Sunday, February 22, 2015

Since August 2014...

The world has changed since August 9, 2014. I remember sitting at home watching baseball and flipping channels between soccer and episodes of House Of Lies I previously recorded. Then I saw my Facebook feed. A kid face down was in the middle of the street. Now, I'm sure if you've been living under a rock or covering your ears and eyes for the last seven months you can't relate to this. Then the posts kept coming about somebody getting shot by police. It was REALLY all over my Facebook feed. For the most part, Facebook for me has become a source of gossip, funny memes and thirst traps of young adult females posting pics for attention. That Saturday afternoon it was more sensationalism but anger about something most of my Facebook 'friends' could relate to. Then I saw Twitter and my Twitter feed (@duckyhines) became flooded with this news from all over. There were no news reports on television because it was a summer weekend. Infomercials and sports were on. There was no need to report news, right? Another young man with dark brown skin had been shot. It was standard hat in this city and people were desensitized to it. This was different though because people were outside with the area taped off while the young man's body stayed in the street for four hours. This was different because it was in Canfield Apartments Green in Ferguson. I could walk or ride my bike to Ferguson though my mom didn't want me to when I was younger. She preferred I stay in Crown Manor on the eastern end of Dellwood which borders Ferguson to the direct north. A lot of my friends stayed in OakMont and Northwinds which were just north of Jennings and Northland Shopping Center. I grew up here. It was different. My mother lived in Canfield before I was born. It was definitely different. Later that night, I went to a Rap City event hosted by my good friend Teflahn Poetix who grew up around the corner from me on Green Valley and Crown Point in Dellwood after moving from Pine Lawn with his mom and brother. A young lady requested for him to say something about what happened to Mike Mike to the crowd while he was holding the microphone. He told her he was already on top of it. Little did we know how much life changed for us. Michael Brown, Jr. was a kid. At 18, you're an adult that can buy tobacco, vote and join the military but you're still a kid. At 18, most people are either in school or living with their parents trying to get something going that will hopefully shape their lives. I went to school, washed cars and thought I was killing the game selling reefer. Not Chronic. Reefer. I just knew I wanted to cop Jordans and look cool in lab class. I hadn't figured out life and most people don't do that until at least their early thirties. Mike Mike had that snatched from him at the hands of Darren Wilson, an officer with the Ferguson, Missouri Police Department who had previously been dismissed by the Jennings Police Department. Jennings' Police was absorbed by St. Louis County for corruption and mismanagement. However, Officer Wilson was a gainfully employed police officer in Ferguson where I visited girls and played basketball many a day as a teenager. I got home and woke up to go to church and the news channels were finally covering what happened in Canfield but they couldn't release the officer involved in the shooting's name. Then the story spiraled. Then it was all over CNN because a lot of my friends were in Ferguson protesting the shooting. As day turned to night, people figured out there were cameras and peaceful protests became perverted by leeches wanting petty material items and bragging rights. Each channel showed different aspects as "community leaders" were interviewed about what happened. Someone said it had a lot to do with people being sick of the system. They were sick of the system because people took Interstate 70 between the city line at Goodfellow Ave and Bridgeton at Lindbergh Blvd. On that stretch of interstate were multiple small municipalities that implored their police departments to sit in police cars with speed guns and pull people over for minor infractions. Most of these people look like me and Michael Brown, Jr. Governor Jeremiah Nixon spoke. He killed his credibility with the right and the left. It takes a special kind of asshole in Jefferson City to do that in a traditionally conservative state and piss everyone on both sides of the aisle off with lack of leadership but there's only one Jay Nixon. I vote. He's an asshole. The County Executive at the time, Charlie Dooley, possibly the least articulate elected official I've ever heard speak in my life dropped the ball. Robert McCulloch whom most people of color in this area trust like they trust David Duke said this would be a 'fair' investigation. I marched. I protested. Friends came in from out of town to march and protest with me. I wasn't out there everyday but people were seeing what was going on in St. Louis from outside of St. Louis. Again, in St. Louis it's normal hat for colored folk to get pulled over in North County. A lot (not all) of our neighbors to the south and west of us in the same county a lot of times couldn't relate nor would they drive through North County if they could help it. It was an isolated incident they said. Then Von Meyers was killed. Then other men of color were killed by police. People hated that these events interfered with their comfort and their news feeds. People showed their true colors and biases. Everything changed. It was different. The world saw how backwards and stuck in Dixie St. Louis really is. And just like everything else people only understand in the vein of toasted ravioli, Provel cheese and watered down Bud Light...a lot of people here couldn't understand what the fuss was about. A young black kid robbed a store they thought. The heroic officer ordered that young black kid to get out the street they thought. The heroic officer killed the young black kid defending himself they thought. Then a lot of my friends spoke at the United Nations and The White House about this but the majority here couldn't figure it out. Protests continued then it leaked out that Darren Wilson who had quit police work because he didn't want to become a distraction, wouldn't be indicted on charges by a secret grand jury. There were supposed to be tanks. There were supposed to be protection. People were more worried about their property values instead of the threat of violence. Not for nothing but between Highway 170 and the east riverfront, property values were kinda meh anyway. November 24, 2014 I saw Dellwood burned down at West Florissant and Chambers Road. Pantera's, Iggy's, Rothman and the 24-Hour Laundrymat that shaped Dellwood for years had been gone. To see where I grew up most of my childhood burned down because of people repeatedly dropping the ball and covering their own agendas, I wasn't surprised. Just like in August, people wanted to steal and take from small businesses and just like that, critics said there was no value of life in North County. Like Barrington Downs isn't in North County. Schools were cancelled and people said justice was served. We were supposed to 'get over it'. The Chosen People aren't asked to get over The Nazis targeting them. The Northeast isn't asked to get over September 11, 2001. So we're supposed to get over our grief, anguish and despair because other people that don't know our plight say so? No. There is no 'getting over it' like it's a bad argument over leaving the toothbrush next to the toilet paper. There is building and overcoming. There is changing lives so we can progress like the rest of the world. I remember a coworker saying something crass about what was happening and I checked him from a whole other room. Nobody in that room said anything about it after that. People want to go back to 'normal' when normal was fucked up from the get go here. The police departments in Ferguson, Velda City, St. Ann, Edmundson, Pine Lawn especially, Wellston, St. John's, Charlack and Berkeley are being reviewed for their predatory law enforcement tactics. A huge chunk of those municipalities have their revenue produced by traffic stops and court fines. Those municipalities are inhabited by a lot of colored folk and are along the Interstate 70 corridor. Other parts of the city deal with I-44, 270 and Highway Farrtee. Michael Brown, Jr.'s death was tragic and undeserved. People can disagree with this but what do I care? I've had a Dellwood police officer threaten to shoot me in front of my mother because he thought I robbed an AutoZone when I was 17. I was in the house all night watching basketball and only went to the gas station to get my mom a Diet Pepsi. I just looked at the cop who was half my size like he was the biggest pussy in the world for threatening to shoot me for walking home when he stopped me. Nothing happened after that and he said no hard feelings. I told him to go fuck himself but no hard feelings and went home. Unfortunately, Mike Mike didn't get to go home to his grandma's house in Canfield. He went home to Glory, Heaven. At 18. Everything changed. Since August 9, 2014 there is an eye on St. Louis, not just Ferguson. As the media tried to paint Ferguson as a whole other town, it's a part of St. Louis and a microcosm of how separated it is here. It's separated here by class more than race actually but geographically, less than five miles outside of St. Louis proper. As St. Louisans, either we can weep for what normal used to be or we can help move forward like most of the world by addressing our issues. Since August 2014, what was considered normal is no more and that's a good thing except for small businesses being destroyed and continued police harassment. There is dialogue and action taking place. Some municipalities have relaxed in cannibalizing their tax base for more money. Police are held more accountable to their sworn duties. Attitudes are changing and hopefully Old Dixe St. Louis progresses. Still, Michael Brown, Jr. was killed. His family will never see his face in person again but his spirit lives on so that he didn't die in vain. God be with his family.  Rest In Power, Mike Mike.