Join us or stay out of our way, the revolution has arrived
The anxiety leading up to the announcement was a roller coaster ride of emotions.108 days in and there we were crowding up around the car on South Florissant waiting for the inevitable. No more delays. All the anticipation led up to this moment. What happened next was documented very well, but with all this documentation different narratives have popped up.
The emotions on the ground in Ferguson were at an all-time high during and after McCulloch’s victory speech. He came out insulting the memory of Mike Brown and with us standing next to his mother we could all feel part of her pain. People whom I look to for strength were in tears; no words could be said. All I could think about was my mother and the pain she would feel if this happened to me. That pain Leslie was feeling was felt nationwide and it hurt most of us who are committed to this movement.
As we started marching on South Florissant there was no vandalism or anything violent going on, but we were met by a police line blocking us from advancing. In front of this police line was an empty squad car sitting there undefended. For a few minutes the car wasn’t touched but the anger took over. They didn’t indict and now they wouldn’t let us march down the street. They acted as if they are above the law, and felt necessary to block our demonstration. The undefended police car became the target of a few peoples’ rage, and they damaged it and few tried to flip it over. It gave chief Belmar premise to deploy gas and that he did.
The police initially deployed the gas around the area of the police car, and people immediately started throwing the canisters back at police. Next thing I saw was a barrage of canisters flying everywhere and South Florissant looked like a movie scene. Some of the tear gas infiltrated even my gas mask. Once I took it off I had a better view of what was going on and all I could see was chaos.
Tactical vehicles firing tear gas canisters in all directions. Canisters were deployed into the adjacent residential neighborhood even though no protesters were on that street. Some were rolled on the ground but most were fired in the air. It was like playing center field but instead of catching a baseball we were dodging chemical weapons. Flashbangs were used along with a wide array of other weapons aimed at collectively punishing citizens in Ferguson that wanted justice for fallen brothers and sisters.
At this point only thing that was vandalized was the police car, and as we were being driven north up the road the vandalism started. Quiznos was the first business whose windows were busted out, and that’s when protesters linked in front of Cathy’s kitchen protecting all the businesses they could. Tactical vehicles started rolling north up the road dispersing tear gas and leaving a path of incapacitated citizens in their wake. As that was happening police had the other side of South Florissant under blockade. Protesters were stuck in between that blockade & the tactical vehicles getting constantly tear gassed on the Andy Wurm lot. It seemed as the St. Louis County officers were too busy fulfilling their fantasies of hurting protesters instead of upholding their oaths. While they were waging a war on us, West Florissant was completely in flames, but did they try and stop that? Nope they were focused on solely suppressing the protests and protecting the police station. Protecting other properties isn’t their job is what they were trying to insinuate.
Once again a small handful of people taking advantage have tried to label the Ferguson movement as violent. During the whole fiasco we all witnessed the state waging war on its citizens and letting the collateral damage be collateral damage. They try to hold everyone accountable but themselves. They demanded the St. Louis Rams apologize but gave no apology for how they abused citizens. No apology to the pregnant woman that lost her eye to a beanbag round. This entity is unchecked in our community, they continue to foster the notion that we serve them, and that we are here only to appease and satisfy them.
The rest of that night was nothing more than St. Louis County allowing businesses to be burned up to cover the fact that Bob McCulloch hijacked the grand jury allowing their poster boy officer walk free of murder. It’s no secret that there are plans to gentrify West Florissant, so they let all the businesses burn while they suppressed clergy and the lost voices.
We see you, Governor Nixon and you will be held accountable for enabling this violence and intimidation against us. Your inaction allows the police to suppress some protesters with phony charges. You use the police to get the vocal protestors off the streets hoping that it will intimidate the others into quitting.
The next day after the announcement around 3pm a couple of friends and I went and ate lunch in downtown St. Louis. Leaving that restaurant we saw there was an action taking place. We decided to go get ready so we can participate in the next action. We got off on highway 70 and Union when all of a sudden 8-10 unmarked cars pulled up around us. More than 10 plainclothes detectives surrounded the vehicle pointing pistols in our faces threatening to use force if we didn’t comply, which we immediately did. They placed me and Tdubo under arrest while my friend Rika was allowed to drive off. They gave us no reason to why they detained us whatsoever until we got into the station.
I entered the interrogation room immediately they wanted to question me. I knew I did nothing wrong so I wasn’t worried, but countless others have been in that same situation and charges were filed on innocent people. Without hesitation they told me I was under surveillance, I asked why they told me that I was placed under surveillance for a tweet that I sent. That tweet specifically was about Palestine, the context of the tweet was not stated to me but they used my heritage as a reason to put me under surveillance when my life is already documented. In and out of jail my whole life, and recently I’ve spent a majority of my days in front of a livestream. They know everything about me why waste time and money doing it while we have so many unsolved murders?
They charged me with driving while revoked. When I started asking them more specific questions about the surveillance they ended the interview. Felony driving while revoked is what they charged me with and stuck a $15,000 cash-only bond on me, hoping that no one would pay it and would have to sit in jail until court. The night before I had 92,000 viewers watching the military response to citizens on my livestream. The police’s mission was to have those people rely on media that they deem fit for people to watch. But Ferguson supporters weren’t having it and within 24 hours raised $15,000 for my bond. The mobilization to free me goes to show how much people appreciate real uncut news. The police are using the system and its resources to intimidate people into submission. This should be alarming considering we’re supposed to have freedom of expression in America.
Since the string of No Indictments the nation has rose up. Protests have sprung up everywhere, and this movement has morphed into a revolution. We’re going to take this corrupt system down. No more playing. No more holding back. I saw interesting things happen over the course of the last 122 days. It gives me hope that there are better days to come. The revolution is going to have to get more radical but staying on the status quo. No we aren’t peaceful protesters we are doing Militant Non Violent Civil Disobedience. Not one person has been hurt but we will disrupt occupy and force the system to change with people power. They are scared of us and for good reason; the uprising in Ferguson has empowered people to act.
We started this national conversation August 9th and since then we have had multiple police killings. The latest Tamir Rice just reaffirms that this whole damn system from top to bottom must be tore down. We must take it back if we even ever had it, it’s time a true democracy came to the earth. One not built on blood and the sweat of slaves. The constitution had been a sham since it was invented. It says we’re all equal, but was written during a time when people owned human slaves. It’s a document meant to appease the people into believing that there is hope, while the government secretly violates these rights over and over, with absolutely no regard for human life.
Revolution is absolutely necessary to make sure that our children will not live in a police state. The time is now, and anyone not with it must stand to the side. The millennials have spoken and acted, if you’re not with us your against us. The nation will become the one it’s advertised to be. I couldn’t care less what the opposition thinks. They are the minority and under a more moral system they will be safer as well. Fuck respectability-politics it obviously hasn’t worked so there is no need to conform to it. In the new system everyone will have their voice heard no matter what. They have disenfranchised so many by criminalizing us, making our voices in government rendered null and void. Not anymore we will tear it down and rebuild as our fore fathers claimed we the people had the right to do.
Join us or stay out of our way, the revolution has arrived.
This does not end with Darren Wilson
The most common thing I hear about the post-indictment phase of the Darren Wilson case is how tense and on edge the city is. We can all say without a shadow of a doubt that St. Louis County officials have dropped the ball and let all of us down, and there could definitely be a lot more transparency between the citizens and our public servants.
Mike Brown was the wind that fanned the flames of underlying tensions in St. Louis County. His death sparked an awakening unlike any other of our generation. A factor in the immediate uprising in St. Louis and St. Louis County is that the government has systematically disenfranchised many of its residents, especially the youth, by criminalizing them with petty charges and then labeling them as criminals. Once labeled a criminal, your voice dies in the “official” world.
The Republicans don’t represent us and neither do the Democrats, the only thing that protects us is the Constitution. The document that’s supposed to keep our freedoms and liberties protected from predatory governments.
When the tear gas came out they targeted non-violent demonstrators and the media. The first and fourth amendments were tossed out the window. How as citizens of America are we supposed to react to that? Personally, and I can speak for a lot of the people involved, the blatant abuse of our rights is a driving factor in why we’re doing what we’re doing.
My father was born in Palestine and I was born in America. I am a Palestinian American and I am deeply patriotic to both countries. If I had to go with a political label, then I would call myself a constitutionalist. Humans should all have a chance to live equally, preservation of life is a fundamental principle, and our liberties are non-negotiable. Our forefathers saw to that, and our soldiers fought and died for it. Respect for those who have fallen and recognizing their sacrifice is important.
Unfortunately our way of life is once again under siege, and the innocent are being caught in the middle. Civilians, young and old, are taking precautions to ensure the safety of their property and their loved ones. Kids have to eat and get to school I can attest to you that we will try to make it so everyone will be safe. Generally speaking, everything is calm until police hurts someone and only then does the community react. Deescalating situations should be left to community organizers, and only in extreme situations should the police get involved. Collective punishment is not the American way. As long as police handle the demonstrators peacefully, and respect our constitutional rights, there will be no problems. We can then start a healing process that takes some hard dialogue between both parties involved.
Mainstream Media’s Imaginary Narrative:
The race war narrative is an unjust story as the diversity of the movement is powerful and uplifting. Often the mainstream media has a narrow view of the situation, and they paint a picture based on just a few isolated events. This can be very misleading and can make a mess of things and has ratcheted up the tension in Ferguson. The community does not fear the peaceful protestors, only the outside agitators. Agitators whose agenda is the spread of hate, fear, and violence.
But has anyone stopped to consider what may happen if there is an indictment? Darren Wilson supporters have made more radical statements than Michael Brown supporters on Twitter and online message boards. It hadn’t manifested itself yet but if we don’t address it will surely grow into something that nobody wants. To the hate groups: All I can say is if you do show up, you will be shocked at the solidarity of the community.
We as a community will overcome the barriers that others have put in our way.
People of St. Louis, we the protesters in Ferguson do not wish harm on anyone regardless of the decision on the indictment of Darren Wilson. I can’t speak for all, but a majority of us will be demonstrating according to Reverend Sekou’s ideology: “Militant non-violent civil disobedience.” And we will direct our attention only toward the police.
Regular citizens won’t have to fear property damage or violence coming from community protesters. Almost 100 days of protesting we have been peaceful 98% of the time. We have all made mistakes, including myself, but we learn from them and move forward.
The next few weeks our communities strength will be tested, history has shown us that violence only breeds more violence. Our paths are all not the same, but we all have one thing in common the fact that we are all human beings.
Ferguson 2 Palestine
A question I keep hearing is: “Why do you link the struggle in Palestine with the conflict in Ferguson?”
It’s a series of similarities that connects both struggles and it starts with the notion that a group of people are superior, or more suited to make decisions for others. In Israel the minority Zionist population controls every facet of life of the majority Palestinian population. From politics to culture, they wish to suffocate the Palestinian people into submission using psychological and violent tactics. Their goals are obvious, and there is no debate that the Zionists despise everything Palestinian, yet want to rob them of their culture and heritage and call it their own.
In Ferguson we see the same trend in politics, where a minority controls the local government, and the police. Our appointed officials do whatever possible to suppress the citizens they supposedly serve. The similarities to Palestine became very clear once the Ferguson police started dumping tear gas on citizens expressing their constitutional rights.
They even choke us when we travel. St. Louis County practices in illegal extortion that is meant to keep a community in constant fear. In the West Bank there are Israeli roads that are designated “Israelis only.” These apartheid roads are meant to strangle the Palestinian economy, and meant to make life harder on the civilians. A trip from a village to Ramallah should be only 15 minutes but with the road situation it takes 45 minutes or more because Palestinians must take longer routes.
In Saint Louis County the police intimidate people off certain roads with predator policing. When people are getting pulled over constantly on a certain road, they too, must take longer routes to avoid this interaction with the police. We have all witnessed it coming down highway 70. Take a drive down Hazelwood Ballwin or Welston, and you’ll see the police pulling over and ticketing poor people and minorities. It’s time we stop issuing warrants for simple traffic tickets. This method of policing is meant to keep certain people out of certain places. The law us supposed to protect us, not criminalize us.
Another similarity between Ferguson and Palestine is state-sanctioned snooping, and privacy invasions. In Israel it’s taken to an extreme level, and the IDF will barge into a home in the West Bank in the middle of the night. They will document where each person sleeps, where his bed is, and even what kind of shoes he wears.
In America we’re supposed to have a constitutional right to privacy, but our privacy is constantly violated by the CIA and NSA. Somebody is always watching, always listening. Our officials fine us and imprison us for breaking the tiniest law, but they are violating our privacy rights in the name of America. I imagine that soon Ferguson will be patrolled by drones, looking in our windows, and spying on us “In the name of America.”
Where does it end? The privacy of Americans is not being violated as bad as the Palestinians, but our government is slowly taking away our constitutional rights through the use of fear and intimidation. If we don’t rise up and challenge the government our rights will end up a myth, murdered for an illusion called “democracy.”
The largest of similarities between Ferguson and Palestine is that the media has always victimized the oppressors, and made the actual victims look like savages and criminals. Propaganda is a weapon that both Israel and the US wield liberally, and the mainstream media helps them with an edited and fictionalized narrative. Nobody is held accountable whom the government does not wish to see held accountable. Those that play along are kept safe, and whistle-blowers are thrown under the bus.
It’s time for our government to change. People are screaming for justice across the planet, and they’re tired of their leaders’ silence. While rubber bullets and canisters of tear gas are flying in the streets, our leaders are wasting their time debating trivial issues in their ivory towers.
As the cries for justice get louder, the enemy will get angrier. We must be prepared for anything. We must take back the planet from the One Percent.
We the people must be unified in our pursuit for justice, all folks from all backgrounds we have one thing in common and its humanity.
Democracy has been kidnapped, and it’s up to the people rescue it.
Freedom of speech
To all haters: You’re all hypocrites. To imply somebody should be jailed for how they “speak to the police” in America is ludicrous. The police are public servants so they’re going to have to hear stuff they don’t like. That’s the job. But in St. Louis, as soon as you say something an officer doesn’t like he reacts immediately by intimidating that person. Why is that? Until the police earn respect they will never receive it, and it’s not the duty of the citizen to bow down to police.
There has been dozens of instances in Ferguson when a demonstrator was arrested for just standing on the sidewalk chanting, or waving a sign. Even journalists have been handcuffed and carted off for doing what in America is a constitutional right. Where is the freedom of the press?
We’re supposed to have freedom of speech, but in Ferguson our basic rights were considered null and void, as if we were no longer citizens. The unchecked entity within our community completely violates what is supposed to be a “democracy.” Ever hear of checks and balances? Anyone who is not alarmed with the great evidence to support this has their head buried in the sand.
To those officers and their sympathizers: There is no justification for how the department has handled the situation. Pre-Ferguson the police extorted the communities but didn’t live in or take part in those communities. So for outside people who have just seen the mainstream media version of events and are brainwashed to think the officials and police are serving best interests of the community you are very wrong. The police have single-handedly torn the community apart and only with COMPLETE reform from top to bottom will the city even begin to start healing.
FTP
Whose fault is it that citizens don’t trust police? Our taxes pay for their jobs. There is a misconception that the police can do as they wish and no one can tell them different. Until Ferguson there hasn’t been a lasting movement against police, and this movement is here to stay. This movement has lit a spark in people all around the world to get outside and get active, and tiny flames are growing into a blaze. August 8th 2014 we went to sleep and everything was fine, little did we know the next day all our lives would never be the same again.
What are the police doing this for?
Law enforcement in the United States has morphed into a criminal organization. Using the resources citizens pay in taxes, they turn around and oppress the taxpayer. The reason the police tear gas and arrest us for expressing ourselves is fear. Fear that they will lose their chokehold on society. They want us pacified, docile, and obedient. What they don’t know is that this will never happen. No one trusts a word that comes from the police and why should they? Everything they say is a lie.
Why has this become an issue in Ferguson and Saint Louis/Saint Louis County?
Because of the years of torment, policing here is different than other places. In Saint Louis they have taken advantage of motorists for years writing ticket after ticket. If you drive down highway 70 to see Pine Lawn Northwoods and Saint Ann police constantly have 5-7 cars pulled over all day every day. If you have been victimized by these tickets traveling is very hard. Everywhere you go police will bother you, ask you for ID, stop and frisk aka Jump Out Boys constantly racially profiling and arresting people for traffic tickets, and whatever petty charge they can attach to it. It’s just a game of dollars to them, and it’s time people’s lives stop being a game. America has a heroin epidemic, so why focus on stop signs and speeding?
They’re killing people.
In Saint Louis calling 911 is futile. In the city it takes first responders 45 minutes to arrive on the scene. The criminals are long gone, and while the cops do write down a police report, they never actually investigate the crime. In the county they’ll investigate the victim, and if he’s got warrants, they’ll to drag him to jail. Where are the police when actual gun violence is going on?
The cops are constantly killing people because they can get away with it; they’re never putting their life on the line. A firefighter RUNS into a burning building. That is service.
I got me a gas mask
The politicians could care less for Darren Wilson, and the only reason he is being defended is to maintain the integrity of the corrupted system. By arresting and convicting Darren Wilson the system would collapse in on itself. It will essentially give citizens legal precedent to charge and jail police for indiscriminate murders.
With that said, we all know an indictment is not coming and all these years of abuse have finally taken its toll on the citizens. Murder is murder, killing is killing. When did we start hiring public servants as executioners? The abuse from all the arrests and tickets has manifested itself into an anger that now shines a light on injustice across the board.
To the mind that is still sleeping: The outside will reveal itself in the ugliest of ways.
The media collaborates with politicians and police to skewer the stories and reputations of those opposed to their narrative. They use deceptive tactics to brainwash their target demographic until their mission is accomplished and the story is rewritten. While outsiders can be manipulated with false narratives, insiders will always know the truth.
Don’t let your opinion on the story be made for you. Ignore the politicians, the police, and the main-stream media, and listen to the protestors who are on the front line.
What do we know? It’s obvious the police have overstepped their authority and have been doing it for years. America, the so-called “world police” treats its citizens worse than most countries. Tear gas, a chemical weapon banned in warfare, was used against peaceful protestors, including children.
We are heading into the post-indictment stage, and once again the world will have its eye on Saint Louis. Once again the elected officials will be defending the system while citizens advocate for change.
If anything, the last 80+ days should show you that the police are ill-prepared to handle what’s coming, and it will surely be chaos in the streets.
Who is Bassem Masri?
When it comes to our right to publicly express ourselves in America, nothing should be taboo.
We live in an age where technology has embedded itself in our culture, but primitive-thinking still exists when dealing with authority figures, and entitled politicians have been around for as long as government has existed.
These politicians constantly abuse their powers with no regard for how it affects the common man. Most people just observe, go about their business, and pray they don’t get squashed. Not everybody’s prayers are answered, and more often than not, these authority figures abuse and oppress those who can’t, or won’t, speak up and fight for their rights. I believe these “authority figures” are some of the most vicious, and cowardly humans to walk the Earth.
The question everybody asks me is “Why are you so aggressive with the police?” It’s because these police are emulating regimes that have made oppression the norm. Since it seems the federal government can’t, or won’t intervene, it’s the duty of the people to stand up and fight back. No self-respecting person will accept that a set of people are able to do as they wish with no regard to other human beings. So why so aggressive with police? It’s because I can. It’s because the Constitution says I can, and I believe it’s our duty to be aggressive. When the police decided to go on a killing spree, they created us. When the police ticketed the community into poverty, they created us. Why should I stay silent or respect a system that has methodically strived to keep the nation under the boot of sociopathic rich people?
Who is really pushing the limits here? After all, we are citizens, and we pay taxes. We help keep this country together. Why should we have to protest a murder? Why should citizens have to protest to get justice?
In a society where nobody is above the law, why is it that that justice still has not been served? Why do we feel like our community is under constant siege? All these questions are valid and terrifying, and it seems that every question we get answered, two new problems arise from it. So why should we have faith in a system that is designed to criminalize and ruin the lives of every person it possibly can?
“Why are you so aggressive with the police?”
Because it’s my constitutional right, because the cops have crossed the line, and because the people need to know they have the power to fight back.
“Why push it to the limit?”
Because it seems I need to teach a class on free speech every night to these cops.
