It’s now been more than 100 days since Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year old, was shot and killed in Ferguson, Mo.
One hundred days in which lawmakers and law enforcement officials could have recalibrated their overtly military approach to protesters. One hundred days in which they could have reevaluated the racism that led to the death of an unarmed teen. One hundred days in which they could have chosen to see protesters as people with a point, not a disruptive enemy to be crushed.
And yet, here we are, more than 100 days later, and Gov. Jay Nixon has preemptively declared a State of Emergency in Ferguson, as of Monday.
His announcement preceded the grand jury’s decision on whether or not it will indict Officer Wilson. The decision is expected in mid to late November, according to a Nov. 17 New York Times article.
Apparently anticipating violence, Gov. Nixon has called in the National Guard to back up Ferguson’s own police department.
Gov. Nixon has twice declared a state of emergency before the emergency itself, in advance of an ice storm and a blizzard, according to a Nov. 17 St. Louis Today article. So Gov. Nixon sees violent protest to be just as certain as the weather.
This is a problem for a couple of reasons. First, it shows an alarming certainty about the outcome of the grand jury investigation. The governor is only anticipating violence as a reaction to Officer Wilson walking free. That shouldn’t be an inevitability. It is possible, certainly, but it shouldn’t be such a foregone conclusion that the governor can declare a State of Emergency.
But more importantly, his decision shows an overt fear of the protesters. It’s at its core a profoundly racial fear. Essentially, Gov. Nixon doesn’t trust black anger. He doesn’t trust it to be nonviolent; he doesn’t trust it to be reasonable. He sees the potential for black protesters and he calls in the National Guard.
It’s a terrible impulse. It doesn’t give any kind of credit to the people who have been organizing largely peaceful protests for more than 100 days now.
On Nov. 16, protesters staged a “die-in,” in which they disrupted traffic for around an hour by laying down in chalk body outlines in the street. A Nov. 16 Huffington Post article quoted DeRay McKesson, a 29-year-old protest leader, as saying: “This is a mature movement. It is a different movement than it was in August. Then it just had anger, justifiable anger. Now we are organized. We are strategizing. And we are going to bring our message to the power structure.”
Gov. Nixon and the rest of the power structure have apparently failed to receive that message. He had the option of trusting the citizens of Ferguson to channel their justified anger into a productive protest.
Instead, he treated them as unstable, a danger to themselves and others. It’s inherently racist. It’s absolutely wrongheaded. Perhaps most disturbingly, it’s the same line of thinking that led to Michael Brown’s death in the first place.