There are a number of open petitions pertinent to Ferguson, Missouri at the White House petition site:

We petition the Obama Administration to:

Bring justice to Michael Brown by federally charging and prosecuting Darren Wilson for first-degree murder

On August 9th, Michael Brown, an unarmed 18 year old black male, was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. On November 24th, a grand jury failed to indict Darren Wilson on any charges. While Michael Brown, a college-bound teenage boy, no longer has a future, Darren Wilson has pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations & can live his life freely.

Bring justice to Michael Brown and the hundreds of other black boys killed for the color of their skin by federally charging & fully prosecuting Darren Wilson. The grand jury decided not to indict Darren Wilson because of “conflicting evidence”, which is why a trial is necessary to guarantee the legitimacy of our justice system. Darren Wilson must held accountable for the murder that he committed.

Created: Nov 25, 2014

Issues: Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement

Signatures needed by December 25, 2014 to reach goal of 100,000 36,089

Total signatures on this petition 63,911

[emphasis added]

That’s almost 64,000 signatures in one day.

We petition the Obama Administration to:

Force all law enforcement officers to wear body cameras.

All over the country, innocent men and women are being murdered by police, a predominant number of whom are black. And every time, police walk free, many without even a trial or even a punishment. This is because the police departments claim a different set of events than eyewitnesses and say that other evidence is false.

This petition is to force all law enforcement officers to wear body cameras. These cameras need to be on at all times while the officers are on duty, and the videos need to be publicly available when officers shoot or otherwise seriously harm someone. If no video is available, the officer needs to be charged with the appropriate crime, assault or murder.

This petition is to ensure the safety of all people and ensure that officers uphold the law as they are supposed to.

Created: Nov 24, 2014

Issues: Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement

Signatures needed by December 24, 2014 to reach goal of 100,000 92,552

Total signatures on this petition 7,448

We petition the Obama Administration to:

Open a Civil Rights Case Against Darren Wilson

Attorney General Eric Holder,

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has monitored proceedings after the murder of 18 year old Michael Brown, an unarmed black male in Missouri, by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. You visited Ferguson, gave the American people assurances of a full, fair, and independent investigation.

We are concerned that the grand jury process was hampered by highly unconventional proceedings, including leaks. There is no confidence in state/local authorities to capably handle the results.

In light of the return of a non indictment, we implore the DOJ to act swiftly, stand for justice and file civil rights charges against Wilson for Michael’s murder. We contend that he deprived Michael of the most basic constitutional civil rights – the right to life.

Thank you

Created: Nov 24, 2014

Issues: Civil Rights and Liberties, Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement, Firearms

Signatures needed by December 24, 2014 to reach goal of 100,000 99,756

Total signatures on this petition 244

[emphasis added]

We petition the Obama Administration to:

NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE

“Darren Wilson Remains Free: Our demand for justice for Michael Brown continues. We must act now for justice to be served. A grand jury has decided not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown.This does NOT mean a crime was not committed when Michael was shot – it means we must keep fighting for justice. Urge the Department of Justice to complete their federal, criminal civil rights investigation into Michael Brown’s slaying. Justice for Michael is still possible if we act today.”

Created: Nov 25, 2014

Issues: Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement, Defense, Environment

Signatures needed by December 25, 2014 to reach goal of 100,000 99,690

Total signatures on this petition 310

[emphasis added]

Something has to change.

Previously:

The Unanswered Question (November 25, 2014)

The Ferguson Commission: Change agent or spinning wheels? (November 24, 2014)

White House Petition: and stuff (October 16, 2014)

Missouri is an interesting place with interesting people (October 21, 2014)

#NMOS14 Moment of Silence Kansas City Mike Brown Rally (August 16, 2014)

Kansas City moment of silence – August 14, 2014 – part 2 (August 15, 2014)

Kansas City moment of silence – August 14, 2014 (August 14, 2014)

WTF? (August 13, 2014)

And we wonder why (August 12, 2014)

A speaker at the National Moment of Silence – August 14, 2014 – Kansas City, Missouri.

Tom Sullivan, at Digby‘s place:

….One has to wonder what sort of dynamic led from asking two men to walk on the sidewalk into a deadly shooting….

Previously:

Kansas City moment of silence – August 14, 2014 (August 14, 2014)

Kansas City moment of silence – August 14, 2014 – part 2 (August 15, 2014)

#NMOS14 Moment of Silence Kansas City Mike Brown Rally (August 16, 2014)

The Ferguson Commission: Change agent or spinning wheels? (November 24, 2014)

A few days ago Governor Nixon announced the formation of a commission to “address the ‘social and economic conditions’ highlighted by protests after the killing of Michael Brown.” While the names of the members of the commission  have been made public, their formal charge hasn’t been released so far as I  have been able to determine. The only statement about what the Commission is supposed to achieve are the three goals that the Governor described when he stated his intention to form the Commission last month: “to study the underlying causes of the unrest, to tap into expertise needed to address those concerns, and to make specific recommendations for ‘making the St. Louis region a stronger, fairer place for everyone to live.'”

You have to admit that as detailed above, the Commission has been given a very  big task. I’m sure that the members of the Commission are all able and dedicated people and perhaps the Governor will give them a realistic, focused charge with a set of clearly delineated deliverables. And if he doesn’t, perhaps they’ll do it for themselves.

Certainly, there are lots of big issues that have to do with race, class and demographic change that need to be addressed in the St. Louis area. However, I’m not sure that sixteen folks working over six months to a year, as the Governor has described the timeframe, will provide the key to solving them. It did occur to me, though, that six months to a year is time enough to let emotions raised by the Ferguson killing cool somewhat while folks are told that their problems are being addressed somewhere off-stage. The Commission allows the Governor to claim that he is serious about change while at the same time leaving him more immediately free to pander to those who want a punitive, authoritarian response to Ferguson unrest – which the Governor signaled he intended to provide when he prematurely called out the National Guard. Nixon, like County Executive Steve Stenger who felt the need to stand in tandem with a county prosecutor tainted by a pereption of bias, knows who butters his bread – or thinks he does – and wants to make it clear to Missourians who seem to harbor unrealistic fears about the extent of the Ferguson protests that strict disciplinarian Daddy Jay won’t take no back-talk from uppity protestors.

It will be a shame if this Commission ends up as yet another missed opportunity because there is a very real, very specific problem that needs to be effectively addressed by just such a group:  police and minority relations. It is this topic that seems to me to lie at the heart of the uproar in Ferguson. And it’s not a little topic; it comprehends overt bias, police brutality, and the disrespectful exercise of power over folks who have little or no recourse against what they perceive as unfair, oppressive police. There are cultural misapprehensions on the part of both police and minority citizens that have to be expunged if our police forces are to be effectve in keeping the peace and combatting crime and we need to addres this divide if we want to see change – and unlike other the more global problems of racial relations, this issue is amenable to fairly rapid change if we give it the focused attention it needs.

Of course, the Justice Department is currently conducting a review of Ferguson police practices. However, the federal effort does not obviate the need for a local examination of policing problems that should be widened to cover the entire county and take into consideration issues relating to potential consolidation of County resources. It should be possible to work cooperatively or build on the federal efforts.

In the context of the DoJ review, it is worthwhile to note that its leader, Christy E. Lopez, has researched issues surrounding the the breakdown of police authority in minority neighborhoods, concentrating on “the ‘widespread’ problem of cops illegally arresting citizens simply because they perceived them as disrespecting their authority, which has been a common occurrence in protests in the St. Louis area over the past two months.” It’s espeially pertinent since video recently surfaced of the police officer at the heat of the Ferguson protests, Darren Wilson, throwing his official weight around in just such dishonest and disrespectful fashion. This fact alone suggests that the findings of the federal probe could profitably be mined to create an action oriented charge for our local Commission that might go a long way to changing the dynamics of police community relations in Ferguson and elsewhere in the St. Louis Metro area.

I am not suggesting that the bigger issues that devil race relations in the St. Louis area do not need to be addressed, just that we need to be smart about how we go about doing so. Making sure that goals are stated in concrete terms and can broken down into bites that are small enough to be easily digested is usually a good way to get something useful from a group. Overlarge, vague charges usually beget overlarge and vague recommendations that go nowhere and it would be a shame to see that happen this time.

Speaker Tim Jones (r) [file photo].

Today the outgoing (due to term limits) Speaker of the Missouri House, Tim Jones (r), took to Twitter with a retweet:

Tim W. Jones retweeted

UnhyphenatedAmerica @UnhyphenAmerica

“The black elite are more dangerous than the The Klu Klux Klan, to Black Americans.” ~ Arthur BigBully Savage…. [….]

He received a media response:

Eli Yokley ‏@eyokley

My other question, @SpeakerTimJones, is what do you mean by this tweet? That’s quite an assertion. #Ferguson 12:15 PM – 24 Nov 2014

And that’s just part of a longer exchange.

A few other reactions about Speaker Tim Jones’ (r) Twitter feed today:

Tony Messenger @tonymess

A city is on edge, and #MO’s Speaker of the House is trolling editorial writers about black-on-black crime. Think about that. #Ferguson 11:35 AM – 24 Nov 2014

Eli Yokley ‏@eyokley

I’m candidly more interested in what @SpeakerTimJones means that Black ldrs have been “more dangerous” than the KKK [….] 12:24 PM – 24 Nov 2014

SharkFu ‏@SharkFu

Re: that last tweet. That’s the Speaker of the Missouri House. [*]sets down iPhone…backs away slowly[*] 2:37 PM – 24 Nov 2014

SharkFu ‏@SharkFu

Sorry, my mind is still blown by that. I had to check it twice, y’all!! Just when you think you’ve seen it all… 3:03 PM – 24 Nov 2014

Governor Jay Nixon signed an executive order today activating the Missouri National Guard:

Missouri National Guard to support law enforcement efforts in the event of unrest in the St. Louis region, Gov. Nixon announces

November 17, 2014

Jefferson City, MO

Gov. Jay Nixon today signed an executive order activating the Missouri National Guard to support law enforcement during any period of unrest that might occur following the grand jury’s decision concerning the investigation into the death of Michael Brown.  The Governor said the Guard will provide support for law enforcement’s objectives of maintaining safety and protecting constitutional rights.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to plan and be prepared for any contingency, it is necessary to have these resources in place in advance of any announcement of the grand jury’s decision,” Gov. Nixon said. “These additional resources will support law enforcement’s efforts to maintain peace and protect those exercising their right to free speech. The National Guard is well-suited to provide security at command posts, fire stations and other locations as well as perform other functions that will free up law enforcement officers to remain focused on community policing and protecting constitutional rights.”

Gov. Nixon’s executive order also establishes that the Missouri State Highway Patrol, St. Louis County Police Department and St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department will operate as a unified command to keep members of the public safe and protect property, while allowing citizens to exercise their constitutional rights.  Under the executive order, the St. Louis County Police Department will have command and operational control over security in the City of Ferguson in areas of protests and acts of civil disobedience, should such activities occur.

“All people in the St. Louis region deserve to feel safe in their communities and to make their voices heard without fear of violence or intimidation,” said Gov. Nixon. “Public safety demands that we are fully prepared for any contingency, regardless of what the St. Louis County grand jury or the U.S. Department of Justice decides.”

The St. Louis County prosecutor has said publicly that an announcement of the grand jury’s decision will be made later this month. The United States Department of Justice, which is conducting both civil and criminal investigations of the death of Michael Brown, has not announced when its investigations will be concluded.

“Our department, like other police departments in the region, has a full time job keeping our neighborhoods safe.  We are used to working with other agencies in times of necessity,” said St. Louis Metropolitan Police Chief Sam Dotson. “Having the support of the National Guard available will enable local officers to continue to respond promptly to calls for service.”

“We have taken tremendous strides over the past three months, as our officers have undergone thousands of hours of additional training and reached out to build strong relationships across the community,” said St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar. “These additional resources will enhance our ability to achieve our key responsibilities: keeping the public safe, protecting property and enabling people to exercise their constitutional rights.”

Requests from local law enforcement for duties to be performed by the Guard will be handled through the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

“These past three months have been challenging for our community but we have come together in many measurable ways,” said Captain Ron Johnson, commander of Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop C. “The power of communication within the community has allowed us to take steps toward peaceful change that demonstrate the true character of North County. The availability of the National Guard will ensure that law enforcement has the resources to protect three things vital to our community: public safety, property and the constitutional rights of all.”

The Missouri National Guard has been deployed a total of 32 times since 2001 to assist local communities with emergency preparedness and response, from shoring up levees during floods to providing security following the Joplin tornado. The Guard will be commanded by Brigadier General Gregory Mason, a retired 30-year veteran of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

[….]

A few day ago many sources reported on the efforts of the Missouri KKK to get in on the Ferguson action. The white-robed bubba contingent promised that “we will use lethal force as provided by Missouri Law to defend ourselves.” Some racist thugs propose to bring guns to counter the perceived threat posed by folks who are fired up by a long history of police brutality and are declaring that they won’t take it anymore. Anybody surprised by this turn of events?

On the same note, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports today that Ferguson protestors are gearing up for the furror that will probably errupt when the grand jurry issues what many expect will be a white-washing of Darren Wilson’s role in the shooting of Michael Brown. Acording to the report, one faction is exhorting protesters to “pack side arms.” So, if anybody takes this advice to heart, more guns will be added to the lethal mix. I expect that the protestors, with considerably more justification than the KKKers, also claim that they’re concerned with self-defense – and given the over-reaction that the relatively minor episodes of violence in Ferguson have inspired, it’s  hard to deny the force of the sentiment.  

The KKK types are citing Missouri law to justify their rush to the shootout at the OK Corral. While the Missoouri Revised Statutes, Section 563-031, that they cite does attempt to spell out when one may legally defend oneself with lethal force, it doesn’t – on my reading at least – seem to justify folks who are absolutely not threatened by the protests to show up, wave their guns, and fan the flames. But it’s easy for sanctimonious dimwits who want to assert their dominance and pretend that they speak for “the good people of St. Louis County of all races, colors and creeds” to misinterpret such laws with potentially disastrous consequences.

And as for any protestors who may “pack” sidearms, I think that concealed and open carry are now legal, right? While I suspect that Missouri’s very permissive gun laws were intended to enable white folks who have an exaggerated fear of African-Americans rather than angry African-American protestors, the law doesn’t make those distinctions.

Anybody who is surprised by these developments hasn’t been around the proverbial block too many times. The upshot is that we live in a state where laws have been written to encourage mayhem. The sad thing is that I suspet that these laws owe their existence in part to the fear and loathing that lots of white folks feel towards their black fellow citizens.

And it’s the various traditionally entrenched manifestations of that fear and loathing that has created the Ferguson situation in the first place. Now we’ve got Big Daddy Jay Nixon shaking  his finger at protestors and telling us all to hell with police brutality, he won’t tolerate any rioting black folks. Nor should he, but, when he’s addressing the community shouldn’t he at least give a nod of the head to the abuses that left people so angry that they take to the streets? And shouldn’t he let folks like the KKK know that he won’t tolerate any ugly, self-proclaimed “sleeping giants” who want to use Ferguson as an excuse to sling their lethal cudgels? I was visiting in California when I heard Nixon’s speech on the topic and I, a white, middle aged woman, felt like he was waving a red flag meant to incite a currently quiescent bull. No wonder the KKK feels empowered.

And while I’m at it, I haven’t seen a thing in the Post-Dispatch about the KKK’s threats. Did I just miss it? Did they not report on it because it’s potentially inflamatory? But why then did they report on the protestors who “stated plans to ‘make a few fires to stay warm’ – but without the need for firewood.” That isn’t inflamatory (no pun intended)? That doesn’t excite people like the KKK?  If the story is fit to print, print both sides.

Edited slightly for clarity.    

The sarcasm forecast is still high:

Top Conservative Cat ‏@TeaPartyCat

Gov. Jay Nixon: “Violence will not be tolerated after the Michael Brown jury decision. Except by police of course; that doesn’t count.” 6:05 PM – 11 Nov 2014

In Northern Ireland what is known as the marching season takes place between April and August. There are lots of parades during this period. By far the most contentious are the Orange Walks, parades that take place mid-July and which commemorate the victory of Prince William of Orange over James II at the Battle of Boyne. This battle cemented the subjugation of Catholic Ireland to Protestant England, and Orange Walks have functioned to ensure that Catholic Irish don’t forget who it is who runs the show in the North.

The Orange walks are contentious because they focus unresolved tensions among two cultural groups that often view each other with suspicion and fear. The Orangemen represent the folks who have historically had the lion’s share of the meager Northern Ireland pie, a situation that is perhaps finally changing in the wake of  decades of civil strife known as the Troubles. Though the largely Catholic nationalist population is beginning to succeed in more equitably integrating into public and economic life, the tension between the groups persists and finds one of its most tangible and occasionally violent expressions in the Orange walks.

I bring this up because St. Louis County has recently had its own experience with civic unrest in the suburban city of Ferguson. As in Northern Ireland, the ongoing Ferguson protests express the conflict between culturally distinct, mutually suspicious groups, one of which  is historically privileged over the smaller, politically subordinate group. I’d also like to suggest that we saw the same impulse that animates the triumphalist Orange Walks surface in downtown St. Louis. I’m referring to the 40 open-carry advocates who paraded through St. Louis Saturday afternoon, sporting “pistols in holsters and long guns slung from their shoulders.”

Understand that I’m not directly comparing the sparsely attended open-carry march with the powerfully organized Orange marchers. I’m just pointing out that when people feel that their privileges are threatened, they’re apt to react defensively. The Orangemen, for instance, refuse to avoid nationalist areas or negotiate their passage; they insist on claiming right-of-way. So, in this context, ask yourself why white St. Louis gunmen feel it’s important to show off their guns in a predominently Black city? Just why is it necessary to, as one marcher put it, “exercise the newly codified rights in the Missouri Constitution” in such an in-your-face way?

Reasons for the march given by participants had to to with proselytizing for guns because, “more people with guns will ‘keep the streets safer’,” and, more tellingly, “we should always be prepared for an attack.”  Do these responses satisfy? One blogger has noted that the issue has lots to do with just who has the guns and is part of a larger pattern of cultural conflict:

It’s the same pattern you see with conservatives on a lot of issues pertaining to “rights.”  They love going on and on about “freedoms” and “Constitutional rights,” but what they really mean is that they’re fighting for these rights for only those who they feel should have them.

When they talk about religious rights, they mean Christian.  When they talk about protecting equal rights, they mean heterosexuals.  When they talk about shrinking government, they only mean laws that are preventing them from getting away with what they want to get away with.

So when they talk about “open carry rights” they’re really only talking about those people who they feel safe around.  Because I really can’t imagine a group of rural country folk sitting in their local diner feeling at ease with a group of 30 openly armed African-Americans strolling in.

Sociologist Angela Stroud has investigated what makes gun ownership attractive to certain middle class white men. In her research concerning concealed carry, she concludes that “part of the appeal of carrying a concealed firearm is that it allows men to identify with hegemonic masculinity through fantasies of violence and self-defense.” I bet that she’d find that to be the case in spades when it comes to openly brandishing those guns in public. Stroud also identifies a specifically racial aspect to the appeal of guns, noting that:

No figure makes these men feel more physically vulnerable than the specter of the Black criminal. They ascribe a violent masculinity to men of color, and construct a sense of self in contradistinction. Because they assume that the Black men they encounter are potentially armed and dangerous, they want to carry a concealed handgun. Having a gun allows them to maintain a confidence that they are capable of responding to any threat …

See why it might be appealing to some to stage an open-carry parade just as the Ferguson demonstrations begin to cool down? When change is not welcome and conflict emerges, there are lots of folks who can’t help feeling that they should always be “prepared for an attack.” The flaunting of weapons on the part of individuals who are motivated by fantasies of fighting off violent threat is, however, potentially toxic. The blogger I quoted earlier perfectly describes the effect of open-carry laws:

The cultural effect of all these laws is to encourage a kind of hypervigilance that’s simultaneously paranoid and arrogant. It encourages armed citizens to seek confrontations and escalate them, confident that they can end them definitively.

In this context, it becomes difficult not to see a post-Ferguson celebration of open-carry as anything other than an invitation to “bring it on,” issued by frightened white men (and women)* trying their best to live up to an heroic, masculine, cultural ideal. I don’t want to labor the point, but in researching this post, I came across a Website maintained by a comic book author who calls himself D.W. Ulsterman (Northern Ireland is also known as Ulster), who asks:

Is it coincidence that a gathering of marchers who support the pro-2nd Amendment open carry laws of Missouri found nary a sign of Ferguson type protesters attempting to confront them?

WhooHooo! Real men arise and grab your guns! We’ll show those Fergunson types! With any luck, we too, just like Northern Ireland, can enjoy twenty or thirty years of well-armed tit-for-tat murder as we turn the culture wars from a metaphor to a reality.

* Stroud earlier interviewed several women who applied for open-carry licenses and concluded that women want guns in order “to feel as powerful as men in a culture where women are taught to feel vulnerable.” Same dynamic, slightly skewed.

N.B. Text edited slightly for clarity.

A petition at the White House site:

We petition the Obama Administration to:

Let police do their job in Ferguson MO!

We the people are sick and tired of the protestors, rioters, and looters! These people are criminals and need to be arrested and prosecuted! Police cannot work to their full potential and are getting harassed and assaulted! Trespassing and vandalizing are against the law! There have been threats to even kill cops and white people up there! There is a difference in peaceful protesting and the stuff that is happening there.

Created: Oct 13, 2014

Issues: Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement, Economy, Family

Signatures needed by November 12, 2014 to reach goal of 100,000 99,093

Total signatures on this petition 907

[emphasis added]

The creator of the petition is from Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

“We the people are sick and tired of the protestors…”

Well, there is that pesky First Amendment, which by they way, the petitioner exercised with this petition. We suppose the lesser known “until other people are sick and tired” clause could be invoked for petitions to the White House, too.

“…There is a difference in peaceful protesting…”

Wait, didn’t the petitioner write that they were sick and tired of protesters?

We give up.

The Ferguson incident: A young unarmed black man, Michael Brown, was shot several times by a white police officer, Darren Wilson. Several witnesses have publicly stated that Brown  had his hands up and was facing Wilson who continued to shoot him. There was an explosive reaction to this event on the part of black residents of the city, leading to a military-style police overreaction. Most of this is now accepted as true.

In the aftermath, there’s been some official effort to understand and explain why one shooting among so many shooting deaths generated such a reaction. There’s also been plenty of backlash towards those efforts to understand and deal with the anger among Ferguson residents in any way other than denial and suppression. The instinctive reaction of many in the area seems to be to “support” the police no matter what they do, as long as they’re doing it to “those people.” Consider the following when you hear anyone telling you that the Ferguson events are exceptional and folks mostly get along in St. Louis:

— An online fundraiser to cover “expenses” for the police shooter. Among the comments left by donors:

“Ofc. Wilson did his duty. Michael Brown was just a common street thug.”

“Waste of good ammo. It’s my privilege to buy you a replacement box.”

“Black people can be their own enemy and I am not white…He was shot 6 times cause the giant wouldn’t stop or die. Evil people don’t die quick”

“All self-respecting whites have a moral responsibility to support our growing number of martyrs to the failed experiment called diversity.”

“I am so sick of the blacks using every excuse in the book to loot and riot.”

“I support officer Wilson and he did a great job removing an unnecessary thing from the public!”

The fundraiser was shut down when it seemed that there might be legal, tax-related issues about how the money could be used – but not until it had raised $400,000 dollars from sympathizers for the shooter. Did you know you could shoot an unarmed boy and collect a big reward for doing it?

— Until the U.S. Justice Department stepped in, some law enforcement officers working to contain the protests in Ferguson thought it was helpful to express their opinion of the shooting by obscuring their name badges and wearing “I am Darren Wilson” bracelets.

— Residents of Wildwood and other West County locations made it their priority  to organize a food and water drive for the policemen who were moving all their heavy military surplus equipment into Ferguson to put down the protests. According to a police spokesperson, this effort to express appreciation for police efforts to shut down the turmoil as forcibly as possible rendered the police “ecstatic.”

— St. Louis Cardinals fans really showed their colors when they responded to peaceful protesters at Monday night’s game:

At one point, an older white man starts yelling at the protesters, shouting, “That’s right! If they’d be working, we wouldn’t have this problem!” Then, the Cardinals fans begin chanting “Let’s go Cardinals!” which morphs into “Let’s go Darren!” referring to Darren Wilson, the police officer who fatally shot Brown.

Later on in the video, a woman shouts, “We’re the ones who gave all y’all the freedoms that you have!” which is a tidy way of identifying with slavers and Abraham Lincoln at the same time, covered in a thick layer of modern racism.

— There have also been more refined expressions of distaste for activists’ efforts to keep the issues surrounding Michael Brown’s death alive. SMP’s Michael Bersin wrote about the events at the St. Louis symphony Saturday night when a group of symphony goers inserted a “Requium for Mike Brown” before the beginning of the second act of the Brahms Requiem. According to Bersin, “they pulled this off perfectly,” and the audience was mostly sympathetic. No doubt. However, nothing is perfect and in this morning’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Letters” section, genteel disapprobation of what the letter writer evidently deemed an unseemly disruption reared its head:

Is Powell Hall a proper venue for a protest? I assume the protesters bought tickets for this opportunity to have their voices heard. What comes next? Can we expect such events to happen at the art museum? At Circus Flora? At a school graduation? The experience saddened me profoundly. Just like the Ferguson situation, I was left tensely unresolved.

Imagine. A man was murdered, his shooter is very unlikely to be punished, and this individual is horrified that he/she had to sit “rigidly for what felt like an eternity” during the brief protest. If he/she was left “tensely unresolved,” as opposed to as blandly indifferent as his letter implies he wishes to be, then it’s high time that the protest has invaded this refuge for well-off St. Louisians.

You want to know what is behind the events in Ferguson, read the list above and think about what it implies about the St. Louis zeitgeist. While folks do mostly get along, I suppose, it’s also true that things are not always just what they seem to be at the surface. The water can get mighty dirty when we start fishing in the depths.

* Last sentence of last paragraph and last sentence of 4th paragraph edited for clarity and style.