there. But they left Mike Brown on the pavement in the August heat, uncovered and without medical help, for over 4 hours. They wouldn’t let his parents near his body. Pictures of a man holding a piece of cardboard with “Ferguson Police just executed my unarmed son” hastily scrawled on it spread on social media. An unspoken agreement between the Black community and the police had been broken. This disrespect went too far. And so the resistance started. People gathered at the site of his murder, building a memorial. The police brought out dogs, and eventually riot gear. But people did not go inside. More people came out. And they kept coming ‐‐ through tear gas, rubber bullets, mace, live ammunition, tanks, LRAD, and snipers. And in October, when Vonderrit Meyers was killed by an off‐duty officer in Saint Louis City, people took to the streets there too, traveling the 15 miles between the Vonderrit memorial and the Ferguson Police Department. And in late November 2014, when it was announced that Darren Wilson would not be indicted, cities all over the country mobilized in solidarity. And so began a movement. When the police kill now, there is an organized response, no matter where it happens. Madison, Cleveland, North Carolina, New York, Denver, Saint Louis. Everywhere. At a rate of more than a thousand a year, the police are killing people. In this curriculum, you will see both Saint Louis and Ferguson used. Saint Louis generally refers to the city and surrounding areas (including Ferguson). “Ferguson” is almost an abstract concept ‐ it represents much more than that small municipality (one of 90 in St. Louis County). It is a movement of resistance, an uprising, the catalyst for a revolution. Ferguson is everywhere. 1 2015, Killed By Police: killedbypolice.net 1 In order for us as poor and oppressed people to become part of a society that is meaningful, the system under which we now exist has to be radically changed. This means that we are going to have to learn to think in radical terms. I use the term radical in its original meaning--getting down to and understanding the root cause. It means facing a system that does not lend itself to your needs and devising means by which you change that system. - Ella Baker WHY AM I HOLDING THIS? Many people have come to Ferguson with good intentions and have done a lot of damage. The situation here rapidly changes and there is no centralized leadership or primary organization; this is one of Ferguson’s strengths because it can help prevent the replication of oppressive power structures within the movement, but it also leaves room for a lot of bullshit to go unchecked. Read this so that you understand the landscape better. Read this so that you understand your role. Read this to understand your preconceptions and biases and how they can impact your work. Read this so that your time in Ferguson is helpful and not hurtful. ACTIVITY: The Why Come Survey WHEN YOU ARE HERE: “If you ain’t from here…” There is no consensus among St. Louis activists about outsiders coming to Ferguson to protest and organize. Some local organizers feel that outsiders are disruptive, distracting and extractive. When needed, local leadership extends invitations with specific asks for out of town organizers to support large events like Ferguson October, and many people 2 believe that that is the only good way for outsiders to come in. Local organizers who have sacrificed much of their security and well being to do the work every day for the last year are wary of outsiders coming in for a few days to be in front of cameras and to pick up shine2 from their ongoing hard work. SHOW UP AND SHUT UP: Understand that your role in Ferguson is different than your role in your own community. Here, the only credential that matters is how many times you have shown up. Your role as an outsider is to be present, to really listen. Be flexible and learn to recognize the new forms leadership has taken in this movement, figure out how to listen to new voices without putting that burden on local organizers or giving unasked for counsel. That being said, the impulse to come to Ferguson is understandable. It is the seat of a resistance that has become a global uprising. There is a unique energy that exists in St. Louis and Ferguson that you won’t find anywhere else in the country. The draw is undeniable. Local activists understand that, and many welcome the attention and resources that outsiders can bring here. As someone who is not from here, it is crucial that you come in with humility – Show Up and Shut Up. Movement High: The adrenaline and confidence rush that some people experience during or after a conflict with the police. May result in a desire to change your facebook profile pic to one of you in conflict with the police. When you are not approaching your presence in someone else’s community with humility, you are doing more than being a jerk. You could be placing other people in real danger. At this point in the movement, people have been working and organizing together for well over 300 days. Many people have lost jobs, homes, cars, and relationships. They have been subjected to incredible violence from the state, surveilled, harassed and threatened. We know each other well, and know how people operate and how to watch each other’s backs. You simply can’t know that coming in from outside, so it is crucial that you are always thoughtful about the role you are playing. You could be endangering those around you. If you are coming in to Ferguson with the idea that you are going to engage with the police, get your photograph taken, get more Twitter followers, and/or write something for a national publication, you are seeking a Movement High. Don’t do that. Do not use the work of local activists to build up your own profile. If you find yourself holding a bull horn, leading a march, giving direction, doing an interview, or otherwise putting yourself 2 raise their own public profile 3 in a leadership position, please sit down3 ‐ you are almost certainly blocking a young, local, Black leader from doing the same.4 Ferguson activists have been on the street for a year – collectively, they hold the entire history of the movement. Come with humility, and follow their lead. They can and will save your life. But please don’t expect local leadership to be available for you at all times, or at all. Some local leaders will be more than happy to tell you harrowing stories of tear gas, and some really need rest and time away from crowds. Sometimes both of these instincts exist in the same person. Be mindful of what you are asking of people. Build a team that you will be with on the street, teach each other, learn together, build love. READ: Building Your Crew ASK YOURSELF: Before you speak, ask yourself to WAIT and THINK: Why Am I Talking? Is what I want to say: True? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Known? There is a lot of knowledge in our movement spaces, please don’t assume that you know more than the people you are working with. Give only what you are asked for. Am I white? If you’re white, you are probably used to having your authority and expertise respected in any space you enter at any time, regardless of whether or not you actually have any authority or expertise. That’s white privilege. Please be extra aware of this in Ferguson, and before you insert yourself into a space, WAIT and THINK. READ: Dear Fellow White People by John Costello What impact will my actions have on people who will be staying in this space after I’m gone? One of the frustrations voiced most by local activists is that people come in from out of town, ask a lot from people on the ground, and then leave without contributing much to the community. Take time to think about what impact you are making, and work to ensure that it is positive. Consider donating to any of the local groups or individuals mentioned in this curriculum, or the groups or individuals that assisted you in your trip.5 3 calm down, disengage, admit defeat 4 If media asks specifically for an “out of town perspective” and you are white or non‐Black POC, what they mean is they are afraid of Black people.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Black Lives Matter Syllabus
    Black Lives Matter: Race, Resistance, and Populist Protest New York University Fall 2015 Thursdays 6:20-9pm Professor Frank Leon Roberts Fall 2015 Office Hours: (By Appointment Only) 429 1 Wash Place Thursdays 1:00-3:00pm, 9:00pm-10:00pm From the killings of teenagers Michael Brown and Vonderrick Myers in Ferguson, Missouri; to the suspicious death of activist Sandra Bland in Waller Texas; to the choke-hold death of Eric Garner in New York, to the killing of 17 year old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida and 7 year old Aiyana Stanley-Jones in Detroit, Michigan--. #blacklivesmatter has emerged in recent years as a movement committed to resisting, unveiling, and undoing histories of state sanctioned violence against black and brown bodies. This interdisciplinary seminar links the #blacklivesmatter” movement to four broader phenomena: 1) the rise of the U.S. prison industrial complex and its relationship to the increasing militarization of inner city communities 2) the role of the media industry (including social media) in influencing national conversations about race and racism and 3) the state of racial justice activism in the context of a purportedly “post-racial” Obama Presidency and 4) the increasingly populist nature of decentralized protest movements in the contemporary United States (including the tea party movement, the occupy wall street movement, etc.) Among the topics of discussion that we will debate and engage this semester will include: the distinction between #blacklivesmatter (as both a network and decentralized movement) vs. a broader twenty first century movement for black lives; the moral ethics of “looting” and riotous forms of protest; violent vs.
    [Show full text]
  • 14Sl-Cc03657
    Electronically Filed - St Louis County October 27, 2014 10:41 AM 14SL-CC03657 IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CIRCUIT COURT OF MISSOURI ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI SWIISH, a Missouri Limited ) Liability Corporation, ) COREY NICKSON-CLARK, and ) CHANTELLE NICKSON-CLARK, and ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) vs. ) Case No. ) Jury Trial Demanded GOVERNOR JAY NIXON, in his ) official capacity ) Serve At: ) Governor Jay Nixon ) Office of Governor Jay Nixon ) P.O. Box 720 ) Jefferson City, MO 65102 ) ) SUPERINTENDENT COLONEL ) RONALD K. REPLOGLE, of the ) Missouri State Highway Patrol, in his ) official capacity ) Serve At: ) Superintendent Ronald Replogle ) Missouri State Highway Patrol ) General Headquarters ) 1510 East Elm Street ) Jefferson City, MO 65101 ) ) THE MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY ) PATROL, ) Serve At: ) Superintendent Ronald Replogle ) Missouri State Highway Patrol ) General Headquarters ) 1510 East Elm Street ) Jefferson City, MO 65101 ) ) THE CITY OF JENNINGS, ) a City of the Third Class, ) Serve At: ) Mayor Benjamin Sutphin ) 2120 Hord Ave. ) St. Louis, MO 63136 ) ) THE CITY OF FERGUSON, ) Electronically Filed - St Louis County October 27, 2014 10:41 AM a Charter City, ) Serve At: ) Mayor James Knowles ) 110 Church St. ) Ferguson, MO 63135 ) ) ST. LOUIS COUNTY, ) Serve At: ) County Executive Charlie Dooley ) 41 S. Central Ave. ) Clayton, MO 63105 ) ) Defendants. ) PETITION FOR DAMAGES For Unconstitutional Taking of Property and for Inverse Condemnation COME NOW Plaintiffs Corey Nickson-Clark, Chantelle Nickson-Clark, and Swiish, LLC (“Swiish”), and state for their cause of action against defendants Governor Nixon, Superintendent Replogle, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the City of Jennings, the City of Ferguson, and St. Louis County as follows: 1. Plaintiffs Corey Nickson-Clark and Chantelle Nickson Clark own and operate the bar and grill doing business as “Swiish Bar and Grill”, which is a Missouri limited liability company in good standing, doing business at 8021 West Florissant Ave.
    [Show full text]
  • Ferguson to Geneva Statement
    Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights Hearing on the State of Civil and Human Rights in the United States Tuesday, December 9, 2014 Testimony by: Organization for Black Struggle, HandsUpUnited, Members of the Ferguson to Geneva Delegation The failure to acknowledge and reform racial profiling and police impunity has damaged the United States‟ international reputation. The U.S. has traditionally sought to position itself as a beacon of human rights and democracy for the rest of the world to emulate. However, the failure to hold Officer Darren Wilson responsible for killing Mike Brown served as a lodestar of a different tenor. On this the occasion of the State of Civil and Human Rights in the United States hearing before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights, the undersigned organizations and individual members of the Ferguson to Geneva delegation submit this testimony in the hopes of addressing this crisis before it further damages America‟s standing in the global community. In the wake of the police killing of Michael Brown, Jr. in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, 2014, we have deemed it necessary to employ all possible forums to expose the serious human rights concerns surrounding that killing, the militarized police response to ensuing demonstrations, as well as the deep structural racism and discrimination inherent in a justice system that systematically refuses to hold the police departments accountable for their racial profiling and targeted police violence against black communities across the country. Why human rights? This is a question of asserting our human dignity.
    [Show full text]
  • Freedom to Thrive: Reimagining Safety & Security in Our Communities CONTENTS
    FREEDOM TO THRIVE REIMAGINING SAFETY & SECURITY IN OUR COMMUNITIES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS About the Authors The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) is a national network of 48 grassroots organizations in 32 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. CPD works to create equity, opportunity, and a dynamic democracy in partnership with high-impact base-building organizations, organizing alliances, and progressive unions. CPD strengthens our collective capacity to envision and win an innovative pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial and economic justice agenda. CPD’s Racial Justice Campaign works in collaboration and solidarity with our partners and allies across the country for an end to discriminatory and oppressive policies which marginalize Black people and other communities of color. Law for Black Lives is a network of over 3,000 radical lawyers, law students, and legal workers committed to helping build the power of Black communities and organizers. Formed out of the uprisings in Ferguson and Baltimore, Law for Black Lives works with individuals and organizations across the country to embolden, defend and protect the ongoing movement for Black liberation. Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) is an activist member- based organization of Black 18–35 year old abolitionist freedom fighters moving toward liberation using a Black Queer Feminist lens. BYP100 is building a network focused on transformative leadership development; grassroots, direct action, and digital organizing; policy advocacy; and political education. BYP100 envisions a world where all Black people have economic, social, political, and educational freedom. This report was written by Kate Hamaji and Kumar Rao of the Center for Popular Democracy, Marbre Stahly-Butts of Law for Black Lives, and Janaé Bonsu, Charlene Carruthers, Roselyn Berry, and Denzel McCampbell of BYP100, in collaboration with 27 local organizations around the country.
    [Show full text]
  • The Emergence of Black Lives Matter Under the Presidency of Barack Obama
    Département d’Études Anglophones The Emergence of Black Lives Matter under the Presidency of Barack Obama Master 1 LLCER Research Dissertation presented by Dorian CLAUZON Supervisor: Nicolas GACHON June 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of abbreviations.............................................................................................................................. 5 Introduction......................................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter I: The Socioeconomic Context ............................................................................................ 11 1.1 The Election of Barack Obama and the Postraciality Myth........................................................ 11 1.2 The Ferguson Events ................................................................................................................ 14 1.3 The Subprime Crisis and Ferguson ........................................................................................... 18 1.4 Toward a Movement ................................................................................................................. 19 Chapter II: A New Movement........................................................................................................... 23 2.1 Why “Black” Lives Matter........................................................................................................ 23 2.2 Rejection of Top-down Representativity ..................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • 4 Racist Policing, Practical Resonance, and Frame Alignment in Ferguson
    4 Racist policing, practical resonance, and frame alignment in Ferguson Joshua Bloom and Zachary David Frampton Michael Brown, a Black teenager, was killed on Canfield Drive in Ferguson, MO, by officer Darren Wilson at about noon on Saturday, August 9, 2014. Local Black activists protested what they charged was a case of racist policing. Soon, hundreds of people in the local Black community (see below), and hundreds of thousands of people globally, were discussing the case on social media (Hitlin and Vogt 2014). Many adopted the activists’ framing of the killing as an expression of racist policing. And some offered support. For example, by the next morning, Reverend Al Sharpton—a leading national anti-racist activist— had set a date to travel to Ferguson (AP 2014). When Michael Brown was killed, it was not at first obvious that a lot of people would adopt the racist policing frame about the killing. At the time, there was not yet a national Black Lives Matter organization, and the phrase “Black Lives Matter” was still unfamiliar to most people. The killing of Eric Garner three weeks earlier and the killing of Trayvon Martin two and a half years earlier had garnered national attention. Michelle Alexander’s New Jim Crow (2010) got many people talking about racism in criminal justice. His- torically, many Black protest organizations sought to challenge racist policing (see, e.g., Bloom and Martin 2016). But in the period preceding August 2014, in contrast to the period that followed, large-scale protests of racist policing in response to police killings of Black people was relatively infrequent and localized.1 Something changed in Ferguson.
    [Show full text]
  • Mergers, Annexations & the Racial
    Saint Louis University Public Law Review Volume 34 Number 1 United We Stand or United We Fall: The Reunification of St. Louis City and County Article 10 (Volume XXXIV, No. 1) 2014 House to House: Mergers, Annexations & the Racial Implications of City-County Politics in St. Louis Anders Walker Saint Louis University School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/plr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Walker, Anders (2014) "House to House: Mergers, Annexations & the Racial Implications of City-County Politics in St. Louis," Saint Louis University Public Law Review: Vol. 34 : No. 1 , Article 10. Available at: https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/plr/vol34/iss1/10 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Saint Louis University Public Law Review by an authorized editor of Scholarship Commons. For more information, please contact Susie Lee. SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW HOUSE TO HOUSE: MERGERS, ANNEXATIONS & THE RACIAL IMPLICATIONS OF CITY-COUNTY POLITICS IN ST. LOUIS ANDERS WALKER* INTRODUCTION For three weeks in August 2014, the unremarkable hamlet of Ferguson, Missouri exploded. Sparks flew first on August 9, when a white police officer shot an unarmed black teenager in broad daylight, prompting a coterie of witnesses to provide a kaleidoscopic portrait of what appeared to be a struggle, an attempted escape, a possible surrender, and a gruesome crime scene, all of which stoked outrage in the local, predominantly African American community. As angry crowds gathered on Ferguson’s streets, county police responded with an overwhelming show of force, prompting almost two weeks of night battles, lootings, police reinforcements, anarchist provocations, media arrests, and international outrage.
    [Show full text]
  • US News Coverage of Racial Issues in a Digital Era Carolyn Nielsen A
    Moment or Movement? U.S. News Coverage of Racial Issues in a Digital Era Carolyn Nielsen A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2017 Reading Committee: David Domke, Chair LeiLani Nishime Matthew Powers Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Department of Communication i ©Copyright 2017 Carolyn Nielsen i University of Washington Abstract Moment or Movement? U.S. News Coverage of Racial Issues in a Digital Era Carolyn Nielsen Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor David Domke Department of Communication This dissertation examined how reporters cover racial issues at a time when violence by police against African Americans has risen to a new level of salience among journalists. Drawing on Democratic Theory, I created a taxonomy of journalism about race across three paradigms: Traditional, Interactive Race Beat, and Journalism 3.0. I then performed a narrative analysis of coverage across the three paradigms. I employed the lens of Critical Race Theory to analyze coverage of three racial moments: the election of the U.S.’s first African American president, the rise of The Black Lives Matter Movement, and the civil unrest following the killing of an unarmed Black teen by a White police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Next, I conducted interviews with journalists in each paradigm to assess influences on their reporting and interpreted their responses using theories of new institutionalism. Overall, I found Traditional journalism broke with previous norms to more closely resemble the coverage patterns found in born-digital Journalism 3.0 coverage, which showed racism as systemic, foregrounded the lived experiences of the oppressed, leveraged social media to monitor and interact with the audience, and eschewed the professional norm of objectivity.
    [Show full text]
  • The Genius of Ordinary People: How the Ferguson Collaborative Became the Voice of the Community
    THE GENIUS OF ORDINARY PEOPLE How the Ferguson Collaborative Became the Voice of the Community AUGUST 2019 PREPARED BY Thomas B. Harvey Program Director, Justice Project Advancement Project National Office Miriam Nemeth Senior Staff Attorney, Justice Project Advancement Project National Office COVER ART Aaron Banks Photography photos.aaronbanks.com 2 THE GENIUS OF ORDINARY PEOPLE TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword: Advancement Project National Office’s Commitment To Ferguson Collaborative ................................................................................................. 5 Finding Community In Crisis ................................................................................................................... 7 The Ferguson Collaborative Finds Its Voice ............................................................................................ 9 Holding Ferguson Accountable To The Uprising And Pushing For The Consent Decree ...................................................................................................10 After The Consent Decree, The Work Continues ...................................................................................12 Restorative Change In Ferguson’s Municipal Court: Dismissing 3,000 Cases .......................................................................................................................13 Stop The Karr-uption: The Ouster Of Ferguson Prosecutor Stephanie Karr ..........................................15 Organizing For Change: Neighborhood Policing Steering Committee And
    [Show full text]
  • Download from #Blacklivesmatter to Black Liberation
    CHAPTER SIX Black Lives Matter: A Movement, Not a Moment What happened to my daughter was unjust. It was unjust. It was re- ally unjust. I’ve been through all the range of emotions that I can go through, concerning this. But I will not stop, as all of the rest of the mothers have said, until I get some answers. —Cassandra Johnson, mother of Tanisha Anderson, killed by Cleveland police in £ very movement needs a catalyst, an event that captures people’s experiences and draws them out from their isolation into a collec- Etive force with the power to transform social conditions. Few could have predicted that white police o¹cer Darren Wilson shooting Mike Brown would ignite a rebellion in a small, largely unknown Missouri suburb called Ferguson. For reasons that may never be clear, Brown’s death was a breaking point for the African Americans of Ferguson— but also for hundreds of thousands of Black people across the United States. Perhaps it was the inhumanity of the police leaving Brown’s body to fester in the hot summer sun for four and a half hours after Copyright © 2016. Haymarket Books. All rights reserved. Books. All rights © 2016. Haymarket Copyright killing him, keeping his parents away at gunpoint and with dogs. “We was treated like we wasn’t parents, you know?” Mike Brown Sr., said. “at’s what I didn’t understand. ey sicced dogs on us. ey wouldn’t 153 Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta. From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2016. Accessed September 17, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central.
    [Show full text]
  • Black Contemporary Social Movements, Resource Mobilization, and Black Musical Activism
    3-DENNIS (DO NOT DELETE) 7/8/2016 9:15 AM BLACK CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, RESOURCE MOBILIZATION, AND BLACK MUSICAL ACTIVISM ANDREA L. DENNIS* I INTRODUCTION In the last few years a grassroots social movement has emerged from the Black community. This movement aims to eliminate police and vigilante violence against Blacks nationwide. Blacks in America have long been subjected to this violence, and the issue has recently captured the country’s attention. Multiple groups are pressing for change, including Ferguson Action, Black Lives Matter, Say Her Name, and the leaderless social media effort organized by DeRay McKesson and Johnetta Elzie, to name a few.1 These fledgling activist groups have already experienced some success, garnering public attention and government response.2 As it currently stands, this nascent civil-rights movement has the potential to advance racial justice in twenty-first- century America, but its path is not without obstacles. According to social-movement theory, the ability of activists to further marshal support is vital to the continued development of this civil-rights movement. Whether engaging in street-level activism or pursuing formal change through judicial, legislative, or electoral processes, movement organizers will have to think rationally and strategically about resource mobilization and oppositional forces. At a minimum, they must amass money and manpower for their activities, establish group credibility in the eyes of their participants and Copyright © 2016 by Andrea L. Dennis. This article is also available at http://lcp.law.duke.edu/. * Associate Professor of Law, University of Georgia School of Law. Thanks to the organizers of and participants in The Present and Future of Civil Rights Movements: Race and Reform in 21st Century America conference hosted by Duke University School of Law.
    [Show full text]
  • Bending the Arc from Interest to Investment
    Bending the Arc from Interest to Investment Overview As philanthropic leaders, we acknowledge the impact of inequity on the people and communities we serve. We are committed to collaborate and leverage resources to invest in these communities and change systems to ensure full and equal access and participation regardless of race or socioeconomic status. The shooting of Michael Brown on August 9, 2014 resulted in protests, civil unrest and increased civic engagement. His death sparked an awareness of the need for broad-based investments in Ferguson, throughout the region, nationally and internationally to address racial disparities and inequality. Funders engaged community-based leaders to delineate current efforts aimed at meeting the needs in the Ferguson area, as well as to identify gaps that present opportunities for additional investment. This document provides a snapshot of our environmental scan captured in the beginning of December 2014. It represents a broad spectrum of activity and ideology from a diverse set of local funders. Community needs continue to evolve with the recent release of the St. Louis County grand jury’s decision. Therefore, this is a working document subject to change. This document summarizes several potential areas for investment: Organizing and Civic Engagement Capacity The Ferguson Commission Media Engagement Juvenile Justice System Behavioral Health Economic Security Education Basic Social Services Organizing & Civic Engagement Capacity Background: Organizing and activism in Ferguson has focused on a variety of key issues, including but not limited to police reform and accountability, broader criminal justice reform, economic justice (especially fair wages), transparent and fair governance and public voice. The work is being led and sustained by various groups, including new and young voices that are challenging current norms and established leaders to develop a movement that reflects new perspectives.
    [Show full text]