Ferguson

[Content Note: Police brutality; racism.]

Yesterday in Ferguson, a day of peaceful protest marking the one-year anniversary of the police killing of Michael Brown came to an end when police allege an 18-year-old black protester named Tyrone Harris shot at plainclothes detectives in an SUV and police shot back, critically injuring Harris, who is now out of surgery and fighting for his life.

Tyrone Harris identified the victim as his son, Tyrone Harris Jr., 18, of St. Louis. Harris said shortly after 3 a.m. that his son had just gotten out of surgery.

He said his son graduated from Normandy High School and that he and Michael Brown Jr. "were real close."

"We think there's a lot more to this than what's being said," Harris Sr. said.

...Belmar said two groups of people exchanged gunfire on the west side of West Florissant Avenue at the same time the shooting took place, about 11 p.m. Shots were heard for 40-50 seconds, Belmar said. "It was a remarkable amount of gunfire," he said.

The people doing the shooting "were criminals," Belmar said. "They were not protesters."

Investigators recovered a 9 mm Sig Sauer that had been stolen in Cape Girardeau, Belmar said.

Protesters had blocked West Florissant Avenue north of Ferguson Avenue, and the detectives were tracking a man they believed was armed, along with several of his acquaintances, whom they also thought were armed.

In a chaotic scene, police officers, reporters and protesters ran for cover. People sprinted across the street and dived behind parked cars.

The four detectives, who have six to 12 years of experience, will be placed on administrative leave, a standard practice after a police-involved shooting. They were not wearing body cameras, Belmar said.

A coalition calling itself the Ferguson Action Council criticized St. Louis County for putting plainclothes officers without body cameras in Ferguson. The coalition includes the Don't Shoot Coalition, Hands Up United, Organization for Black Struggle and others. In a news release Monday morning, the coalition said in part: "After a year of protest and conversation around police accountability, having plain clothes officers without body cameras and proper identification in the protest setting leaves us with only the officer's account of the incident, which is clearly problematic."

That is indeed problematic. Further, police threatened to arrest protesters and told "those gathered by Canfield that they needed to disperse or police could use 'chemical munitions' against them. Smoke bombs appeared to be fired at about 2 a.m."

This is just intolerable.

What we have seen a year on in Ferguson is that things haven't changed, not because people are not passionately advocating for change, but because the people holding the institutional power are not listening, are not inclined to yield any of that power—which is the only way that meaningful change can happen.