Independent Lens

all: I can hear my neighbor crying - How do you heal off a senseless murder... all: Saying I can't breathe - If a officer killing your son in the middle of the street?

- They're always showing the rage and the anger, and that's not really where protests come from.

The commitment comes from the love.

- Coming together united to make that change, against the system.

[clamoring] [stun grenade pops] - I know that we have things that we have to change, and I am committed to being part of that change.

- We must organize, organize, and organize.

announcer: "Ferguson Rises," now only on Independent Lens.

[bright music] [singers vocalizing] [dramatic music] [excited chatter] [children laughing] [children laughing] - [laughing] - [squealing] [sizzling] [gunshot echoes] [gunshots echoing] - Frank, 25.

- 25.

- Get us several more units over here.

There's gonna be a problem.

- There is growing outrage tonight after an unarmed African American teenager was shot and killed by police in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri.

- Coming home from football practice, my first instinct was: that's a big kid.

He looks like one of the kids that I coach.

So I start calling around, just to see.

Just thinking about, is that one of my kids?

- St. Louis County Police are not giving details of what happened moments before Brown was killed.

- When we say, "That could have been my child," like, that was my first ask.

Is he mine?

And where are my children?

- The officer encountered Brown and another man on the street, in an apartment complex.

- We were walking down the street, a empty street.

We were just walking down, minding our own business.

We were both headed home.

And the officer's approaching us.

And as he pulled up on the side of us, he said, "Get the eff on the sidewalk."

The officer's arm extended out the window, grabbed my friend around the neck.

He started to pull my friend into the window.

- Why'd he feel the need to stop and address him from the driver's seat of a vehicle?

It's bad training, it's bad tactics.

It's bad, a lot of things.

- Within the police car, there was a struggle over the officer's weapon.

- My understanding was, the officer was attacked in the car and he defended himself.

- He never once attempted to grab for this officer's weapon.

He's still holding my friend with one arm.

He says, "I'll shoot."

It wasn't even a second later before the gun just went off.

[gunshot echoes] - There was at least one shot fired within the car.

- Michael breaks away, and he starts running away from the officer.

The officer gets out of his vehicle and pursues Michael as he's shooting his weapon.

- He fired another shot.

It struck my friend in the back.

His hands immediately went in the air, and he turned around towards the officer, face-to-face.

He started to tell the officer that he was unarmed, and that "you should stop shooting me."

Before he can get his second sentence out, the officer fired several more shots into his head and chest area.

And he fell dramatically.

It was just horrible to watch.

[cries] - Oh, man.

I mean, they had it taped off.

It was just... At first, they had my little cousin just laying there, uncovered, no nothing.

He was just... just out there, like a public lynching.

That's what it was like.

- People don't understand.

Sometimes police work can go from zero to a hundred in regards to confrontation.

And it sounds like that's what happened there.

- I don't see how he was shot and killed once the threat was gone.

At some point, I think things totally got out of control.

- Less than two hours into the investigation, a crowd started to form, so police called for backup from 15 police departments.

- I looked at the TV, and I saw somebody's child that was laying in the middle of the street.

I was horrified, especially when I heard a Ferguson officer say to his mother that she need to get herself together.

We have a problem here.

- I heard Lezley McSpadden, Mike Brown's mom, say, "You took my son from me."

And I stopped, and I looked, and I watched the rest of what she was saying, and my heart just shattered.

- His mother, Lezley McSpadden, says her son was a good kid, looking forward to going to Vatterott College next week.

- He don't bother nobody.

My son just turned 18 and graduated from high school.

He don't bother nobody.

- Here's my son.

He caused no problems.

He was a leader.

He knew what he wanted out of life.

He was a good kid.

[dog barks] - You're good?

You ready for today?

- I'm good.

- All right.

Your hat in the way.

[chuckles] - I used to have bad dreams, you know?

Bad dreams of what had happened, what he was thinking when these officers started shooting him.

I guess that was the mind doing what it does when it's up on an attack.

Like, trauma.

You could tell yourself you're trying to heal, but how do you heal off a senseless murder... of a officer killing your son, gunning your son down in the middle of the street?

How do you rewind and how do you get that out your mind?

I was all the way around the corner.

Well, actually, back there that day.

On that hill, the grassy hill.

You know?

But...yeah.

I didn't actually think that it was him, but when I looked in the street, his hat that me and my wife had got married in, his hat was in the street and one of his flip-flops was in the street.

So it almost became real, but I still didn't accept it.

Definitely I thought, at least, that detectives would've came and greeted the family, or tried to find out who the family was while this whole big thing was going on.

Even it was two guys I went to Normandy with.

I asked them, you know, "Bruh, tell me something."

They turned they back on me.

There was no one out here's concern about this guy that's laying out here in 98-degree weather, melting to the ground.

So this is the area where he laid in the middle of the street.

Right here.

I stayed the whole time, until he was actually picked up off the ground.

You know...

It was--it was...

I don't know.

I don't know what to tell you I was feeling.

You know, I was confused, I was angry, I was, you know, in disbelief.

All emotions was going on at the time, so it was real disturbing.

It became a reality that night when I seen the news, and his face was on the TV.

[dramatic music] - People are disputing, oh, he had his hands up, he didn't have his hands up, he was charging.

But what we do know is he had no weapon.

He could not possibly have been that much of a threat that warranted lethal force.

He didn't have a history of going around threatening or beating police officers.

- I think Mike Brown, Jr., actually found himself in a situation that he was probably very familiar with, unfortunately.

I also tend to believe that the officer, probably somewhere deep in the recesses and maybe even in the forefront of his mind, believed that he could take these actions.

He could pull the trigger without consequence, because he'd seen it happen so often.

- The majority of the jurors favored acquittal.

- These officers have a job to do, and in doing that job, they have to be given a certain amount of reasonable, and that's what this is, you know, reasonable force.

[gunshots echo] - People like him, my age, they shouldn't be killed by police officers.

Police officers are meant to protect us.

That could have been me.

[sighs] - I don't know if I will walk out the house and not come back, you know?

And that's scary.

- It make me feel sad, because I don't know if that's going to be my son growing up one day.

To have him get shot down by the police for doing nothing, for minding his own business.

You ain't got to worry about people on the street.

Now you got to worry about the people that you supposed to be able to trust to come to your house, to help you take you to the hospital or anything.

You got to worry about these people killing your kids.

- The reality that this could be your child, the reality that this is somebody's child, the reality that this happens and it's here in your backyard, it was...

It was a type of grief that I think the only deeper place to grieve would be if that had actually been my child.

- If you want to know why people are angry, a young 18-year-old boy's body stayed out there for 4 1/2 hours and cooked in the sun... That's why people mad as hell in Ferguson.

- What made this different was that his body was out in the street.

They brought dogs in before they brought something to cover his body.

- You only can push people for so long, until they get upset.

- And before I be a slave, I'm gonna be buried in my grave, and go home to my Lord and be free.

Freedom!

Freedom!

Freedom!

- A Ferguson, Missouri community is calling for action after a police officer reportedly shot and killed an unarmed teen.

- One more!

all: Fight the power!

- One more!

Hands up!

all: Fight the power!

[police siren wails] - They shouldn't have left his body in the street for 4 1/2 hours.

It was the highest form of disrespect, particularly for people who, for about 200 years of their history, cannot bury their dead.

Cannot have proper funerals.

Cannot ritualize them properly.

And so to leave him in the street is an ancestral form of disrespect.

- Put your lighters up for Mike Brown.

- Hands up!

all: Don't shoot!

- Hands up!

all: Don't shoot!

all: Indict, convict, send them killer cops to jail.

The whole damn system is guilty as hell.

[angry shouting] all: These racist cops have got to go.

Hey-hey, ho-ho.

These racist cops have got to go.

Hey-hey, ho-ho.

- You need to disperse immediately, or you will be subject to arrest.

Do it now.

- We tried to march from the scene of the crime to the police station, and we're stopped.

- Run!

[stun grenade pops] [clamoring] - We see a lot of young people react to getting shot at with tear gas, being met at with riot gear.

- You know, how else is these young kids gonna react, man?

We're being met with aggressiveness.

[artillery fire] [glass shatters] - We've asked them to move multiple times, and we're trying to disperse the crowds out of the area.

The reason that tear gas has been deployed on a couple of occasions is those crowds are not dispersing.

Not only are they not dispersing, they're throwing bottles, coins, rocks at the police.

[crowd shouting] - We all got on nothing.

We're walking with our hands and shouting, "No justice, no peace."

Water bottles.

That's what they was throwing at them, water bottles.

So you mean to tell me you're gonna shoot tear gas 'cause a water bottle hit you?

It would have been peaceful if they would have let us just walk, because people would have got tired and been like, "Okay, it's time to go."

[crowd shouting] [glass bottle shatters] - What is the status right now of the demonstrations and the protests?

I understand there were 32 arrests made overnight.

Has your force felt like it has the situation under control?

Do you think that we will see any more outbreaks of the violence that we saw overnight?

- Well, we can't have another night like last night.

So we hope it doesn't happen, but we're prepared for the worst.

- It took a day or two, I think, before it seemed like this was going to be a moment.

This was going to be bigger than it looked.

- Hands up!

Don't shoot!

Hands up!

Don't shoot!

[car horns honking] - I think there was this sense that this little community that was run mostly by white people, this was just another indication of the racism that's going on in America.

- There is not a racial divide in the city of Ferguson.

- According to who?

Is that your perspective?

Or do you believe that that is the perspective of African Americans in your community?

- That is the perspective of all residents in our city.

Absolutely.

- The tensions are high in this city.

They have always been high, but now they're manifesting.

- You don't see our anguish?

You don't see that we're [...] dying?

You don't see that we're [...] dying?

- There are a lot of vacant houses in Ferguson right now.

For us, personally, we're not going anyplace.

- We'll die here.

- Well, that's a happy thought.

- Well, but we will.

We're not... We're not gonna leave.

Hello, Mr. Kitty.

You like the sun.

There are others who believe differently than we do, or who want to continue to be disrespectful.

I certainly don't lump all protesters together.

There are just some who want to stir up the pot.

I don't know how to say it without sounding like "we" and "them," but the protesters are still wanting to gripe about things, and... to me, it almost seems like they're... have tantrums.

- Eff the pigs!

all: [...] the police!

- Eff the pigs!

all: [...] the police!

- Where has talking got us?

Nothing!

Nothing!

Nothing!

Ain't got us nothing!

Oh, yeah, this is the happy side of Ferguson.

[...] this side of town.

- Protesters, they're always showing the rage and the anger, and that's not really where protest comes from.

And I think that's something that many of my white neighbors don't see.

They're seeing the anger, and not realizing that the commitment comes from the love.

all: We here, we strong, we marching all night long!

[cheers and applause] I have lived in St. Louis for about 14 years.

I pastor in AME Church.

I am a mom.

I don't believe in just sitting around, praying about stuff.

You know, you get up and you do something.

I didn't know what it meant to be in the street protesting.

I just knew that that's where I needed to be, because as a mom, that's where I've always been-- been where the kids are.

And found my way to West Florissant, and parked my car by the Taco Bell, and joined the march that was going down the street, and didn't leave.

I've kind of understood it as, like, standing between heaven and hell.

It's a terrible spiritual force, and the atmosphere of evil is so thick sometimes that it weighs on you.

- There was more unrest in the St. Louis suburb last night.

- Please clear the street.

- Once again, community frustration quickly ignited the fuse of violence.

Young people threw rocks, and police responded with rubber bullets and tear gas.

- The scene that photographers captured looked like a police state.

- I was studying as a scholar in residence at Martin Luther King Papers at Stanford University.

Once Ferguson happened, friends began to encourage me to go home.

And so, I got on a plane and I flew back in time.

It looked like Watts.

The tanks, the tear gas, the rubber bullets looked familiar.

[explosions] - Ferguson has seen riots and looting following a police shooting on an unarmed Black teenager over the weekend.

- Well, you know, Bill, they haven't made it through the night without a clash in Ferguson.

Last night, a little bigger than other clashes we have seen thus far.

- You must disperse immediately.

This is no longer a peaceful protest when you've tried to injure people.

- If you are non-credentialed media, you need to disperse immediately.

- Please keep moving.

[crowd shouting] - Can we please keep moving, people?

Media.

- We're not waiting.

This is not 1961, it's not '63.

It's not even Selma '64 or '65.

We're right in '67, '68.

So you're looking at some Watts, Newark, Detroit kind of action, where people are mad as hell.

- You don't know who the hell you [...] with out here on this bullhorn.

[car horns honk] - Indict, convict, send those killer cops to jail!

The whole damn system is guilty as hell!

- Interestingly, our little town of 22,000 become a rallying point for racial relations across the entire country.

all: Hands up!

Don't shoot!

Hands up!

Don't shoot!

Hands up!

Don't shoot!

Hands up!

Don't shoot!

[crowd chanting] all: Hey-hey, ho-ho.

These racist cops have got to go.

Hey-hey, ho-ho... [crowd chanting] all: Indict, convict, send those killer cops to jail.

The whole damn system is guilty as hell.

- We hurt, we broken, and we ain't all criminals.

'Cause we look like this don't make us wrong.

We broken.

We broken.

We broken.

- No one knew the aftermath of what was going to come out of it.

But everyone that went out there puts their lives on the line.

Come together united to make that change against one common enemy: the system.

- Actually, one of the most powerful moments happened two nights ago.

We're out on the street, protesting.

And then, there's gunfire.

[gunshots echo] And then, of course, the police all come.

And they come in their, you know, riot gear and the tanks.

And there was this one young man.

He was, like, badass, right?

And he just-- he just plops down in the street.

And the police were like, "Get up.

You got to go.

"You got to get out of the street.

Got to get out of the street."

And he can't move.

And I've been in that space, where you just can't move.

And I looked down at him, and he's crying.

And there's just so many tears.

His face is filled with tears.

And he looks up at me and he says, "How long?"

I said, "How long?"

"How long do you think we have to live?

"If the streets don't get us, the police will.

What's the purpose?"

And I just sat down next to him, because he needed some space to cry.

And he needed to process, because he's grieving.

And he's scared.

And he's sad.

He looks at me and he said, "So, why does God let this happen?"

Deep theological moment.

It's issues of the odyssey.

Where's God in the presence of evil?

More church happens in those streets than ever happened in a building.

[sighs] - About a month ago, I came to this QuikTrip 'cause I was maced, and one of the employees, she told me to go get some milk 'cause that would help.

So I started pouring milk up in my eyes, and then the officers came in there, and they was telling me if I splash my face again, that I'm gonna be arrested.

And I was trying to tell him that I couldn't see 'cause I had got maced, and he was telling me to shut the eff up and sit the eff down.

He didn't care or whatever.

And I looked at his name tag, and I told myself that I was gonna remember who he was for what he did to me.

And this morning, I had woke up and I heard the news on, and they had released his name.

- Today, the Ferguson police chief releasing the name of the police officer involved in the shooting after so much anger it was being withheld.

But new outrage erupted tonight, because police also released something else: these surveillance images that they believe could show Michael Brown, the shooting victim, involved in a store robbery earlier that day.

- They're saying that Michael Brown supposedly store some cigars.

- Michael Brown robbed a convenience store.

- That, they say, is the motivation for why the police officer here stopped Michael Brown.

- The events that took place on Canfield had nothing to do with whatever grocery store Michael may have been in or the person who was on the video was in.

- There's always a mythos.

A narrative that is spun around, "Well, they were doing this."

It's like with Freddie Gray in Baltimore.

There's always some narrative about what the Black body did that required it to be killed.

- The aggression that he had in the store with the store owner, that was very alarming.

That wasn't good behavior.

Can't deny that.

However, that one moment does not define someone.

- Everything about this smells cover-up.

- It took them nearly a week, and the fighting over this incident nearly tore this city in two.

[explosions] But today, Ferguson City Police are finally sharing that it was 28-year-old police officer Darren Wilson who shot and killed this unarmed Black teenager Saturday afternoon.

- Did Darren Wilson know that Michael Brown had taken some cigars from the store?

My recollection is that Chief Jackson initially said that Darren Wilson did not know.

- So the officer involved in the shooting, was he aware of the robbery call?

- I don't know.

I don't know what came out in his interview.

I know his initial contact was not related to the robbery.

- It had nothing to do with the stop?

- It had nothing to do with stop.

- So then why release the videos?

- At this point... at this point, why did he stop Michael Brown?

- Because they were walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic, that was it.

- You're saying-- what are you saying, Chief?

Did he know that he was a suspect in a case, or did he not know?

- No, he didn't.

- Later, I don't know if it was days later or weeks later, however, I think his comment was that he did know.

- A grand jury begins hearing evidence in the case today to determine if white police officer Darren Wilson should face criminal charges in the killing.

- He threw the first punch?

- Yes.

He threw the first one and hit me in the left side of my face.

- 'Cause, you know, some of the witnesses have said that they say you trying to pull him into the car.

- That would be against every training ever taught to any law enforcement officer.

- He punched you, and did he land a punch?

- Yes, he did, through the window.

And just a solid punch to the right side of my face.

- And that's what caused that redness on the side of your face?

- Yes.

The next day was, how do I survive?

- How do you survive?

- Yes.

I didn't know if I'd be able to withstand another hit like that.

And when I felt it, I just felt the immense power that he had.

I mean, the way I've described it is, it was like a five-year-old holding on to Hulk Hogan.

That's just how big this man was.

- Hulk Hogan?

- He was very large.

Very powerful man.

- Michael Brown, if you look at his height and his weight, it's comparable to Darren Wilson's height and weight.

So the way in which he describes Michael Brown is very odd, you know?

It's an exaggeration.

- A lot of times, law enforcement, we will try to see the negative and try to make someone into a villain.

- That moment before the second shot, you guys are staring at each other.

And you said there was a look in his eye like something you'd never seen before.

- Mm-hmm.

- You described it as a demon.

- Mm-hmm.

It was a very, very intense-- intense image he was presenting.

- Demon?

- Very intense.

- Darren Wilson's own words as he's explaining what happened, show that there's a clear racist bias present in his worldview.

- And this was what happens when we dehumanize African American men to be nothing but monsters, demons, antihuman.

- And so how one 6-foot-tall person can say about another 6-foot-tall person that I feel like a five-year-old boy hanging on to this big monster is unclear to me.

Unless they're trying to persuade the jury that Mike Brown was not human.

- I was expecting to see his face mangled.

And I hear what he's saying, that he was afraid and this happened and that happened.

But I always go back to the beginning.

And the beginning is this: you got an armed man and an unarmed man.

The unarmed man is shot six to seven times.

He unloaded many, many more bullets.

Why?

He doesn't even have a bruise.

- And you're absolutely convinced, when you look through your heart and your mind, that if Michael Brown were white, this would have gone down in exactly the same way.

- Yes.

- No question?

- No question.

- And anyone who believes that part of you is motivated by some kind of racial animus, some kind of racism, they're wrong?

- They are wrong.

You can't perform the duties of a police officer and have racism in you.

[tense music] [wistful music] - In Ferguson, Missouri, today, the streets were cleared.

No marches, no protests, as thousands gathered in nearby St. Louis for the funeral of Michael Brown.

- I feel really privileged to stand here to talk about such a dynamic young man.

I met Mike-Mike three years ago, and he truly became my best friend.

The day that Mike-Mike graduated, we took him out to lunch.

And he said, "Cal, I feel like "I got so much going inside of me, "and I just-- I know that the world is someday gonna know my name."

He said, "I'ma shake the world."

And I promise you that he has.

[applause] - Let us not lose sight of the fact that this young man should be doing his second week in college.

[applause] No community in America would tolerate an 18-year-old boy laying in the street four and a half hours, and we're not gonna tolerate it either.

Whatever happened devalued this boy's life, must be answered by somebody.

[cheers and applause] [Understanding Diggs' "What I Wanna See"] [protesters shouting] all: Hands up!

Don't shoot!

Hands up!

Don't shoot!

Hands up!

Don't shoot!

- I'm a chief protester, but don't do it today.

Don't do it today.

Let's respect the family wishes, okay?

- Please is a word I shouldn't need For you to understand we just want to be free Imagine how it feels to have to plead something So obviously true Forced to wage a war just to breathe And to spill blood I don't wanna see No, I don't wanna see Black boys dying in the street Not living the lives they should lead No, I don't wanna see Another mother crying on her knees For the unjust crimes of police No, I don't wanna see the eyes of a young man Cold from a life that won't provide him peace No, what I want to see Is that young man's dreams come to be And that young man looks just like me Please - Losing a child is-- is hard, you know?

So, you know, we have to do things that build us back up to make us even more stronger men than we were before.

[house alarm beeps] We lose a child or whatever, they always go to the woman, which is natural, you know?

But the men need support and love too, You know, we hurt too.

We hurt a different type of way.

Some of us hold it in, you know.

And sometimes, we have to get that out before we explode.

We're just trying to deal with it a certain way that we think that's best.

And it's not.

It's actually killing us inside.

So we have to get all that out in order to move forward.

Could you get her and you go in another room for me, please?

Everyone has seen this now.

Brings back a lot of memories.

Mike was, what, a day old, you know.

Now, this is one of my newest pictures from him.

This is a picture I really keep wrapped up.

You know, I've just been protecting it.

I don't want the glass get broke.

I don't want the frame to get scratched, none of that.

'Cause this picture here definitely looks just like him.

You know, when he was 14, 15 years old, you know.

He graduated out of summer school August 1st.

He was killed August 9th.

It meant a lot, 'cause I didn't graduate.

So it was almost like I graduated with him.

[somber music] [indistinct chatter] Well, his sisters, his siblings is still hurting.

He has a smaller sister, Mi-Kelle.

She walks around the house, talks to him.

Have a conversation with him.

Tell us that he's reading a book to her.

Saying that he's on the phone, on her play phone.

Just really strong energy on a spiritual tilt with him.

So I have to take in the good from her to make it more positive for me to be positive for the other siblings.

[dramatic music] [kids shouting] - People send they kids out, the kids go places, and they kids never come home because somebody who was entrusted to serve and protect their kids decided that they didn't want them to be on this earth no more.

That hurts as a mother.

- I go back to the seven-year-old girl that I was working with in Canfield.

And we were just doing a simple activity.

We were making buttons.

And she made a button, unprompted, on her own, that said, "I don't trust the police."

And I don't believe that all police officers are bad.

And I told her, I said, "Well, you know," I was like, "not all police officers are bad."

And she looked at me very earnestly and said, "How will I know the difference?"

- I don't want nobody to be mistreated.

I don't want nobody to be tooken advantage of.

Killed for no reason.

But this is what we live in.

We live in... hell.

- When people be like, "I'm so surprised that the racism is so high in St. Louis," people that live here, it's like, yeah, that's the Lou for you, you know?

It was one of the last states to free slaves, and that means a lot, 'cause it's, like I said, still reflected in everyday policy.

It's still reflected in certain communities.

It's still reflected in everyday life for individuals.

So, you know, you think you was coming up north to get free, it really wasn't.

You came up north and you stayed south.

- We really are more up-south than Midwest.

We really were one of those initial stops on that highway coming up from Mississippi and the Gulf.

And a lot of folks, when they came here, really engendered a lot of southern culture.

And you still feel it tangibly.

- We are in the state of Missouri, which was a slave state during the Civil War.

This state has some very famous cases that come out of it.

The Dred Scott decision comes out of this state.

Shelley v. Kraemer, which dealt with unfair housing practices, where there were restrictive covenants where people couldn't move into certain neighborhoods.

We also have, out of this state, we have the McDonnell Douglas case, Green v. McDonnell Douglas, the first case that talked about how employers couldn't retaliate based on one's activism, based on political or social issues.

- One real criticism that I grew up with was the idea that St. Louis never really had a movement history.

St. Louis never really resisted.

Like, when other cities went up in flames, either due to Martin's death or with Malcolm's death or any of the other uprisings in the city, the thought was that St. Louis had no activity on the ground and didn't participate.

- Any of our kind of organizations, if you will, many of them started during times when we were a much more racist and sexist society.

Some even starting in slavery.

And as a result, we start practices and policies that perpetuate.

- So policing was set up so they would see and target Black folks.

They would often fine folks and find ways to ticket and harass them.

And even when those areas began to transition to be majority and predominately, if not all, Black, those same behaviors tended to stay rooted there.

- We have a thing called "hot spot policing."

I look at that as nothing but stop and frisk.

Stop and frisk is the backbone of policing.

Every major arrest I've made usually has been based on a stop and frisk.

When you have a program of stop and frisk, where you're actually counting how many suspicious people you see and you're being told by your department that you need to make so many suspicious stops, well, what happens is, the police officers just stop anyone walking down the street.

I believe a lot of those stops are pretty much unconstitutional.

- You can't even come down the street and walk to the store without Ferguson Police Department bothering you.

Pulling you over.

"Why are you walking?"

If the liquor store not open, you should not be out here, especially if you are a Black person.

- I'm a law enforcement officer.

I've been in Clayton shopping three times in my lifetime.

And I was pulled over two of those times.

It makes you angry.

- There's a lot of tragedy in my family, 'cause I lost a lot of loved ones, 'cause either they was getting killed or they was going to jail for a long, long time.

My father got killed when I was three.

My auntie and my cousin was murdered, like, back in '99.

It was like a double homicide.

I grew up pretty much just, like, cops was picking on me.

I became active as I was on house arrest.

But when I got off, I made the steps further, but I needed that push 'cause I was scared.

I was scared I might go back in jail just for, you know-- for freedom of speech, you know.

But I felt that, you know, after attending all these marches, I realized I'ma go to jail or die regardless, you know, if I don't stand up.

- The Department of Justice's report on the Ferguson Police Department was released Wednesday, and it turns out to be even more damning than the early leak suggested.

The report describes everything, from harassment to excessive use of force, to the unfair targeting of African Americans just to help balance the city's budget.

- Our view of the evidence found no... no alternative explanation for the disproportionate impact on African American residents other than racial bias.

- Today's report allows the city of Ferguson to identify the problems not only in our police department, but in the entire St. Louis region.

- The structure of these municipal court systems where these small communities are dependent upon these petty municipal fines totally incentivizes the kind of racial profiling that's going on.

- If you look at Ferguson, it had upwards of 32,000 outstanding arrest warrants from mostly low-level nonviolent offenses.

That's a town of 21,000 and 32,000 arrest warrants issued.

- Three-fourths of that community have active warrants.

The average household in Ferguson has over three active warrants.

And these are for petty, minor offenses, things like expired vehicle registration, running a stop sign.

- People have killed themselves in jail, like Kimberlee Randall-King, who got picked up for a small fight and was thrown in jail and had, like, nine traffic warrants.

And watched, in a matter of hours, her whole life just being decimated in front of her for traffic warrants.

And she killed herself in jail.

There's multiple stories of that.

- When a police car actually pulls up in our rearview, we get the same response as though if somebody were actually pulling up to rob us.

- I think the problem up in Ferguson was, there was so much animosity built over the years over writing so many tickets that the public was very unforgiving when something like this happens.

- The worlds that white people and Black people live in are extremely different.

And white people typically have very little recognition of the sort of day-to-day systemic oppression that people of color face in this country simply by walking out of their homes.

- Hi, Officer Wiegert.

- Hey.

You're gonna get a kick out of this.

They're shooting a documentary.

[laughs] I just retired.

I was a police officer for 35 years with the St. Louis City Police Department.

See, this is what the people are like.

This is what the business is like.

They know your name, and you come in here and chat with them, and it's just a familiarity.

- Right, they're just threatening to shut off my water.

- [chuckles] We'll come back.

- Yeah, come back.

- Okay.

- Sherry, we'll come back.

- I have never had a problem with the police.

They've always been in the community.

They've always been at every festival, at every... we have Sunday parkways where they close a couple of streets, and everybody gets to play in the street, go in the street.

It's really a lot of fun.

They put up climbing walls.

- I don't know.

I mean, I guess I always thought the police were fair, but then, let's face it, I'm white and, you know, with maybe the exception of a speeding ticket a couple of times in my life, I've really never had to encounter the police as a law enforcement.

- Nobody calls the police to get the cat out of the tree.

They're, like, the last resort.

- They used to bring my dog home in their police car for me.

[chuckles] But--because if Animal Control got them, that's $100 every time.

I didn't even know the police knew my dog.

And they'd come up to the door and say, "Mrs. Sansevere, we have Butter in the car."

[laughs] - We knew early on that this was gonna be going to Bob McCulloch as the county prosecutor.

And because we already had a history with Bob McCulloch, we expected-- exactly how he played this, we expected he was gonna do.

- As the prosecutor out of St. Louis County gathers the evidence to present to the grand jurors, there are calls for him to recuse himself.

In 1964, when McCulloch was just 12 years of age, his father, a police officer, was shot and killed in a gunfight with a Black kidnapper.

- Also in 2001, he did not charge two officers who shot and killed two unarmed African American suspects.

And he referred to the two men killed as "bums."

- I think everyone knew, as the amount of information that we saw coming through from even various neutral bodies saying that Rob McCulloch was running a very odd game, and that nothing had ever been put before a grand jury in this way.

- I've never, ever heard of a prosecutor going to a grand jury and saying, "Oh, golly, gee, do whatever you like."

Here's both sides of the story.

And I'm not saying you should do one thing or the other.

Oh, I'm gonna let the guy who we're trying to charge, who we're trying to indict, speak for hours and hours and hours unopposed.

- No cross-examination.

- I mean, it is literally unheard of.

- We all knew that it seemed so unlikely that the indictment would be made, and yet they have a hope, they have a determination, they have a certainty that we will win.

[percussive music playing] - U.S. and local law enforcement officials telling CNN that a decision by the grand jury in the Darren Wilson case is expected to be announced later today.

- The emotions is all over the place.

My wife woke up earlier this morning, and she was crying.

But we're gonna make it.

We're gonna try to make it through.

Well, I definitely told Mike about the police when he was younger, 'cause he was always a big guy.

But one day, he had a conversation with Cal and said there was this guy that was bothering him.

He told me he was okay.

There wasn't nothing for me to worry about.

Didn't know that it was the same guy that killed him.

[somber music] But at the end of the day, that's the part that hurts.

That it was a situation, and I probably--I could have took control of it, you know?

But, you know...

I didn't do--I didn't do my part on being his father.

- Whatever the grand jury decides, indictment or no indictment, remember, this is about evidence, not about who you might want to win.

- I mean, if he's not indicted for anything, there probably will be a reaction, a serious reaction.

- Let me repeat Michael's father's words.

"Hurting others or destroying property "is not the answer.

"No matter what the grand jury decides, I do not want my son's death to be in vain."

- I don't condone any violence or any looting, but who knows what's gonna happen.

All this is happening, and charges haven't even been filed.

Can you imagine what'll happen if somebody comes out, "not guilty"?

I don't even want to be here.

- My colleague, Don Lemon, is standing by in Ferguson with some breaking news.

- Joining me now is Tory Russell.

Tory is the cofounder of the Hands Up United.

Tory, thanks for joining us.

- I turned up on-- you know, I was mad.

I turned up on CNN.

We're just waiting on an indictment, the same thing that we marched in the streets and protested about, we're anxious to actually receive what we want, which is simple justice, man.

We just want the system of policing to be held accountable.

- So, Tory, are you urging calm regardless of the decision?

- I am urging calm.

I'm urging calm for the police officers to not pepper-spray me, tear-gas me, mace me, and shoot rubber bullets.

And some nights, they shot people with real bullets.

I think people need to urge the police to be calm.

Stop hurting kids.

Stop traumatizing our communities.

- Keep the hope alive.

But if that cop don't get locked up, you think it was worse when we was looting?

It's gonna get worse, times ten.

- Darren Wilson just messed with us the week before Michael Brown got killed.

He stay [...] with people.

He needs to be locked the [...] up, yes.

He just--he flagged me.

- You?

- I didn't do--yes.

I didn't do anything to Darren Wilson.

He flagged me.

I took his badge number down.

They don't want to hear [...] at the station.

Stay messing with people.

Messed with him.

Show him your brace for your hands.

No, he is ashamed of it-- - Darren Wilson messed with him too?

- Yeah, show him your-- he don't want to show it.

When I say he's messed up all on the shoulder, drug him by his knees and everything.

We stay in Canfield.

- I would not want to be in Officer Wilson's shoes.

I'm showing solidarity with the people of Ferguson, because they have been oppressed and discriminated against and exploited their entire lives, and now they got to deal with a police department that's oppressing them.

The percentage of Black people in Ferguson is 67%.

And only 6% of the cops are Black.

That's what you call the good ol' white boys club.

And that's gotta end.

- Thanks for your patience.

I'm a little late getting up here.

So I have a statement at the very beginning here, and then we'll be happy to answer some questions when we're finished with that.

- Being out there on that freezing night when the police had repeatedly said that nighttime is the problem, and they want to be able to let people protest in the day, and then produce this sort of 40-minute diatribe, which complained about everything from, I would say, the protesters, the family, bloggers, the media, federal government-- it just reeled off this patronizing list of things, dragging it out for another 40 minutes.

This, at a time when there was the National Guard around every corner.

There were literally tanks.

With the snow falling, the Christmas lights up, "Merry Christmas" strung across the nice part of Ferguson, and the riot police lined up under that bizarre tableau...

It was scary as hell.

- The grand jury deliberated over two days, making their final decision.

They determined that no probable cause exists to file any charge against Officer Wilson and returned a no true bill on each of the five indictments.

– Breaking news: Officer Darren Wilson will not be indicted.

- The grand jury finding no probable cause to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the death of an unarmed teenager, Michael Brown.

- No indictment.

- Are you sure of that?

- No indictment.

No indictment.

- [crying] [dramatic music] - We want answers!

We want answers!

We want answers!

[crowd shouting] We want answers!

- We want answers!

- We want answers!

- I'm a female, and your male officers punched me in the face!

This what y'all signed up for, right?

You should have signed up for the freaking military.

I'm a civilian!

- Now is your opportunity to leave.

That includes members of the media.

- That includes you guys.

- You will get over on that shoulder and get your asses moving.

I'm not gonna tell you again.

One more time.

[rhythmic tapping] - Burn the bitch down!

Burn the bitch down!

- Moments later, the tear gas started.

And everyone just sort of went along and just started to spread out.

[tires squeal] - Go, go, go, go!

[overlapping shouting] - The rioting protesters are furious that Officer Darren Wilson will face no charges.

- Please stop destroying property here in Ferguson, Missouri.

- I'm alarmed.

The level of violence, the indifference to human life is...

It's staggering.

- They're jabbing at the media.

- They're spraying-- they pepper-sprayed me again.

- The media just got pepper-sprayed.

They're now arresting people.

- The police were out of control.

There was, like, seven different groups of police there who had never worked together, who had no training who were suddenly given tanks, there was noise cannons.

They were given toys, and they wanted to use them.

- I think if I was a police officer and I'm guarding a building and I get surrounded by a whole bunch of people, I would feel threatened.

If you put people in fear, they're gonna deploy mace.

You know, people were upset about the mace, but, you know, in the old days, the police officers would have used nightsticks.

- The police literally reached into the crowd and pulled out young women and drug them into the middle of the street.

I'd never seen anything as terrifying like that before in my life.

- Don't you know where you're going?

Is it hell, or is it heaven?

That's all I want to know.

Y'all better get right with God.

- On TV, they started showing what was going on.

on West Florissant.

[crowd shouting] - I got out of the shop, and around 9:50, I just put my daughter down and I sit in front of the TV, and as I do, I'm looking on the TV, and I see this group of people rushing into my store, you know, with rocks.

- Police are still assessing the damage, and firefighters still working to put out these fires.

- By later that night, people were turning over police cars, and half the city was aflame.

[glass shatters] - People been burned and cars burned up.

- Thank you.

- Flames.

Ashes flying in your eyes.

Smoke all over the place.

You couldn't see nothing.

It was real scary.

- [unintelligible] - Ferguson!

Ferguson!

[crowd] Don't shoot!

- It was like a surreal nightmare.

It was certainly one of the most powerful but certainly terrible things I've ever seen.

- All of us, as Americans, should be troubled... By these shootings, because these are not isolated incidents.

To be concerned about these issues is not to be against law enforcement.

When people say Black lives matter, it just means the data shows Black folks are more vulnerable to these kinds of incidents.

This isn't a matter of us comparing the value of lives.

This is... Recognizing that there's a particular burden that is being placed on a group of our fellow citizens.

[police sirens wailing] [somber music] - The next morning, I drove into work.

And I wanted to cry, because I saw the broken glass from where the worst had happened.

- I-I've never been so brokenhearted in my life.

We have an opportunity to make changes that are bigger than us.

The areas that were set afire and burned down, those were areas where people who are economically challenged live.

- It has been shattering to see what has happened to this community in terms of not what we ourselves have felt about our community, but about how it's been portrayed to the outside world.

- The Michael Brown shooting was a tragedy.

To lose a young life.

But when this all happened, it's like, why are they targeting us?

And for so long, yeah, it just-- it's still-- I still question the whole thing.

- You know, I'm not taking it personally and I'm not bitter.

I just wish that, somehow, we'll find a way to gain something out of all this.

- We all have our own agendas.

Am I mad at the protests?

No.

Am I mad that they burned it down?

No.

Would I have told them to do that?

No.

But, you know, it opened the case more.

It made people pay attention to what was going on here.

And it just let them know that people are tired.

You know?

They tired, they ain't taking it no more.

- The Black Lives Matter slogan does not sit well with a lot of whites.

And it hasn't sat well with me.

- You know, we all feel like all lives matter.

All races of lives matter.

Citizens' lives matter.

Police officers' lives matter.

All lives matter.

- We understand that all lives matter.

But until you see me in the same light that you see yourself, I have to keep being specific.

- They say, go back.

all: We say, fight back.

- I did feel like, well, there were people that felt, oh, it's just time to move out of Ferguson 'cause it's just gonna go downhill.

I felt like I needed to step up.

I needed to find ways where I specifically could get involved, to see if there was ways that we could help.

There was some opportunities to organize a food drive for the people in Canfield.

A lot of the residents really couldn't even get out to get to the grocery store.

The police were barricading one end.

Protesters were coming kind of in the back side.

So myself and two guys that I knew loaded all this stuff up in coolers from our church, drove it over to Canfield.

So as we're driving, there was a lot of activity going on.

There was a church group there.

And as I'm driving, I suddenly realize I'm driving right by the memorial that was in the middle of the road for Michael.

And that was kind of a surreal moment for me, realizing that that's where he had been.

That's where he had laid in the road.

Probably at that moment...

It really became a real, tangible idea that something needed to happen.

- I was a kid once, and I was set on a path of going to jail.

This school-to-prison pipeline.

I was trying to figure out, what should I do besides just protesting?

How do I make action come into play?

Like, how do I make change?

We was talking about planting a garden in my neighborhood I was staying in.

It seemed like it happened overnight, because it just moved so quickly and just happened.

It was, like, real.

And, like, one day I woke up and realized, like, it's really happening.

All you got to do is take steps forward.

Hopefully some kids done showed up.

Some of the kids.

They were the kids.

That's why I feel more strong.

Because if they don't have guidance and let them know they have options other than what the system say they have, they're gonna fall into that line too.

They're gonna fall into that school-to-prison pipeline.

I had an epiphany, like, one of my sunflowers died, but then it grew another head.

And it bloomed.

Sort of reminded me of life.

When I go to the garden, it just remind me of life.

You know, how things can die and how another thing can pop up and just look so pretty.

[car alarm chirps] - I know that this is not a perfect community.

I know that we have things that we have to change.

And I certainly am committed to being part of that change.

- I had forgotten what was on it, or don't think I ever really heard the words that were printed on it.

It leaves a wish for peace and happiness...

Which is what I think we'd like to see happen too.

- I've often wondered what he would think.

All that has happened since that day.

[dramatic music] - Protesters plan a series of events to mark the one-year anniversary since Michael Brown's death.

- And one year later, what's changed?

And how have we moved forward as a community?

- There is no plan to have a large police presence in the streets at the start of planned demonstration.

- All righty, so how many of y'all have actually done civil disobedience prior?

And nonviolence is predicated on violence.

This is not about a few bad apples, but a rotten system.

But we don't hate individual officers.

We hate injustice.

Other things you need to protest, you need three things.

Lawyers.

Say it.

all: Lawyers.

- Livestreamers.

all: Livestreamers.

- And manners.

all: Manners.

- 'Cause they will [...] you up in Ferguson.

They do not play here.

[clapping] - Justice for Mike Brown Is justice for us all - The importance of opposing and resisting power, it's really not an either/or.

It's not either protest or vote.

It's protest that you don't really have anything to vote for.

So this kind of external protesting is like instigating.

You're on the outside, and you're poking.

And you're keeping up this pressure.

And you're making power uncomfortable.

- The real story that is not being told is that poor Black everyday people have set the terms of the political debate in America.

And that's very significant.

We're having this conversation, not some guys in bow ties and cuff links, but because some-- What we would call in modernity "niggas" took to the street and said, "We ain't going home."

[overlapping shouting] - I can hear my neighbor crying Saying, "I can't breathe" And now I'm in the struggle Saying, "I can't leave" We're calling out the violence Of the racist police And we ain't gonna stop Until the people are Free - All right, all right, all right.

You are now tuned into the voice and the heart of the movement.

We have one of my heroes in the movement, a man that has taken on a cause, I believe not because he want to, but because he had to.

The president of Chosen for Change.

We have Michael Brown, Sr. in the house.

[laughter] - Oh, man.

Thanks for having me, brother.

- All good.

Man, I'm excited, man.

- I'm just in a blessed space where I can just be at some type of peace.

Definitely the emotions are still high.

Everything is still going fast.

Kids still have questions.

People, the public, community still have questions.

So, you know, just trying to stay positive and move forward on a positive note.

- Tell us about the Chosen families.

- Well, Michael Brown Chosen for Change Foundation is all these-- all these families have lost their loved ones.

You know, so we bring the community in, bringing the love and family back together, you know?

They're coming down to celebrate-- well, commemorate, you know, the day of losing Mike.

- All right, well, good morning, everyone.

all: Good morning.

- It is our duty to fight for our freedom.

all: It is our duty to fight for our freedom.

- It is our duty to win.

all: It is our duty to win.

- We must love and care for one another.

all: We must love and care for one another.

- We have nothing to lose but our chains.

all: We have nothing to lose but our chains.

[applause and cheers] - [whistling] - Yeah!

- Because this is our chosen families healing and prayer breakfast, I want to recognize who we're representing here today.

So if we could start on this table going around, and if one person from the family will just say who you're representing today.

- I'm Jackie Johnson, the mother of Kendrick Johnson, killed January 10, 2013, in Valdosta, Georgia.

- We're here representing my son from Tampa, Florida, Andrew Joseph III.

He was killed February the 7th, 2014.

- My name is David Morris.

My son is David Morris III.

He was killed December 23, 2014.

- I'm Krystal Brown, representing Marlon Brown, killed by the police May 8, 2013.

- My name is Reverend Cary Terrell Ball, Sr.

I am the father of Cary Terrell Ball, Jr., who was killed April the 24th, 2013.

- I'm the mother of Justus Howell.

My name is LaToya Howell.

My son was killed in Zion, Illinois, April 4, 2015.

- I'm Airickca Gordon-Taylor.

I'm here with my mother, Ollie Gordon.

We're here to represent the family of Emmett Till.

She's the last living relative to have lived in the home with Emmett before he was murdered in 1955.

- I'm representing my family, the Sterling family.

Alton Sterling was murdered by two racist police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, July the 5th, 2016.

- I am Cephus, the uncle of Oscar Grant.

Ten years ago, my nephew Oscar was murdered at Fruitvale BART Station.

And when I saw that video, I was really a angry Black man.

I had nothing but destruction on my mind.

That's how I felt.

- Because I'm not in a forgiving mood these days.

I'm not there yet.

I'm gonna get there eventually, I guess.

But right now, I'm like, hell no!

You murdered my nephew.

You murdered him like an animal.

And I want you to go to jail.

So I'm not there yet.

- You hear it a lot.

"You have to forgive.

You have to forgive."

That's not what God is talking about.

I don't got to forgive this officer for murdering my child.

I have to forgive what's going on inside of me because of it.

And once I let that go, I begin to understand that I am here for purpose.

We've been chosen for change, and we can't help that we're here.

But I encourage everybody here to continue to fight through the storm, 'cause it hit me so hard this morning.

Lord, Jesus... it almost broke me.

I was ready to go.

Everybody seen it.

It almost broke me.

It's Justus in this battle.

Justice.

And I need to remember and hold on to the strength that God gave me, because I know it's gon' change.

- I've been gone a month now.

I've been in South Carolina doing prison reform.

I still have work to do here, but I'm telling you, I get so much peace out there, man.

[all murmur] I can breathe.

You know?

I respect the love, but I ain't got every minute, people walking up, saying to me, "How are you doing?

How are you feeling?"

Look in my face and you can tell how I'm feeling.

- Go ahead, Mike!

- You know?

But definitely, it if weren't for y'all, I wouldn't even have a start.

Y'all thought I was there for y'all?

Y'all was there for me.

[laughter and clapping] You heard me.

- We heard you!

- I need it.

I need it, you know?

I know we all need this.

But just know, I was using y'all too.

[all laugh] All y'all.

- Oh, man, that's what's up!

[indistinct chatter] - Nobody woke up that morning when their loved one was dying and say, "Hey, I want to be the face of the movement.

"I want to be at 9:00 news.

I want to be the next morning and be on CNN."

I don't want to do this.

I don't want to be all tears down my eyes with my children crying as the casket lowered down in the ground.

Nobody woke up in the morning and said, "I want to be that voice."

Because what Mike Brown does is, he gave me a voice.

- I think August 9th probably began the transformation on my life.

They probably think that we're crazy.

We're probably a bunch of young Black radicals who just want to burn the city down.

That's not true.

I'm just mad and want to see some change.

We must organize, organize, and organize.

[cheers and applause] - I was one of them closed-minded people.

I just didn't know, you know?

As you open your eyes and realize life is politics, so when we say we don't like politics or know politics, we live in politics.

[soft music] This is the best fight I have ever been in, you know?

Fighting for something that I believe in, and especially for, you know, my son.

["Everybody Deserves to Be Free"] - Hope means life can be different.

Hope means that... No matter how dark the night is, tomorrow's a new day.

- It isn't right Far too many fallin' They say it's in the name Of the greater good Oh, we've lost sight - I don't live in fear.

I live in truth.

I think I used to live in fear, but when I first seen Michael Brown, when I first heard about Tamir Rice, when I first heard about Sandra Bland, I realized, like, fear is kind of irrelevant.

It doesn't matter what you do.

You know, some people will always look at you how they look at you.

Committing yourself to that fear and living according to that fear, you kill yourself.

- I feel like I woke out a deep sleep.

I can never go back to the person I was, or the way I was thinking.

I see everyday struggles in a different way than I used to see it.

You know, anything I want to do, I can do it.

Don't say I can't do it, because I can.

- For those of you who can... Love is the only thing that really allows us to keep going forward.

Today... all: Today... - ...is the beginning... all: ...is the beginning... - ...of your movement.

all: ...of your movement.

- All over the country, young people are on fire.

White folks are on fire.

And it has become global.

- I will stand for you Would you stand for me?

Everybody Deserves to be free - This little unknown place has now been etched in the name of history by virtue of the fact that young people won't bow down.

all: This is what democracy looks like!

- To see young people have the courage to put aside respectability politics and say, "We don't care whether or not you think "this is the respectable way to go about this.

"We are choosing to stand up and demand our voices be heard."

- You can't stop the revolution!

all: You can't stop the revolution!

all: Fight back!

Fight back!

Fight back!

Fight back!

- In the streets of Ferguson next to some queer kids and some kids with tattoos on their face, I rediscovered my radical self.

all: This is what democracy looks like.

- That's why they bring tanks and tear gas out.

Because we've won.

And the question is not if they believe we've won, but the question is whether or not we believe we've won.

And we need to live as though we've already won, because we have.

- I will stand for you Would you stand for me?

Everybody Deserves to be free I would lend a hand to you Would you lend a hand to me?

Everybody Deserves to be free And I would lend a hand to you Would you lend a hand to me?

Everybody Deserves to be free I will stand for you Would you stand for me?

Everybody Deserves to be free Hand to you Would you lend a hand to me?

I said everybody Deserves to be free And everybody Deserves to be free And everybody Deserves To be free Yeah, oh - The death of my son did do change.

Mike Brown equals change.

I didn't get justice, but we took a loss for the eye opener of the system to be exposed.

Is it over?

It's not--never over.

It's just the beginning.

- We've been to walls we couldn't climb And we chased the light that made us blind But I know We can walk this road One step at a time No matter how far No matter how wide And your hand I'll hold And you'll hold mine No matter how long, no matter how tired And together, we'll weather the storm It'll be all right