This is from an attempt I made to dialogue with a protester on Ferguson Friends and Neighbors. The protester kept saying they didn’t have a group opinion, throwing insults at members, repeating information about racism, but never seemed to answer my questions about the thoughts of the protesters. Then she finally threw back at me the post in which I said I was disgusted with the protesters’ behavior at the first city council meeting. Here is my response. .Gee, --- I have been disgusted. I have been dismayed by the lack of civility seen in Ferguson among people who have been protesting. What happened to Civil Disobedience and what happened to the precepts of Martin Luther King who believed in love and peace and actually had some success? Is he still relevant? Should we cancel Martin Luther King Day? Should we rename Martin Luther King Boulevard to whatever it was before? I know there have always been different viewpoints in the Civil Rights movement, the Black Panthers, Malcom X, Martin Luther King, Angela Johnson, the nation of Islam... WEB DuBois and Booker T Washington had very different views. I always liked MLK the best because he gave me as a white person a role to play and he believed that blacks and whites could be happy together. Are your comments civil? No. I know that some of the people who have been protesting are trying to follow MLKs tactics, but dont forget the civil part. The protester threw back at me that we had been given a white washed version of Martin Luther King and that he had been arrested several times. My response was that MLK was not a jerk (I used a slightly more vulgar word) and that he was always civil. I then stated that I was aware that occasionally remarks appeared that were violent or somewhat racist on the site, but that I had blocked them and then I blocked her. Although I am not proud of losing my cool, I wanted to post this in its entirety. That website has been infiltrated and sometimes gets twisted around and put on twitter. For instance, last week when the Michael Brown memorial burned we had a round of looting. The next night a Faraci employee was alleged to have pulled a gun on protesters. I have seen arguments back and forth about if he did or not, but if he did, the recent looting and the recent blocking of the Brewhouse and N. Florissant a couple weeks ago would explain why someone would be afraid enough of the protesters to point a gun at them. Whether that excuses the drawing of a gun or not, it kind of explains it, as do messages from various protesters and their allies that they want to shut down or burn down the city of Ferguson. Immediately the Ferguson Friends and Neighbors got together and decided they would patronize Faraci’s in its time of trouble, since the protesters were already blocking it. Immediately a large crowd gathered in front of Faraci’s, blocking the door and hurling insults to everyone including black customers. What we eventually learned was that the site’s communications had been observed and someone had tweeted to #ferguson et al that the people coming to support Faraci’s were members of the KKK. So now that did lose my cool in defense of Martin Luther King, I am a little worried I may be misinterpreted or that my fellow members who gave the protester grief would find themselves demonized in twitterland. So that’s why I’m posting about it. In Ferguson we are tired of the hostility, the disruptions, the spurts of violence, the Molotov Cocktails, the arson attempts, the looting, the verbal abuse, the calls for revenge, the twisting of words, the media ignoring positive stories, the targeting of businesses, people trying to incite riots, the Ferguson website being hacked so no one can know what the city is trying to do to amend the wrongs that it actually has control over . We are tired of apologies being spat on and ignored. We are tired of being punished for 400 years of slavery when no one has owned a slave in the US in almost 150 years. We are tired of having our community events cancelled because of the protests and the potential for violence. I myself am tired of listening to racism on either side bubbling up because the aggressive, disruptive, and abusing nature of the protesters. Yes, racism is an injustice, but so is punishing an entire city for things that are out of its, punishing white people, who are as human as you are, for things that are outside of their control is also an injustice, and violence whether calling names, lying, hacking, inciting riots, looting, throwing bricks and rocks and Molotov Cocktails, arson, and demanding the death of a police man who has not even been indicted of a town that legally cannot do that, and morally should not, all of these things are evil. Do you really think because you have been a victim of injustice or you are supporting victims of injustice that you have a right to do evil things? Absolutely not! It just makes you a creature of hate. If you as a protester believe like I have that Martin Luther King was a man of love and peace and are willing to follow his teachings and be civil in your civil disobedience, if you believe our city can be redeemed, if you believe that others should be treated as you want to be treated yourself, if you believe in forgiving people for their own shortcomings and not those of other people, if you have patience, if you are willing to listen and trust people who are really interested in fixing things, speak up, throw away the “no peace, no justice” signs because we can’t give you justice if you don’t work with us, and shake off those who just want to hate and revenge themselves on Ferguson. You have done so much damage to the psyche of Ferguson, you are going to have to make the first step. I have been trying in my own way, but now I feel completely demoralized.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 05:26:32 +0000
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