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'We need to communicate. That's key.
But we need justice for Michael Brown'
Showdowns between police and protesters give way to efforts to change life in Ferguson, but locals fear more unrest if the officer who shot Michael Brown is not indicted. Chris McGreal reports
Ardester Williams is writing to Barack Obama the old-fashioned way, with paper and a postage stamp, to tell the president about the day in June when he shot a man.
“He was swinging at me, and he was much bigger than I was,” said the 73-year-old security guard at a Ferguson clothing store. “I had to draw my gun and shoot him. But I shot him in the foot. I’m writing to the president to tell him that the whole concept of police training is backwards. They should train them to shoot people dead as a last resort, not the first.”
A little further down West Florissant Avenue, Shiron Hagens is staffing a tent on a part of the street that just a few nights ago was clouded by tear gas and smoke from a burning convenience store, as protesters and the police clashed over the killing of Michael Brown. She is registering local residents to vote, in part to raise support for a petition to recall Ferguson mayor James Knowles, a white Republican, after he said that the upheaval of the past two weeks was not about race.
“There’s a mistrust right now,” she said. “The way to overcome mistrust is to talk. But there’s no way to have a conversation when you have a mayor who says there’s no race issue here. Michael Brown died because he was black.”
Across the road, Ken Goins, a St Louis attorney for 23 years, is advising people on their rights to protest peacefully.
Nightly showdowns between protesters and police along a short section of West Florissant avenue have given way to a flood of initiatives – some individual, some collective – which seek to use Brown’s death to change the police, politics and life of Ferguson. The anger is not diminished, but directed differently.
It has spurred a campaign to get Ferguson residents to vote in order to shift the balance of power in a city with a black majority but a white mayor and council. Other groups are pressing for the police to be required to wear body cameras, and for the local force to be demilitarized after it responded to the protests with armoured vehicles and snipers.
There is a new initiative to recruit more black policemen.
Demonstrators walk and display signs during a peaceful protest on West Florissant Avenue. Photograph: Michael Thomas/AFP/Getty Images
But for all of this, there is also a sense of limbo as Ferguson residents await what they regard as the crucial test – will the police officer who shot Brown, Darren Wilson, be indicted by a St Louis grand jury for unlawfully killing the unarmed 18-year-old?
Williams doesn’t have much confidence.
“Look at the make-up of the grand jury – nine whites and three blacks,” he said. “They don’t intend to do anything about Michael Brown’s death. That’s what’s so poor. That cop, he’ll be back on the streets as a cop again in 60 to 90 days.”
It has been said that a decent prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich, because the procedure is so weighted in favour of the state. So the assumption among many in Ferguson is that if Wilson is not charged it will be because the city’s prosecutor, Robert McCulloch, has not made it happen.
“I know that cop is innocent until proven guilty, but if Bob McCullough is not seen to be trying to get an indictment it is going to cause a very serious situation here,” said Laverne Mitchom, a retiree wearing a Michael Brown T-shirt. “I don’t have confidence in the grand jury because I don’t have confidence in Bob McCullough. He is very supportive of the police. He has a history of that.”
The lack of confidence in a prosecutor who has close ties to the police – his parents, brother and other relatives worked for the St Louis force, and his father was shot dead in the line of duty by an African American man – runs so deep that several groups have pressed the state’s governor to take him off the case.
“We want him removed,” said Andreal Hoosman, a member of the board of the St Louis National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP). “We requested that the governor remove him. The governor said that is for McCulloch to decide. We don’t have confidence in him.”
Missouri’s governor, Jay Nixon, has declined to back McCulloch but refused to appoint a special prosecutor in his place, as many in Ferguson want to see. That has drawn accusations of weakness against Nixon from McCulloch and his critics.
Maria Chappelle-Nadal, a Missouri state senator who has been active in Ferguson over Brown’s killing and the subsequent protests, accused Nixon of being missing in action because he has refused to take decisive action.
Goins, who along with other lawyers was offering free advice to people on West Florissant avenue on their rights in dealing with the police – he reckoned many of the recent arrests at the protests over Brown’s death were unlawful – said he had little confidence in the investigation of the shooting.
“There’s been a lack of transparency through the whole investigation,” he said. “When someone shoots that raises questions and the public has the right to ask them. The police department has a duty to answer them, and so far it hasn’t.”
Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III (L) speaks to a participant during a peaceful rally in Canfield Apartments. Photograph: Michael B Thomas/AFP/Getty Images
On Canfield Drive, where Brown was shot six times including in the head, the police handed out food parcels to residents at the weekend in a gesture of goodwill. Some appreciated it, some did not.
“I wonder what those cops are really thinking,” said Robert Kean, 29, next to the memorial to Brown where scores of red roses have been laid in a line down the middle of the street. “They’re here because they were told to come and make things look better. They didn’t suddenly start to love us. I bet it really screws them up inside to do this. But we’ll know if things have changed when we can walk down the street after dark without being stopped.”
Ron McBride, 48, was more forgiving.
“They’re trying, which is something. We need to communicate. That’s the key. But we need justice for Michael Brown, and handing out food doesn’t bring that,” he said.
There’s particular disillusionment over the manner in which a part of St Louis’s white population has rallied to support Wilson, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the police officer.
“It’s like hitting the lottery,” said a man who gave his name as Walter G. “You kill a black and make $200,000. If he had gone to Montana and shot an elk he would have had to pay for it. Here he can paid to shoot a black.”
Mitchom, too, was disappointed that some white people have sided with Wilson, saying it was a way of denying there is an issue with how the police deal with black people.
“We’re not surprised at that, but America has got to stop pretending that these things aren’t happening. My nephew is a policeman in St Louis. I know all policeman aren’t bad. There’s good and bad. But when there is bad he needs to be held accountable,” she said.
Mitchom said in some ways she felt the US hasn’t really changed at all.
“When Martin Luther King was assassinated, they sent state troopers to my high school in east St Louis. We didn’t do anything, but they assumed we would because we were African American. Then our teacher, a white woman, told us that we have to remember one thing: ‘The white people have the guns.’
“To see snipers on top of iron vehicles pointing guns at us in our own community was like going back to that. They were ready to do harm to unarmed citizens. That was devastating to me. I have six grandchildren. I’m worried that we’re seeing the clock turned back.”
Mitchom said she was worried that the efforts at peaceful change, including the efforts at cooperation between the police and Ferguson residents, would give way to yet more confrontation if the grand jury does not indict Wilson. She is not alone.
“There’s a lot of emotion in this community,” said Chappelle-Nadal. “They feel if they don’t get justice, everything will just erupt. Do they want it? Absolutely not. But they fear that if people don’t get justice that it will.”
1. showdown = tight spot= tight concern =have it out with
1. N-COUNT A showdown is a big argument or conflict which is intended to settle a dispute that has lasted for a long time. 攤牌
Its work continues to this day, training local activists in ways which, while having impact, avoid showdowns with the government.
2. give way to
We did not give way to bitterness.
The road is, at first, filled with quaint boutique shops and young couples and friends, but as it advances uphill they give way to small cottage homes and kids playing ball in the street.
3. quaint
1. ADJ Something that is quaint is attractive because it is old-fashioned. 古雅的
...a small, quaint town with narrow streets and traditional half-timbered houses.
4. boutique
1.N-COUNT A boutique is a small shop that sells fashionable clothes, shoes, or jewellery. 时尚精品小店
I thought that maybe a stylish dress would make her happy and I took her to a chic clothing boutique in the lobby of a fancy international hotel.
5. chic
1.ADJ Something or someone that is chic is fashionable and sophisticated. 时髦且有品位的
Her gown was very French and very chic.
2.N-UNCOUNT Chic is used to refer to a particular style or to the quality of being chic. 特种风格; 时髦雅致
...French designer chic
· adj. chichi 精致的；装模作样的
· n. chichi 矫揉；时髦的人；过度精巧的东西
6. indict
1.V-T If someone is indicted for a crime, they are officially charged with it. 控告
He was later indicted on corruption charges.
· adj. indictable 可起诉的；可被控告的
· n. indictment 起诉书；控告
indiction 诏示；古罗马每隔15年一次的财产评价公告
7. swing at
When a golfer takes a swing at a ball, one degree of difference can determine whether he comes in under par, or sinks one in the lake.
Then he took a swing at the bureaucrats at the National Development and Reform Commission who devote vast amounts of time toproducing the country’s economic blueprints.
· swing at shadows 捕风捉影
8. bureaucrat
1.N-COUNT Bureaucrats are officials who work in a large administrative system. You can refer to officials as bureaucrats especially if you disapprove of them because they seem to follow rules and procedures too strictly. 官僚表不满
Zaher happens to be a prince, the grandson of the late Afghan monarch Zaher Shah, and he has far more clout around Kabul than the ordinary bureaucrat.
· adj. bureaucratic 官僚的；官僚政治的
· adv. bureaucratically 官僚主义地
· n. bureaucracy 官僚主义；官僚机构；官僚政治
bureaucratism 官僚主义；官僚作风
9. clout
1.V-T If you clout someone, you hit them. 打 N-count
Rachel clouted him.
I was half tempted to give one of them a clout myself.
3.N-UNCOUNT A person or institution that has clout has influence and power. 影响力
Mr. Sutherland may have the clout needed to push the two trading giants into a deal.
10. resort
3.PHRASE If you do something as a last resort, you do it because you can find no other way of getting out of a difficult situation or of solving a problem. 作为最后手段
Nuclear weapons should be used only as a last resort.
1.V-I If you resort to a course of action that you do not really approve of, you adopt it because you cannot see any other way of achieving what you want. 不得不求助
His punishing work schedule had made him resort to drugs.
2.N-UNCOUNT If you achieve something without resort to a particular course of action, you succeed without carrying out that action. To have resort to a particular course of action means to have to do that action in order to achieve something. 诉诸
Congress has a responsibility to ensure that all peaceful options are exhausted before resort to war.
4.N-COUNT A resort is a place where a lot of people spend their holiday. (度假) 胜地
The ski resorts are expanding to meet the growing number of skiers that come here.
11. staff
4.V-T If an organization is staffed by particular people, they are the people who work for it. 担当 (某机构的) 职员
They are staffed by volunteers.
12. tent
13. 1.N-COUNT A tent is a shelter made of canvas or nylon which is held up by poles and ropes, and is used mainly by people who are camping. 帐篷
A huge tent was extended over the field.
The team performs under a circus tent.
· adv. tentatively 暂时地；试验性地
14. petition
1.N-COUNT A petition is a document signed by a lot of people that asks a government or other official group to do a particular thing. 请愿书
People feel so strongly that we recently presented the government with a petition signed by 4,500 people.
2.N-COUNT A petition is a formal request made to a court of law for some legal action to be taken. 請願; (向法院提出的) 申请
His lawyers filed a petition for all charges to be dropped.
3.V-T/V-I If you petition someone in authority, you make a formal request to them. 正式请求
...couples petitioning for divorce.
All the attempts to petition Congress had failed.
15. recall
3.V-T If you are recalled to your home, country, or the place where you work, you are ordered to return there. 召回 (某人) n
The U. S. envoy was recalled to Washington.
4.N-SING Recall is also a noun. 召回
The recall of Ambassador Alan Green is a public signal of America's concern.
5.V-T If a company recalls a product, it asks the stores or the people who have bought that product to return it because there is something wrong with it. 召回 (产品) N-COUNT
The company said it was recalling one of its drugs and had stopped selling two others.
...a recall of the laptops due to defective supply parts.
16. envoy
1.N-COUNT An envoy is someone who is sent as a representative from one government or political group to another. 使者; 代表
A U.S. envoy is expected in the region this month to collect responses to the proposal.
17. upheaval
1.N-COUNT An upheaval is a big change which causes a lot of trouble, confusion, and worry. 动乱
Algeria has been going through political upheaval for the past two months.
· vt. upheave 鼓起；举起；使隆起
18. nightly
1.ADJ A nightly event happens every night. 每夜的
I'm sure we watched the nightly news, and then we turned on the film.
2. ADV Nightly is also an adverb. 每夜地
She appears nightly on the television news.
19. avenue
1.N-IN-NAMES Avenue is sometimes used in the names of streets. The written abbreviation is also used. 大街
...the most expensive apartments on Park Avenue.
In the carriage, on the way down Fifth Avenue, they talked pointedly of Mrs. Mingott, of her age, her spirit, and all her wonderful attributes.
2.N-COUNT An avenue is a wide, straight road, especially one with trees on either side. 林荫大道
20. initiative
1.N-COUNT An initiative is an important act or statement that is intended to solve a problem. (重要的) 法案; 倡议
Local initiatives to help young people have been inadequate.
2.N-SING In a fight or contest, if you have the initiative, you are in a better position than your oppone
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