journolist:

Ferguson, Missouri Update

Ferguson Round-Up (8/19)

Ferguson Round-Up (8/18)

Ferguson Round-Up (8/15)

Ferguson Round-Up (8/14)

Ferguson Round-Up (8/13)

Ferguson Round-Up (8/12)

Outburst interrupts night of peace in Ferguson (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) 

Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson said 47 people were arrested and three loaded handguns were seized during the protests Tuesday night and early today. In a news conference that began at about 2:15 this morning, Johnson said officers interrupted criminal activities and prevented violence. “Protest crowds were a bit smaller, and they were out earlier,” he said, noting that no Molotov cocktails were thrown or bullets fired by protesters. However, he said some “criminals and agitators” threatened police, threw glass and plastic bottles — some filled with urine — at officers and hid behind members of the media covering the protests.

Shooting Accounts Differ as Holder Schedules Visit to Ferguson (New York Times)

As a county grand jury prepared to hear evidence on Wednesday in the shooting death of a black teenager by a white police officer that touched off 10 days of unrest here, witnesses have given investigators sharply conflicting accounts of the killing.

Ferguson Turmoil Continues With Another Shooting, More Arrests (TruthDig)

The face-off between police and protesters in and around Ferguson, Mo., continued Tuesday, with tensions further kindled by reports of another police shooting and by more details about slain teenager Michael Brown. President Obama sounded a note of empathy for “young men of color” who are “left behind and seen only as objects of fear” and called for calm as the National Guard made its presence known on the scene and Attorney General Eric Holder announced his plans to travel there Wednesday.

Nobody Knows How Many Americans The Police Kill Each Year (FiveThirtyEight)

Earlier this month, a police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri. The shooting and the response have reignited concerns about racial profiling, police brutality and police militarization. The incident has also drawn attention to a remarkable lack of knowledge about a seemingly basic fact: how often people are killed by the police. Some reporting has put forward one of the only figures available: the approximately 400 “justifiable police homicides” each year since 2008, according to the FBI’s annual Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR). That data point has appeared with heavy caveats in a string of media reports, including in USA Today, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Washington Post. The statistic might seem solid at first glance. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Bureau of Justice Statistics — independently of the FBI — also estimate the number of police homicides per year at around 400.

Police Misconduct Costs Black People Their Livelihood Even When It Spares Their Lives (Think Progress)

As anger and frustration continue in Ferguson, Missouri over the killing of Michael Brown by a police officer, which appears to be a result of the use of excessive force, attention must also go to the excessive economic coercion used by America’s police. Frivolous traffic stops and coercive threats allow police to extract money from citizens through tickets, fines, and court costs. Economic intimidation via petty stops, searches, and seizures is a national problem that finds particular resonance in minority communities like Ferguson.

Police mistrust still prevalent years later (Associated Press)

rown’s death is the latest illustration of deep divisions between minorities and police that have simmered for generations. Concern about the events playing out in Ferguson has coursed all the way up to the White House. President Barack Obama said Attorney General Eric Holder would go to Missouri this week to check on the independent federal investigation into Brown’s death. “In too many communities around the country, a gulf of mistrust exists between local residents and law enforcement,” the president said.

‘Outside agitators’ worsening unrest in Ferguson, Mo., residents say (Kansas City Star)

“People of Ferguson are getting punished for the actions of outside agitators,” said Kenny Murdock, 47, who hosts a show on a St. Louis radio station. Antonio French, a St. Louis alderman who had been documenting the protests and the security response on social media, pointed via Twitter to a small group of people who “cannot be defined as protesters/demonstrators. They are more like fighters/rebels/insurgents.” The crowds at night are younger and rowdier, said Laparasena Gandy, 25, who protested Monday across from the Ferguson Police Department. 

What was THAT? A guide to the military gear being used against civilians in Ferguson (Vox)

The extremely militaristic police response to the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, which have occurred nightly since a police officer shot unarmed teenager Michael Brown to death on August 9, has shocked many Americans. In its tactics, appearance, and especially equipment, the security operation looks more like it belongs on a battlefield in Iraq or Afghanistan than in the streets of an American suburb. Armored vehicles, tear gas, full combat gear, rifles — what is all that? From LRADs to MRAPs, here’s a brief guide to the equipment being used against civilians in the St. Louis suburb.

This Is The Most Important Reform Ferguson Can Enact To Give Its Black Residents A Voice (ThinkProgress)

If you compared the racial makeup of Ferguson, Missouri’s population as a whole to that of its government, it would be easy to mistake the city for an enclave of Jim Crow. Although nearly 70 percent of Ferguson is black, 50 of its 53 police officers are white. So are five of Ferguson’s six city council members. The mayor, James Knowles, is a white Republican. Ferguson can help ensure that its leaders more closely resemble its population, however. They just need to hold their elections at a time when voters are actually likely to show up.

#FeedFerguson raises $71,000, keeps going (KSDK)

A school teacher from Raleigh has helped raise more than $71,000 in just four short days for the children of Ferguson, according to FeedTheStudents.org. Julianna Mendelsohn, 33, started a Fundly campaign on August 14 with the aim to raise $80,000 for the St Louis Foodbank. The teacher cited the fact that many children in the U.S. rely on school to get what could be the kids only meal for the day.

View of #Ferguson Thrust Michael Brown Shooting to National Attention (New York Times)

For people in the news business, Twitter was initially viewed as one more way to promote and distribute content. But as the world has become an ever more complicated place — a collision of Ebola, war in Iraq, crisis in Ukraine and more — Twitter has become an early warning service for news organizations, a way to see into stories even when they don’t have significant reporting assets on the ground. And in a situation hostile to traditional reporting, the crowdsourced, phone-enabled network of information that Twitter provides has proved invaluable.

Ferguson Unrest Shows Poverty Growing Fastest in Suburbs (Bloomberg)

Six days of violence and protests in a town outside St. Louis are highlighting how poverty is growing fastest on the outskirts of America’s cities, as suburbs have become home to a majority of the nation’s poor. In Ferguson, Missouri, a community of 21,000 where the poverty rate doubled since 2000, the dynamic has bred animosity over racial segregation and economic inequality. Protests over the police killing of an unarmed black teenager on Aug. 9 have drawn international attention to the St. Louis suburb’s growing underclass.

Ferguson Police Militarization: Cash Flowed To Lawmakers Who Voted To ‘Militarize’ Police (International Business Times)

As local law enforcement has deployed martial tactics against those protesting the police killing of an 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, a debate is suddenly raging over how municipal police forces came to resemble military units. A new report suggests the trend may, in part, have to do with campaign contributions to congressional lawmakers.

Photos: 1 (Source); 2 (Source); 3 (Source); 4 (Source); 5 (Source); 6 (Source); 7 (Source); 8 (Source); 

(via americanfascism)