For days leading up to the grand jury verdict in Ferguson, state & police authorities prepared us for a violent backlash from the Black community if the killer cop wasn’t indicted. They called a state of emergency & deployed the National Guard & special operatives from the FBI in addition to having local & state troopers on high military readiness. The political purpose of all that was to portray the Black community as feral, violent, out of control & to justify any political violence against protests if the verdict was unfavorable–protests protected under the Bill of Rights. Whether police authorities like it or not, the Bill of Rights is supposed to prevail in the Black community also.

The Black community in this country has a long history of police SWAT teams. They well know what kind of police violence any extreme behavior (or just walking down the street) will provoke. There was a little looting reported last night & a cop car overturned. Some young people can get quite testy when you legitimize the right to shoot them down with impunity. And there’s also such a thing as agents provocateurs. But what’s going on in Ferguson has always been peaceful protesters facing off against a military operation attempting to deny them their freedoms under the Bill of Rights. The violence in Ferguson is one-sided. Justice stands on the other side.

Fullest solidarity with the Black community who are leading the formation of a new civil rights & Black power movement.

(Photo of post-verdict protest by Jeff Robertson/AP)