Images from Ferguson by Kerry “Shakaboona” Marshall.
In the wake of the police murder of unarmed Black teen Michael Brown, there are powerful images emerging from the Ferguson Missouri Rebellion, images reminiscent of the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s and 70s; images of a mother, Lezley McSpadden, crying over the murder of her son, Michael Brown, and of mournful protesters erecting a makeshift memorial in the streets; images of hundreds, perhaps 1000s of people marching with their hands in the air and chanting, “Hands up, don’t shoot;” images of an entire Black community locked in arms as they stood face-to-face to an oppressive all-white militarized Ferguson police force and Missouri State Troopers.
An image of 10 over-militarized police officers with assault rifles pointed at a young Black man whose hands are raised in a gesture of being unarmed, being seized upon and detained in the streets; images of a military occupation of a majority Black populated Ferguson County, of a military no-fly zone, of a military curfew and checkpoints; of military snipers on rooftops, of military tanks, and of a National Guard soldiers detaining peaceful protesters.
Night images of local leaders and Black youth confronting the soldiers in their community with rocks, like scenes straight out of Gaza; images of protesters with raised clenched fists of resistance, of handkerchiefs partially covering Black faces, and of protesters waving the Pan-African red, black, and green flag high above their heads; images never seen before of Black people burning the American flag. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the images from the Ferguson Rebellion are telling a compelling story of an unfinished liberation movement to the nations of the world today.
I am Kerry “Shakaboona” Marshall, founding member of the Human Rights Coalition, co-founder and editor of The Movement Magazine, Prison Radio correspondent, and can be reached at SCI Rockview, Box A, number BE7826, Bellefonte, PA 16823. Thank you for listening.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
