Perspectives around the murder of Mike Brown and overall trends of violent police attacks on Black people have been swirling. We talked to three people from our community who have experienced the impact of police violence and terror, to hear what they had to say. Here is what Thomeisha Finley, an active community member who has experienced losing a loved one to the hands of police; Keith Snodgrass, a union organizer who was raised in a town near Ferguson, Missouri; and Carroll Fife, godmother of Nubia Bowe, who was assaulted by police after being falsely identified, had to say.
Q: How did the news about Michael Brown make you feel?
Thomeisha: “I felt outraged because of the loss. The police overstep their authority and they look at civilians like they’re slaves. This experience is so common for Black people that it’s a shame. We hear about it all the time. It’s so common for Black males and females to go through this or get this type of treatment from police and if we want to see change we have to come together and organize to create that change. It’s been going on for centuries. This is nothing new. If we want this discrimination to end we have to come together- they’re not going to change it. They’re not just going to say we’re going to stop training these cops to kill. It has to come from the people.”
Q: How does what happened to Michael Brown speak to the larger issue of historic racism?
Carroll: “Very simply, it shows how Black lives are devalued in this country. I recently saw a video on YouTube where a young white guy was recording himself pranking police officers. He pretended to steal a tire from a squad car, putting the officer on alert. (Selling weed and drag racing are also pranks white men have pulled on cops). The officer was clearly bothered, but sent the prankster on his way. As a Black person, you can’t create that level of anger and frustration in an officer and not expect to be dealt with harshly, arrested, or even killed. I thought to myself, ‘Wow, what must it feel like to have that sense of freedom; to feel so comfortable with, and protected by the police that you can pretend to engage in criminal activity and not be in fear for your life?” I don’t believe my son could get away with such a prank. The recent murders by the police remind us that not much has changed in the area of state-sanctioned killings of Black people. I don’t want to suggest that progress hasn’t been made since the struggles of the Civil Rights era, but the dial hasn’t moved toward achieving justice for slain black bodies at the hands of white aggressors since the days of Jim Crow. Murder was always justified in one way or another. Historians cite that there was a lynching approximately every three days in the South. The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement reports that ‘Every 28 hours in 2012 someone employed or protected by the US government killed a Black man, woman, or child.’ From that comparison, we are regressing.”
Q: What was the police presence like growing up in the North County area of Missouri?
Keith: “I’m from Dellwood, North County, one of the subdivisions- it’s one of those neighborhoods near Ferguson which is also in North County. It’s a heavily policed area and you can see the difference between the police presence in other parts of St. Louis where there are more white or wealthier people. You’re always worried about getting pulled over by police. You can’t avoid the presence of police. I remember once when me and my little brother were walking and there were police helicopters and police coming over saying we fit the description of a home invasion. But it’s a mistake to isolate what’s happening in Ferguson from the incidents in Ohio or in Oakland. It’s the same system that creates the sense that police can just kill us and get away with it. In Missouri, you do have a more racist situation because it’s a more segregated type of area so there may be even more of a feeling of war between the police. But I don’t see a lot of difference between this community and other communities.”
Q: As the mother of a young boy, how does it feel knowing that so many young, Black men are being gunned down by police solely on the basis of their race?
Thomeisha: “The reason why I’m doing what I’m doing is because I have a Black son and I know that he’s at a greater disadvantage than people of any other race. Even though he’s so young- and that’s why I try to do things differently. I put him in Baby BOP this summer. I try to help him out by putting him in different programs early on because I know he’s going to need that in the future. I just try to stay positive and think positive and try to keep praying that nothing does happen. Honestly there’s really nothing you can do. You don’t ask to be here. You don’t pick and choose who your parents are. If you’re born Black you have a greater possibility of being shot or arrested by police just because of who you are. Honestly, it makes me feel hopeless because I’m doing all these positive things to get my child on the right track and if he still has a higher possibility of being shot by police, it makes me feel hopeless and like there’s nothing I can do. But at the same time I just need to stay positive and keep him on the right track so he can be around positive role models and become a positive and productive member of society. Just keep the faith. With this kind of stuff that’s going on it will make you feel depressed.”
Q: As a Black man yourself, what is your perception of the attack on Black men by police?
Keith: “In terms of the attack on Black men- I think there’s an ‘I’m better than you’ kind of attitude. And I’m not sure if it’s concentrated to Black men. Women are not seen as women in most cases and children not as children. I see police as being overly aggressive. There’s definitely a fear of Black men by the police which plays into a lot of their reasons for wanting to kill us. Our life is always in danger and at risk. I just see an over-aggressiveness of police toward Black people period. They’re trained that we’re the enemy and they treat us like we are. I think it’s more of a fear than anything- it’s a certain bravado. I’m afraid of you but I can do something about it. It’s almost like a gang mentality and that’s often the attitude you get. And it’s with Black or white police. They become a part of that gang and a part of that system. I think it’s something that’s been passed on through slavery. You’re free but not really. They want you to be in check. Do what I say or I kill you. That’s not an excuse to kill us but that’s the excuse that they use. Are we slaves? We can’t talk back because you’re going to kill us?”
Q: What do you make of the way media portray what’s happening in Ferguson?
Carroll: “Because the media is able to create a narrative through imagery, innuendo, or straight up lying, it criminalizes an entire race and narrowly promotes blackness as a monolithic group of people that if not actively criminal, then a group that is innately and impulsively so. This perceived predisposition toward criminality allows many to believe that profiling Blacks makes sense. After all, they will do something wrong if you watch them long enough. I want to say that it is a sad state of affairs that law enforcement has a license to be judge, jury and executioner, but it so much deeper. Words cannot express the level of powerlessness and anger that occurs when we are killed by those with authority. I often hear the response, ‘Why aren’t black people this upset when blacks kill blacks, why no protests then?” This is a different argument that, though often sincere, does not address the dynamics of power in this county, particularly around race and class. Nor does is address the fact that most homicides are intra-racial, including white-on-white crime. We have to understand that what’s going on is sensationalized by the media. We can’t necessarily trust what we hear from CNN and other outlets. There’s a lot of coverage on looting and it’s being called violent. But I don’t hear about the poverty, unemployment, and the misrepresentation of Micheal Brown in the media, nor his shooting, being referred to as violent. The activity of State-sanctioned and opportunistic provocateurs (there is a difference) convolutes what is happening and we have to think critically, through a historical lens, in order to see above the fray.”
Q: What do you see as the solution? How do we go about creating the change we want to see for our people?
Carroll: “Long-term change comes from planning, though reactionary tactics shed light on contradictions between myth and what is really going on with people around the country. Work like what BOP and many others are doing on a grassroots level is very important. We need all types. I personally believe that we have to be strategic about the changes and reforms we want to see. The solution is unity and commitment. The power really is with the people. Though simple in premise, the practice is difficult. The demands of our every day lives, particularly when many of us are just trying to survive, makes struggling together on a regular basis a challenge at best. But right now, we have no choice. It really is a life or death matter.”
Thomeisha: “Every Black person out there needs to be involved in something positive- come to an organization like BOP. First and foremost we need to know what it means to be Black. We don’t know our history. I want people to be encouraged to learn about their own history and because knowing all the issues we go through is depressing, that might change their life. Just be encouraged and try to be a part of something bigger.”
Keith: “I think the peaceful protest is good for people that want that. It’s about the reaction- police call it violence but its vandalism; however, the reaction is good. Without it there would be no voice. We have to make the call for change. During the day time we make the call a certain way, and at nightfall we make it a different way. But now you’ve got people all over the country talking bout Ferguson when, before Mike Brown’s death, most people in Missouri didn’t talk about Ferguson. This is enough attention to get people thinking about what’s wrong with this. The mistake would be a focus on Ferguson and not the country’s system of policing Black people. If you isolate it the police will say this city is just a bad apple. That’s what they do. They tell you you have a bad apple, versus looking at it and seeing that it’s a bad tree.”
