St. Louis Post-Dispatch Ferguson coverage - Aug. 26

T H E N O . 1 S T. L O U I S W E B S I T E A N D N E W S P A P E R

Tuesday • 08.26.2014 • $1.50

“What does God require of you? We sit like we have no requirements.

But all of us are required to respond to this. And all of us must solve this.”

The Rev. Al Sharpton

a time to mourn

calls to action RING amid remembrances of Michael Brown

Huy Mach • hmach@post-dispatch.com

Pallbearers place the casket of Michael Brown into a hearse Monday outside Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis. Brown, 18, was shot to death Aug. 9.

thousands GATHER FOR brown’s funeral

case spurs talk of Body cameras for POLICE

By Elisa Crouch • ecrouch@post-dispatch.com AND Doug Moore • dmoore@post-dispatch.com

By Nicholas J.C. Pistor npistor@post-dispatch.com 314-436-2239

The encounter in Ferguson that ended with a police officer fatally shooting unarmed teenager Michael Brown has spurred police departments in the St. Louis area to do some deep soul-searching.

Many hope to avoid the uncertainty of chaotic events by having video to investigate officers’ interactions with civilians.

Video recordings would allow judges and juries to see events unfold, helping to shed light through the often-conflicting or hazy recollections of

Robert Cohen • rcohen@post-dispatch.com

Lesley McSpadden (in red) is comforted during the funeral Monday for her son Michael Brown at Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church.

First day of school is families’ chance to move forward

Mourning Brown should bridge region’s great racial divide

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Editorial • A11

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Two dead after mortar shell explodes at recycling facility in Granite City

By Joel Currier jcurrier@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8256

GRANITE CITY • Police say they are

investigating what went wrong Monday when a mortar shell exploded at the Totall Metal Recycling plant, killing two workers and injuring a third.

Police Chief Rich Miller said the two employees died at the scene and a third

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was taken to a hospital in St. Louis for treatment. Officials would not identify the victims, give the condition of the survivor or describe the nature of his injuries.

In interviews, relatives identified the dead as Rodolfo Romo, 46, of Fairmont City, and Tyler Muenstermann, 24, of See EXPLOSION • Page A3

See BROWN • Page A4

U.S. guarded on Syria military action, rejects warnings from Assad regime

By Roy Gutman, Nancy A. Youssef and Jonathan S. Landay McClatchy Washington Bureau

ISTANBUL • The Syrian government on Monday warned the United States against launching unilateral attacks against the Islamic State extremist group on its territory, but Washington said it wouldn’t seek the Assad regime’s per-

mission to defend American lives.

At the same time, President Barack Obama’s administration sought to tamp down expectations of imminent airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria that top U.S. officials raised last week after the group ignited outrage by posting a video of the beheading of a captive See SYRIA • Page A3

Striking Emmy gold

Meet Shaun Hill

Bryan Cranston’s fourth ties a record.

Quarterback steps in for injured Bradford.

INSIDE • A10 POST-DISPATCH WEATHERBIRD ®

ST. LOUIS • Shortly before Michael Brown died, his stepmother was admitted to the hospital. He became convinced she wasn’t going to make it.

“Because I’ve been dreaming about death,” Cal Brown recalled her stepson saying, recounting a conversation at his funeral Monday that the two of them had in early August. Several days later, a police officer shot Michael Brown on Canfield Drive.

Members of Brown’s family believe he prophesied his own death. About 4,500 people filled Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church to pay their respects to Brown, the teenager whose death has stirred a movement. Many said the images of his body lying in the street on Aug. 9 sent a message of marginalization that they could no longer ignore.

It brought people to his funeral who had never met Brown. It brought mostly African-Americans,

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ferguson police shooting

Reactions at the funeral for Michael Brown “I don’t know Michael Brown’s family; I don’t need to know Michael Brown’s family. They’re from St. Louis; I’m from St. Louis. That means we’re neighbors. And this is what you do when your neighbor is hurting. You come out and support.”

“We are Michael Brown, I am Michael Brown, we all are Michael Brown. This could’ve happened to any of us. We can’t understand why it happened but just know it will pull us together as a community.”

— Stuart Johnson, St. Louis

— Tamara Joseph, Kansas City

J.B. Forbes • jforbes@post-dispatch.com

Onlookers salute Michael Brown's funeral procession — led by several motorcycle clubs — as it pulls away Monday from Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church to head toward St. Peter's Cemetery. The procession passed Normandy High School, from which Brown graduated this summer.

Funeral draws thousands BROWN

Who attended the funeral?

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some who spent more than 12 hours driving from cities as far as Atlanta because they felt a strong connection to him despite knowing little about his life. He reminded them of their own sons and grandsons, and the difficult conversations they have had to have with their children about how to avoid getting shot by a police officer.

As Brown’s body lay at the front of the sanctuary, inside a black metal casket trimmed in gold, he was mourned by his mother and father and stepparents. Lesley McSpadden sat nearest to her son’s casket, gently rocking back and forth. Michael Brown Sr. wore a tie with an image of his son’s face on the bottom.

About 600 members of the immediate and extended family filled a section of the sanctuary.

A large spray of red roses lay on Brown’s casket — similar to the hundreds of red roses that have been placed on the street where he died. Photographs of Brown as a boy and teenager sat on easels on either side.

“He had given his soul and life to the Lord Jesus Christ,” said the Rev. Charles Ewing, Brown’s uncle.

His stepmother, Cal Brown said, “He is not a lost soul. His death is not in vain.”

At times, the booming sounds of gospel filled the cavernous sanctuary, from the church’s choir. In the sanctuary and in three overflow rooms, people raised their hands in prayer.

Ewing and others said they believe Brown was chosen by God — that his death serves a greater purpose.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said this moment demands more than observation. Not violence or destruction, he said, but it requires coming together and demanding change through legislation and elections.

“What does God require of you?” Sharpton said. “We sit like we have no requirements.

But all of us are required to respond to this. And all of us must solve this.”

He denounced the looting and violence in Ferguson in the nights following the shooting.

Robert Cohen • rcohen@post-dispatch.com

Michael Brown Sr. (center) is surrounded by family members as his son’s casket is lowered into the ground Monday at St. Peter's Cemetery in Normandy.

“What you don’t understand is that Michael Brown does not want to be remembered for a riot,” Sharpton said. “He wants to be remembered as the one that made America deal with how we police in the United States.”

Sharpton said police deserve respect. “We’re not anti-police,” he said. But the bad apples must be thrown out, he said.

He had biting words for the black community, one that he described as too divided and too apathetic.

“We have to be outraged by our disrespect for each other,” he said. “Our disregard for each other. Our killing and shooting and gunning down each other ... Acting like the definition of blackness is how low you can go.”

Sharpton said African-Americans need to clean up their community “so we can clean up the United States of America.”

“What is required of us?” he asked. “We can’t have a fit.

We’ve got to have a movement ... A movement means we’ve got to be here until the long haul.”

Those listening ranged from infants to elderly. Isekah Dahubi, 38, came in her nurse’s training uniform, skipping her last day of clinicals, which she was trying to reschedule by cellphone as she entered the

sanctuary. Lillie Vinson, 78, dressed in her Sunday best, to show support to a family she doesn’t know.

Sophia Davis and her husband, Thomas, flew to St. Louis from Detroit.

“As a mother, what happened to Michael Brown scared me to my bones,” Davis said. “I have a son, and when he first got to college, police stopped and frisked him a couple of times for no reason. I can’t imagine what I would do if something like this had happened to him.”

It was a thought in many minds. As various ministers read condolences to Brown’s parents, some people visibly wept.

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and two children of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were seated near the family in the front of the sanctuary. Numerous elected leaders such as U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay and U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, both Missouri Democrats, were there. St. Louis Alderman Antonio French, who has spread news of the Ferguson protests on social media, came, and so did Mayor Francis Slay. Film director Spike Lee, rapper David Banner and televangelist T.D. Jakes also sat among the mourners.

Nearly everyone gave a stand-

ing ovation to attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the Brown family, after he mentioned the infamous 1857 Dred Scott decision, which said African-Americans could not be considered American citizens.

“He was an American. We will not accept three-fifths justice.”

The funeral, nearly 2½ hours long, concluded with Sharpton and Jackson leading the family out the door. Men and women dressed in white carried the flowers and photos of Brown.

Pallbearers placed his casket in a navy blue hearse outside Friendly Temple.

En route to St. Peter’s Cemetery, the hearse passed Normandy High School, where Brown officially graduated on Aug. 1.

It pulled into the cemetery off Lucas & Hunt Road, stopping not far from the entrance.

There, a glass-sided carriage pulled by two horses was waiting. Brown’s mother, with Sharpton beside her, watched as her son’s casket was moved onto the carriage.

As the heat index climbed past 100, mourners, led by Sharpton and Jackson, walked several hundred yards, the clomping of horse hooves behind them.

A few hundred mourners, mostly family, joined them at

•• The Rev. Jesse Jackson •• The Rev. Al Sharpton •• Filmmaker Spike Lee •• Music mogul Sean Combs •• Rapper MC Hammer •• Rep. William Lacy Clay •• Bishop T.D. Jakes, senior pastor of the megachurch Potter’s House in Dallas •• Martin Luther King III •• The Rev. Bernice King •• Sen. Claire McCaskill •• Rep. Maxine Waters •• Family of Trayvon Martin (killed by Neighborhood Watch volunteer George Zimmerman) •• Family of Sean Bell (killed

by New York police as he left his bachelor party) •• Cousin of Emmitt Till (murdered by white men while visiting Mississippi in 1955)

the grave site. They sought shade under large trees and under the green tent where Brown’s family sat for the short service.

As pallbearers and cemetery workers struggled to remove the casket from the carriage, the crowd sang.

Doves were released from a wicker basket. The first one flew to the east; the others all headed west.

As Brown’s family headed back to waiting limousines, a steady stream of people stopped by the bronze-colored vault holding Brown’s casket. Atop it was a plaque reading: Michael Brown 1996-2014.

They took photos, prayed and wiped away tears. They gently ran their fingers across the plaque.

The last family member to leave was Michael Brown Sr. His dress shirt was soaked in sweat.

As others took a red rose or white carnation from floral spreads, Brown took a cloth from his pocket and wiped the fingerprint smudges from the top of his son’s vault.

He shook his head and bit his lip.

Koran Addo of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

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ferguson police shooting “Sometimes you just know in your heart the right thing to do. Supporting the family of Michael Brown is one of those things.”

“People would ask me, ‘Why are you out there?’

My question to them was, ‘Why aren’t you?’”

— Isekah Dahubi, St. Louis

“For African-Americans, losing children is an everyday occurrence. This brings to light what many communities have every day.”

— Monica Walker, St. Louis

— Jane Brown, Philadelphia

ferguson-florissant schools

Excitement prevails on first day Pupils, school staff welcome delayed start after days filled with anxiety, uncertainty

Cristina Fletes-Boutte • cfletes-boutte@post-dispatch.com

Ayanna Batchman, 5, waits with classmates on the first day of school Monday at Johnson Wabash Elementary School.

By Jessica Bock jbock@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8228​

FERGUSON • It took a few days before Janice Bugett’s 6-year-old asked the question, and when she did, the little girl’s fear nearly crushed her mother.

“Mommy, am I going to be killed when I go to school?” Jade Bugett asked.

Jade, 6, a student at Cool Valley Elementary, lives a little more than 2 miles from where Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown on Aug. 9. In the days that followed, she saw protesters as she looked out her car window and heard the shouts, “Hands up, don’t shoot!”

“A child shouldn’t have to worry about stuff like that,” Janice Bugett said Monday morning as Jade got ready for her first day back to class.

People are upset because someone died, but Mommy’s going to protect you, Bugett said she told her daughter. Bugett didn’t want to tell her much more, although Jade knew everything she was seeing was the reason she couldn’t start first grade on Aug. 14 — a day she had been talking about for weeks.

Like Jade, thousands of Ferguson-Florissant students boarded buses for the first day of school Monday, following days of uncertainty and unrest in their community. The district pushed back the start of school three times because of violence that erupted during some of the late-night protests and anger about Brown’s death.

Waiting to greet Jade and the other students at all of the district schools were hundreds of signs with welcome back messages, made by parents and students within the district and beyond. Some messages were simple: “You are loved. You are safe. You matter.”

Ferguson-Florissant district parent Melissa Fitzgerald started the welcome sign idea with a Facebook group, “Parents for Peace.” The idea also morphed into a makeshift school at the Ferguson Public Library while classes were canceled last week. Teachers volunteered to have lessons and activities for kids.

Counselors were there, too, and Bugett talked to them about her daughter and the other children and how they were dealing with everything. Bugett broke down and started crying for the first time since it all began. Until then, she had kept herself occupied with her daughter and the neighborhood kids. She hadn’t had time to deal with her own emotions.

“It hurts your heart,” Bugett said after tying the laces on Jade’s new pink Hello Kitty shoes and gathering her matching backpack. “I just need it to be normal again.

“But I’m not sure what normal is.”

School Board President Rob Chabot

Tiffany Charleston walks her daughter, Lola, 5, to her first day of kindergarten Monday at Johnson Wabash Elementary School. The Ferguson-Florissant district pushed back the start of school three times because of continued unrest in Ferguson.

said as difficult as it was to cancel classes, the decision to postpone the start of the school year was best. Now the district will focus on how the protests and disruption will play a role in shaping this school year.

Officials say they are prepared for students and staff who may need extra help and counseling, as their feelings of grief come out over the next several months.

On Thursday, about 2,000 district teachers and staff participated in trauma response training. It was the first time everyone had a chance to come together and talk things through, and get mentally ready for Monday, he said. There is much to learn from these events, and from allowing kids to talk about their feelings, and teachers are hoping to channel that into some productive lessons.

“This changed everybody. It had to change us,” Chabot said. “There’s going to be peaks and valleys throughout the year, and we’re just going to be ready for them as best we can.”

More than two dozen extra counselors will be available throughout the district, funded by the Children’s Service Fund, a support effort that could continue through the year if needed. The district also added bus routes serving Griffith Elementary, near West Florissant Avenue and

Chambers Road.

Typically, students within a mile of school would walk, but buses were available to take them to the building if they wanted.

But in many ways, it was a typical start to a new school year. Kids showed off new sneakers and backpacks. Parents reminded them to pay attention in class.

Principals got their students pumped up.

At Johnson Wabash Elementary, students lined up on the playground outside, ready to go in, as Principal Robin Witherspoon spoke on a microphone.

“Are you ready?” she said. “I am ready for you to have an outstanding year!”

Later, as the last students filed in to the school, Witherspoon assured a man who asked how everything was going.

“See how peaceful it is,” Witherspoon said. “This is a safe place.”

As Jade and her mom headed out of their home to the bus stop that morning, the little girl began to move more slowly.

She said her tummy hurt, Bugett said, looking worried. By the time they arrived at the school bus stop, the tummy ache was forgotten.

Yolanda Frenchie pulled up in her minivan to drop off her child, parked and turned up the volume on a gospel

song playing from the radio. She said she wanted to make sure the kids were upbeat and positive.

It will be good for kids to get back to school and return to a routine, she said.

“First day of school!” she shouted as she opened her door and got everyone to clap along with the music. “Let’s have a good day!”

Kailee Johnson, 5, stood nearby watching quietly in pink sparkle high tops. She was starting kindergarten and has been waiting to go ever since her older brother went to school last year. The added delay has been upsetting for her, said her dad, Joe Bibbs. On Monday, Kailee’s thoughts were focused again on the thrilling adventures she had to look forward to in her new kindergarten class.

“Painting. Especially, painting,” Kailee said.

For Jade, she just wanted to meet her teacher.

“And have fun,” she said.

After Bugett waved goodbye to Jade, she went back to an empty house, one that had been busy with kids for the past two weeks.

She would finally have some time alone with her feelings. She just wasn’t sure she wanted it.

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ferguson police shooting “It could happen to anybody, black or white. A policeman shot a young man down.

If we stand together, we could change the wrong.”

“We don’t like to talk about it, but part of the problem is we’re divided as a black community.”

— Louis Felton, Philadelphia

“This is where my heart’s been. I have a 4-year-old son.

The first picture I saw of Michael Brown laying in the street, I saw my son.”

— Porsha Owens, St. Louis

— Markesha Coleman, East St. Louis

notes from ferguson streets are quiet The streets of Ferguson that had been the scene of protests in recent weeks were quiet Monday evening.

Only one protester, who was waving an African flag, was on the stretch of West Florissant Avenue where marchers confronted police officers just days before in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer. Police were patrolling in cars on the steamy evening, but none were afoot. Businesses, including some that had been the target of looters recently, were back to normal operations.

Kevin Polk, of Ferguson, was on the street, but only to keep the peace. He said he wanted to see that the wishes of Brown’s father, who called for peace on the day his son was buried, were honored.

“We don’t want to see any signs,” Polk said. “We don’t want to hear any yelling. And we’re going to be out here all night to make sure it stays quiet.”

Missouri Highway Patrol Capt.

Ronald S. Johnson reported no arrests Sunday night and none so far as of late Monday night.

He wasn’t ready to say police were going to break down the command post and go away, but he said was encouraged by the peaceful nights. He said he drove down West Florissant earlier in the evening and felt heartened.

“This is the Ferguson I know, this is the Ferguson I love,” he said. “It’s good to see it back.”

— Steve Giegerich and Jesse Bogan

officer apologizes ST. LOUIS COUNTY • A suspended Glendale police officer who called Ferguson protesters “a burden on society and a blight on the community” and said they “should have been put down like a rabid dog” apologized for those statements Monday.

A statement emailed to the Post-Dispatch on Monday afternoon called Officer Matthew Pappert “deeply remorseful” and said Pappert recognized “that his words were insensitive and hurtful.”

Pappert’s statement apologized to “the people of Glendale and his co-workers at the Glendale Police Department,” as well as “the community that I have offended.”

Pappert was suspended Friday after the postings surfaced

J.B. Forbes • jforbes@post-dispatch.com

Cecilia Nadal, 64, of St. Louis, looks for a place Monday to put a photo of Michael Brown at a memorial outside the Canfield Green apartments in Ferguson. Nadal said she wanted people to keep Brown’s face in their minds. “He represents the movement,” she said, “but he is also a person.”

and an internal police investigation began. Pappert’s Facebook account appears to have been closed, but the news and opinion website The Daily Caller preserved the posts.

Pappert’s suspension came the same day St. Louis County police Officer Dan Page was suspended over a YouTube video containing incendiary comments. St. Ann police Lt. Ray Albers was suspended Wednesday for pointing a semi-automatic assault rifle at a Ferguson protester.

— Robert Patrick

Student walkout Students at St. Louis University and Washington University joined students from around the country Monday when they walked out on their first day of classes in support of 18-year-old Michael Brown, whose Aug. 9 shooting death by a police officer has touched off protests nationwide.

About two dozen SLU students and some faculty gathered outside the school’s center for

Global Citizenship holding signs and listening to each other speak about how Brown’s killing has affected them.

Martin Zaldivar put down a sign saying “Mike won’t be in class today,” as he took the microphone.

He told the crowd that as a white Hispanic, he doesn’t fully understand the dynamics surrounding some black communities and their relationship with police.

“But this has impacted me very much,” Zaldivar said. “We have to have these conversations with people who don’t realize that they are privileged so that they will know that this world is truly unjust.

“We have to continue to fight for our rights because they are being violated,” he added.

The walkouts at SLU and Washington University mirrored similar demonstrations Monday at Syracuse, George Mason, the University of Kansas and Antioch College in Ohio.

— Koran Addo

Judge denies request for jury information A St. Louis County judge on Monday denied requests from the Post-Dispatch and Bloomberg News to release more information about members of the grand jury considering evidence in the Michael Brown shooting.

The order by Circuit Court Judge Carolyn Whittington came after her ruling Friday that demographic information about jurors should be available. Immediately after her order, the court’s judicial administrator released a breakdown by gender and race: the grand jury has one black man and two black women, six white men and three white women.

The Post-Dispatch and Bloomberg News asked that the judge also order the disclosure of jurors’ ages and either their municipality or ZIP code; the judge said she would consider the request.

At a hearing, attorney Joseph E. Martineau of Lewis Rice & Fingersh, representing the news organizations, argued the extra details were “important infor-

mation for the public to understand the makeup of this jury.”

An attorney from the office of Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch said he had no objection as long as the jurors’ identities were not released.

But Whittington’s order, issued late morning, said “the court will not disclose further information that personally identifies members of the Grand Jury or that can be used to personally identify individual members of the Grand Jury.”

—Jeremy Kohler

City meeting postponed FERGUSON • A Ferguson City Council meeting that had been previously scheduled for today has been postponed. “Due to increased interest from residents wishing to attend this meeting, the city is searching for a larger venue to accommodate the anticipated attendance,” a statement from the city said. A new date and place will be set soon.

— Valerie Schremp Hahn

Body cameras could clear up disputed cases CAMERAS from A1

eyewitnesses.

Nowhere is that more needed than in Ferguson, the north St. Louis County suburb at the epicenter of a racial crisis. The city is now seeking money to outfit its officers with wearable cameras that can be pinned to a uniform or attached to a pair of sunglasses.

The city of Ellisville in west St. Louis County quickly approved a $7,500 expenditure last week to do the same.

“It was an emergency item on our agenda to get officers wearing those cameras immediately,” said Ellisville Mayor Adam Paul, noting that all of the city’s police officers will wear them. “Nobody knows how the grand jury is going to play out. Our officers could respond to calls for service down in Ferguson.”

The issue of wearable cameras is just one of several headed to the White House for consideration in the fallout of the Ferguson unrest. As President Barack Obama ponders the possible demilitarization of civilian police, nearly 150,000 people have signed a petition to create a national “Mike Brown Law” requiring all police to wear cameras.

The cameras allow officers to capture video and audio of their interactions with the public.

Maj. Paul West, assistant police chief in Wentzville, said his department has been using the

Associated Press

Body cameras can be mounted on an officer’s lapel to record interactions with the public. The cost of the cameras has come down recently but doesn’t include data storage. Following Michael Brown’s death, Ferguson is seeking money to outfit its force with cameras.

cameras for about two years and now has more than 40. He said the department has expanded their use and now all patrol officers have them.

West said a departmental policy mandates that officers turn the cameras on whenever they have interaction with the public.

The cameras are constantly recording. Images are retained in a 30-second buffer. When the officer hits record, the buffer is preserved and the camera continues to save what it sees. The officers then plug the cameras in to download the recordings at the end of their shifts. The video is kept on a data server.

Taser, an Arizona-based police and military equipment manufacturer, sells a 130-degree lens

body camera the size of a deck of cards for $399.

“It works very well,” West said.

“We have seen a decrease in civilian complaints, but it wasn’t like we had a whole lot of complaints prior to that.”

Such recordings could help police and courts determine right and wrong in situations where officers decide to use force. In Ferguson, the device could have helped determine the chain of events that culminated in the fatal shooting.

The department had previously purchased a few dash cameras for their squad cars and two wearable body cameras, but it didn’t have the money to have them installed and made operational. There is no police video

of Wilson’s encounter with 18-year-old Brown.

“I think it helps clean up any ambiguity about the ‘he said, he said’ argument,” said Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III. “It helps keep everybody honest.

Any time you can shed some light on a situation, it’s a good thing.”

The wearable cameras cost anywhere from $300 to $800.

But data storage fees can increase that cost by thousands of dollars. Jeff McCreary, police chief in Crystal City, said his department in Jefferson County experimented with the cameras but “budgetary issues brought on by the economy of the area prevents their immediate purchase.”

Paul, the Ellisville mayor, said the price of the cameras has dropped dramatically over the years, allowing his department to make the purchases.

Police departments across the nation have considered using cameras. Earlier this month, a New York City official championed a $5 million pilot program to outfit 15 percent of the city’s police officers with wearable cameras. The move came after an officer on Staten Island fatally choked an unarmed man who was allegedly bootlegging cigarettes.

New York City Public Advocate Letitia James said in a statement that wearable cameras would “provide more accountability as well as help save New York City money on settlements related to false arrests and police misconduct.”

The Rialto, Calif., Police De-

partment recently conducted a yearlong study into its use of wearable cameras. The department found a 60 percent drop in use-of-force cases and nearly a 90 percent drop in citizen complaints against its officers.

Police in San Diego have put the cameras to heavy use, but some have alleged the department has been shielded from releasing the recorded video to the public.

Some officers have complained about losing privacy or having another policy to follow.

A spokesman for the St. Louis Police Officers Association declined to comment at length but said the organization’s position is that police should be given body armor before they get body cameras.

The area’s largest departments don’t have the cameras in use.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar has said his department is strongly considering them.

Maggie Crane, spokeswoman for St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, said the city could soon consider the possibility.

Crane said that discussion could be included in public meetings that will be led by the city’s Public Safety Director Richard Gray in the wake of the Ferguson case.

“We should and we will use this opportunity to inform what we are doing,” Crane said.

Crane said she isn’t sure of a timeline for the meetings, which would serve as a way for officials to get residents’ input and examine current police practices.

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Finding our common language Our view • Mourning of Michael Brown should bridge region’s great racial divide. comment on social On the day the nation media, we should watched Michael ask ourselves a Brown laid to rest in question: Would I a nationally televised say this to the face funeral, there were of everybody I know 16 death notices in who might see this the Post-Dispatch. online?

That is hardly the full From our political collection of people leaders on down, being mourned on as we move from one given day, but moment to movesuffice it to say, on ment, it’s important any given day in St. that we not lose Louis, or Ferguson, sight of our comor any city in the mon connection nation, there are to this story. It’s thousands of people possible to support grieving over the the very important passing of loved and dangerous work ones. police officers do They are black, while also recognizwhite and brown. ing that they should Young and old. be accountable for Mothers, fathers and mistakes. It’s absochildren. lutely OK to believe There is a common our region’s history language in death, has been unfairly even as we find difdiscriminatory to ferent ways to mourn African-Americans lives lost too early or celebrate those lived ROBERT COHEN • rcohen@post-dispatch.com while admitting to not comprehending long and well.

The casket of Michael Brown exits Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Chuch at the end of the funeral on Monday. the transformation The funeral of from protest to looting. sky.

The truth, however, almost man he shot. “But if they come to Michael Brown, the 18-year-old We ought to be able to have a It was a completely different always lives in that space between support the officers, they’re supAfrican-American shot dead by discussion about past political type of memorial service than the extremes. porters,” he said. “But if we come a white police officer on Aug. 9, errors without completely writing the gathering of thousands on The “in between” is where to support the family, we’re dividgrabbed the nation’s attention off our political opponents.

Monday at the Friendly Temple we must be if we are to have the ing the country.” not because of the attendance of Last week, we lamented the Missionary Baptist Church, and serious conversations, and take Indeed, the past two weeks celebrities, but because his very yet there was a common language, numbers in the recent Pew the necessary action, that the of unrest in the St. Louis region public death opened up and laid Research Center poll on the that of mourning, of supporting underlying angst boiling over as a have brought attention to not just bare the racial wounds of a comnation’s reaction to Ferguson, loved ones, of remembering a life result of the Ferguson uprising has munity, of a region and of a nation. racial divides we have ignored for which showed a stark racial that is no longer. revealed.

One of those celebrities, the Rev. too long, but our country’s difMost of us know the pain of loss, divide in reactions to the killing of Why not use a funeral as that ficulty, magnified in recent years, Al Sharpton, addressed the divide whether it has been a parent, child, Michael Brown. opportunity to find common to find common ground on most that has been made clear in the Yet there is also hope in some of grandparent, friend or co-worker. issues. It’s not just race. It’s climate ground? days since Ferguson police officer those numbers.

That pain speaks to our common Laying a child to rest — or a change. It’s Obamacare. It’s Gaza.

Darren Wilson shot Michael Among whites, Republicans experience, and it is that experiparent for that matter — should It’s war and peace. Our nation is Brown, and protests turned to and political independents, for ence that we must tap if we as a bring people together, to feel the divided. Ferguson is just one place rioting as the world watched a city region and a nation are going to use instance, there is a higher percentempathetic pain of loss. where the division is laid bare. on edge. age who believe that the Michael the energy unleashed in Ferguson On Sunday, a colleague of ours To some, for instance, the mere In recent days, friends and supBrown killing raises important for good. held a memorial service for his mention of Mr. Sharpton’s name porters of Mr. Wilson have come questions about race than just So where do we start finding elderly father who had died. At a causes them to close their ears. On to his defense, rallying at a southa year ago believed the killing of those common threads that bind south-side tavern, not far from MSNBC, the cable news channel side bar and taking to social media Trayvon Martin did. where Mr. Sharpton works as host, where Mr. Wilson’s supporters had us? to defend the policeman’s actions, Perhaps that is a sign that the Let’s begin with words. been gathering, friends and famMichael Brown was a gentle soul even while the facts of the case nation is closer to having the seriHowever we describe what we ily, many of them total strangers, who didn’t deserve to die. On Fox remain unclear. ous conversation about race we think happened on Aug. 9, “thug” wrote messages celebrating his News he’s a thug of questionable Mr. Wilson’s supporters have have been avoiding for too long. and “racist” are words we should life on blue balloons and watched character. the right to support him, Rev. try to avoid. Perhaps before we them fly away in the hot summer There is no in between.

Sharpton said at the funeral for the

YOUR VIEWS • LETTERS FROM OUR READERS Time for major changes in governing the police The three officers from St. Ann, Glendale and St. Louis County who have been suspended are troubling. It exposed their clear bias and disdain for citizen rights. The police forces in the region should be carefully scrutinized. I am a Vietnam veteran and have an understanding of the dangers they often face. I deeply appreciate the work of the police. But something is seriously wrong here.

If you look at the tickets written by Ferguson police, it nearly adds up to the yearly budget for their police department. Who says crime doesn’t pay? It does for the police.

The problem is the continual and ongoing harassment of citizens feeds discontent, causes disconnection and general distrust.

The police are feeding the anarchy and crime.

It is time for major changes, we can no longer wink, wink at police departments with money-making speed traps and everything else that is going on.

All money for fines, including drug seizures, should not go to the police departments involved. St. Louis County should consolidate into three or four police districts and eliminate all municipal involvement. It is essential there is strong citizen oversight in any government structure, including the prosecutor.

There has to be big changes if the police and citizens are to gain trust. This is about the whole root of government and its relationship with its citizens.

Greg Michaud • St. Louis

Letter does not move the dialogue forward Regarding the letter “Right now, Gaza Strip is safer than Ferguson” (Aug. 21): I am not sure what is worse: The PostDispatch printing such an incorrect statement or the writer’s abysmal knowledge of

the current state of affairs in Gaza.

“More peaceful” is a relative statement.

Evidently the writer believes Ferguson is experiencing more bombing from aircraft than Gaza, that local militias are setting up and operating more mortar and rocket batteries in Ferguson neighborhoods than Gaza, and that local hospitals and schools are experiencing collateral damage from artillery shelling.

If that is in fact the case, then I must be missing some serious news. If it is satire, then making light of the misery of two groups of beleaguered citizens is poor taste and does not help resolve either situation or help move the dialogue forward.

Malcolm D. Spence • Florissant

Praying for a peaceful solution As Sisters of the Most Precious Blood, we agonize over the violence that has resulted in bloodshed, loss of property and heartbreak. Our hearts go out to Michael Brown’s family, friends, neighbors, classmates and teachers. Our hearts go out to Officer Darren Wilson and his family and to those whose mission it is to protect the people.

Many issues have led to the situation in Ferguson, and the systemic problems that contribute to this concern us deeply. Our sisters are praying for a peaceful solution.

We believe every life is precious, as precious as the blood of Christ.

Sister Fran Raia • O’Fallon, Mo.

Stop perpetuating simplistic attitude toward race Bill McClellan’s column “Protests alone can’t bring change” (Aug. 22) outlines a vision for a new Ferguson that would include a “jazz, rhythm and blues, (and) gospel” club “aimed at a black audience” on the “poorer and darker” side of Ferguson. It is exactly this kind of insensitive generalization that got us where we are in Ferguson today.

Rather than speaking with the residents

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in the part of Ferguson he is discussing, McClellan makes assumptions about their tastes based on their race. Such assumptions on the basis of race are dangerous. It is assumptions like these — for example, that black men are dangerous men — that lead to deaths like that of Michael Brown.

We cannot hope for a new Ferguson if we continue to perpetuate this simplistic attitude toward race. Rather than stereotyping based on race, it is about time we really tried to get to know one another. Perhaps then we could stop such senseless murders as that of Michael Brown and truly hope for change.

Rachel Waterman • Bel-Nor

Generosity through ‘ice bucket challenge’ is remarkable The generosity of St. Louis and the surrounding communities is nothing short of remarkable. Over the past few weeks, millions of dollars have been raised for The ALS Association through the social media movement called the “ice bucket challenge.” ALS — sometimes known as Lou Gehrig’s disease — has never before experienced this level of visibility across the nation.

To the thousands of you who’ve been doused with ice water and donated to fight this devastating disease, how can we ever thank you enough? Since our chapter was founded 30 years ago, we have provided comprehensive services to almost 10,000 people with ALS and their families. These services, all free of charge, are offered to provide physical relief but also emotional and financial relief for families fighting this disease.

ALS is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease that attacks nerve cells and pathways in the brain and spinal cord, and slowly robs the body of its ability to walk, speak, swallow and breathe, and every 90 minutes in this country, someone is diagnosed and another person dies from ALS. Thanks to your generosity, we have never been in a better position to fuel our fight

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Single-payer would provide better health care to more people Regarding “Hospitals team up with banks to get patients to pay” followed by “Charity care cut for some who declined coverage” (Aug. 24) exemplifies Missouri’s hospitals’ lean and mean business model. The first article talks about ways to make patients pay for acute care already administered. The second talks about demanding payments prior to non-urgent care.

Missouri hospitals believe mandatory commercial insurance will keep them in the black. However, the majority of people who face bankruptcy due to medical costs are those who have insurance. Commercial insurance companies enforce co-pays, deductibles and other high out-of-pocket costs as a disincentive to seeking care.

Insurers often deny payment for care in advance or after care has been provided.

We have the ability to cure, but have lost the capacity to care. Rather than bullying the sick into commercial insurance they cannot afford to buy or use, Missouri hospitals should support passage of HR 676, “Improved Medicare for All,” the most fiscally conservative and fair way to provide better health care to more people. Missouri hospitals would receive guaranteed payment from the single payer, Medicare, for care provided. Missourians would get medical care without fear of bankruptcy, and hospitals would not need to dun patients through collection agencies.

Mimi Signor • University City

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against this disease. We believe that in the not too distant future, we will look back on this time as the moment the course of this disease was changed forever.

Thank you for helping us to provide the best possible care for these families while we take every step possible to find a treatment and a cure.

Maureen Barber Hill • St. Louis County President/CEO, The ALS Association St. Louis Regional Chapter

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Tom Anselm of Florissant says, “Thanks to Mayor Francis Slay for ignoring the monstrosity/eyesore for over a decade that was the site of a huge fire Thursday. It has been a dumping ground for years, and then it catches fire.”

Read and talk about this letter and more letters online at STLtoday.com/letters

The Killing of Michael Brown Michael P. McMillan

A call for justice in the midst of a crisis Respecting the citizens • Ferguson, county police must cooperate with federal investigation.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Rioting is the language of the unheard.” His words still ring true as I look at the violence and devastation that has engulfed the city of Ferguson and surrounding areas of St. Louis County. Today, we have all heard the language of the unheard coming from our televisions, radios, computers and even from outside our front doors. The shooting death of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer has ignited a firestorm that has engulfed a city, region, nation and world.

For many years, racial profiling has been an issue that has been prevalent in American society.

Racial profiling in St. Louis County has been legendary in the

black community, with traffic courts being filled with AfricanAmericans each week. For the past 13 years, African-Americans have been more likely to be pulled over in traffic stops than any other race in Ferguson. Last year in Missouri, blacks were more than 1 1/2 times more likely to be pulled over than any other race. The killing of Michael Brown was the last straw for a black community that has long been harassed by police officers. That the Ferguson Police Department allowed Michael Brown’s body to remain outside for up to four hours was just more salt in an already festering wound.

The resulting rage that occurred after the fact has been magnified on the world stage because of

its intensity and staying power.

Although the methods that the rioters have used to express their anger are inexcusable, it is up to all of us to find a peaceful solution to this matter. By releasing the police officer’s name alongside a video of the deceased allegedly committing a strong-arm robbery, the Ferguson Police Department continues to incite rage in the community while revealing its unrelenting unfairness and partiality. By revealing the convenience store tape, the Ferguson police chief gives the community the impression that he is more concerned with protecting his own officer than seeking true justice in the case.

The people of St. Louis County,

the nation and the world are looking for justice in the killing of Michael Brown. For far too long, young black men such as Trayvon Martin of Florida, Eric Garner of New York City and Ezell Ford of Los Angeles have been killed with no justice given in return.

Today in the Show-Me State, we are demanding justice for Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr., Michael Brown’s parents, and the citizens of Ferguson. It is important that police officers respect the citizens they are sworn to protect and serve.

I encourage the St. Louis County and Ferguson police to openly cooperate with the federal investigation and not try to protect their own officer. We are grateful

to President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department for conducting a federal inquiry to ensure that a fair and impartial investigation takes place and that the constitutional rights of the demonstrators and the media are protected. In the words of the Rev. Dr. King: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Michael P. McMillan is president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis Inc., a nonprofit organization specializing in social services and civil rights advocacy.

Eugene Robinson • eugenerobinson@washpost.com

When mistakes become deadly Policing and race • How can we explain the shameful disparities in the application of justice?

Robert Cohen • rcohen@post-dispatch.com

Protesters talk with a St. Louis County police officer as officers moved demonstrators out of West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson on Saturday.

Improving the police is a challenging long-term endeavor Deborah Jacobs

Departmental culture • Independent oversight is necessary for accountability.

Having recently moved back to St. Louis from New Jersey, it’s hard not to recognize the parallels between today’s crisis in Ferguson and the 1967 uprisings in Newark, when violence erupted and tanks rolled in, squelching any remaining trust between police and citizens. Years of racial profiling, lack of opportunity, housing discrimination and other frustrations of the AfricanAmerican community preceded Newark’s six days of violence. In its aftermath, leaders took little action to address Newark’s police practices. As a result, more than 40 years of strife between police and community followed. Over this time people lost their lives and sense of security, as well as the crucial belief that a better future is possible.

We can’t afford to spend decades more pretending that police misconduct isn’t a real problem that disproportionately impacts our already disadvantaged communities. While perhaps only a few bad apples commit most police crimes, clearly, they are spoiling the bunch.

This should concern officers who uphold the integrity of their jobs, as much as it does citizens. The killing of Michael Brown has the potential to become the desperately needed tipping point for police accountability, but only if police and political leaders commit to reform, both philosophically and financially.

It would be great if we had an easy fix to rid police agencies of unqualified officers, unprofessionalism and negative culture, but policing is far too complicated a dynamic for easy fixes. Accountability only comes from a combination of internal controls (such as in-service training, transparency measures like use of dashboard and body cameras, and strong and

credible internal affairs offices), progressive police leadership, and independent, external oversight.

Together these can lead to sustainable reform.

Even with all stars aligned, improving policing in departments with entrenched cultures has proven a challenging long-term endeavor. Departmental culture plays a defining role in how police officers conduct their work, and it flows from the top, or, as they say, rots from the head. Thus, we need the right police leaders to make progress on accountability; cities must select chiefs with the kinds of qualities that will enhance the integrity and professionalism of the department. We need police professionals who, despite the natural discomfort of subjecting one’s work to outsider review, embrace best practices and understand the importance of independent oversight. In Ferguson we have seen indicators of such leadership from Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, who walked side-by-side with protesters, listened to people’s concerns and spoke authentically about his own feelings on the matter.

Independent oversight is the linchpin of accountability and takes different forms. Some police departments become the subject of external monitoring as a result of a Department of Justice investigation. A number of cities, including New York and San Diego, have citizen review boards, though many lack sufficient resources, authority and access to information to succeed. Some jurisdictions, like Orange County, Calif., and Denver, have permanent independent monitors. Departments with consistent, ongoing monitoring have the best hope to sustain reforms

and maintain accountability. In most cases where we see monitors come and go, so does accountability.

Engaging with the Department of Justice is often necessary to force police departments to abide by their own internal controls. In Newark, the American Civil Liberties Union ultimately petitioned the Department of Justice to investigate police misconduct. Newark did not have a high-profile shooting like Ferguson to bring attention to its problems, but the ACLU used the scant public records available to document 418 incidents of police misconduct over 2 1/2 years, including nine deaths in custody.

Last month, more than four years after the ACLU’s petition, the Department of Justice completed its investigation and announced long-term monitoring for Newark.

Meanwhile, in Ferguson, numerous groups have already called for a Department of Justice investigation of the overall climate of discriminatory policing in North County.

While the death of Michael Brown ignited this uprising, the community knows all too well that, like in Newark, years of frustration with police harassment built the fire.

Even in the best scenario, it takes many years and significant resources to change police culture and build trust. But it’s an investment well worth making. Consider the costs of reform against the costs of doing nothing: community distrust, loss of life, and chaos in the streets.

Deborah Jacobs is a social justice advocate who is the former executive director of both the ACLU of New Jersey (1999-2012) and of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri (1996-1999). She lives in St. Louis and works to promote human rights in policing nationwide.

To be young, male and black in America means not being allowed to make mistakes.

Forgetting this, as we’ve seen so many times, can be fatal.

The case of Michael Brown, who was laid to rest Monday, is anomalous only in that it is so extreme: an unarmed black teenager riddled with bullets by a white police officer in a community plagued by racial tension.

African-Americans make up 67 percent of the population of Ferguson, Mo., but there are just three black officers on the 53-member police force. County police responded to peaceful demonstrations by rolling out military-surplus armored vehicles and firing tear gas.

It is easy to understand how Brown and his peers might see the police not as public servants but as troops in an army of occupation.

And yes, Brown made mistakes. He was walking in the middle of the street rather than on the sidewalk, according to witnesses, and he was carrying a box of cigars that he apparently took from a convenience store. Neither is a capital offense.

When Officer Darren Wilson stopped him, did Brown respond with puffed-up attitude? For a young black man, that is a transgression punishable by death.

Fatal encounters such as the one between Brown and Wilson understandably draw the nation’s attention. But such tragedies are just the visible manifestation of a much larger reality. Most if not all young men go through a period between adolescence and adulthood when they are likely to engage in risky behavior of various kinds without fully grasping the consequences of their actions.

If they are white — well, boys will be boys. But if they are black, they are treated as men and assumed to have malicious intent.

What else explains the shameful disparities in the application of justice? As I have pointed out before, blacks and whites are equally likely to smoke marijuana; if anything, blacks are slightly less likely to toke up. Yet African-Americans — and Hispanics — are about four times more likely to be arrested on marijuana charges than whites.

To compound this inequality, studies also indicate that among people who are arrested for using or selling marijuana, black defendants are much more likely than

white defendants to actually serve prison time. For young white men, smoking a joint is no big deal. For young black men, it can ruin your life.

Similarly, blacks and whites are equally likely to use cocaine. But a person convicted of selling crack cocaine will serve a far longer prison term than one convicted of selling the same quantity of powder cocaine, even though these are just two forms of the same drug. Crack is the way cocaine is usually sold in the inner cities while powder is more popular in the suburbs — which is one big reason there are so many AfricanAmerican and Hispanic men filling our prisons.

One arrest — even for a minor offense — can be enough to send a promising young life reeling in the wrong direction. Police officers understand this and exercise discretion. But evidence suggests they are much more willing to give young white men a break than young black or brown men.

Why would this be? In Ferguson, I would argue, one obvious factor is the neartotal lack of diversity among police officers. What year is this, anyway?

But there is disparate treatment even in communities where the racial makeup of the police force more closely resembles that of the population. I believe the central problem is that a young black man who encounters a police officer is assumed to have done something wrong and to be capable of violence. These assumptions make the officer more prepared than he otherwise might be to use force — even deadly force.

The real tragedy is that racist assumptions are self-perpetuating and selfreinforcing. If young black men are treated unfairly by the justice system, they are indeed more likely to have arrest records — and, perhaps, to harbor resentment against police authority. They may indeed feel they have nothing to lose by exhibiting defiance.

In some circumstances — and these may include the streets of Ferguson — they may feel that standing up to the police is a matter of self-respect.

Michael Brown had no police record. By all accounts, he had no history of violence.

He had finished high school and was going to continue his education. All of this was hidden, apparently, by the color of his skin.

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