When I see the images of young black men and women in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, and the police response to their very presence, I think back to the days of violent rebellion in the city of Newark, in 1967. I was in the streets observing and documenting stories of police violence along with other law students at Essex Newark Legal Services. I ended up before a grand jury to hear the prosecutor question me for making our affidavits available to the community, while no police officials were questioned for the 27 deaths they caused.
And so Ferguson has a familiar ring. The anger, the hatred,
the on going struggle between the residents and the police, locked in a battle
where one side has superior arms and the mandate to use them; and the other, at
most, bricks, and bottles, sheer bravado. What propels these youth to stand
their ground? One young man said on television, “We’re going to act up on them
‘cause they act up on us!” Old Testament solution….without concern about consequences.
State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal, in Ferguson throughout the Rebellion,
reported, “ I found myself between armed forces, and young people willing to
die.”
The police response is also familiar. But in Ferguson, the
police have been militarized with weapons of war, removing any doubt in the
minds of the people that they are indeed an occupying force. They do not engage
in traditional crowd control, but crowd repression, and thus the anger is
increased. Only 3 black police officers on a force of 53, in a city that is overwhelmingly black. The police are acutely aware of their minority status;
taught to maintain control with an iron fist and make examples of this
population, especially its youth. Michael Brown refused to walk on the
sidewalk, and not in the street when told to do so by an officer of the law. He
refused to acknowledge their power, and it cost him his life.
At one time I thought conflict had been diffused when the
politicians put a softer face on authority through State Highway Patrol Captain
Ron Johnson, a black man, outwardly sympathetic. Captain Johnson led one of the
marches, channeling anger into a manageable outlet for outrage and frustration.
There was a festive mood, reporters said. But by the night, the inherent
conflict between the real police and
their young black antagonists welled up and the unevenly matched but persistent
battle was on, where anyone perceived to be in opposition was subdued and
arrested, even reporters from news outlets.
A black face in the place was not enough…and the white power
structure, from the Governor down to the prosecutor, refused to give the masses
what they wanted: the arrest and indictment of Darren Wilson, the policeman who
shot Michael Brown. One black resident said, “If I broke into somebody’s car
and took something, they would arrest me as soon as they caught me…they
wouldn’t need to investigate first. I
would be in jail!”
The forces of non-violence are still above ground in
Ferguson, advocating peaceful protest; appealing to the President to
investigate. But there is a segment of the population unfamiliar with the
institutions that are supposed to bring redress to grievances—the media,
politicians, and government agencies. All they know are the police, and to
these young black people, there is no alternative but to fight the way they
know how, based on the rules of engagement established by “the street”, rules
the police help create and are all too often complicit.
In Newark how did the Rebellion end in 1967? The combined
police forces used massive force to take the fight out of the community. Those of us, who preferred non-violence for
the redress of grievances, were forced to take cover. They left Newark on its
knees.
But out of the conflict came community organization. The
violence nobody wanted became the catalyst for an effective coalition to
curtail urban renewal, build low and moderate income housing, create
construction jobs for minorities at the University of Medicine and Dentistry;
and elect the first black mayor of a major northeastern city, who began hiring
more black and Latino police officers to integrate the majority white police
department. Political reform was hastened because of the rebellion and the
consciousness that emerged about who should run the city.
Is this the future for Ferguson? Surely, the majority black
population will awaken to the electoral power it possesses…but in whose name
will the resultant political reform take place? How far will the new Black
Political Class go to change conditions that created the anger in the black,
poor and working class population in the first place? Or will there be more
black police hired, to suppress black anger?
Paulo Frère said that with the advent of power, the powerless
must examine the way they govern. Let’s hope that the youth of Ferguson will be
invited to these discussions, to sit at the table they made possible.
Junius Williams is the author of Unfinished Agenda Urban Politics in the Era of Black Power, and
Director of the Abbott Leadership Institute at Rutgers University Newark.
http://www.junius-williams.com/
