Posted on 09/17/2014 10:18:13 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Ferguson. West Florissant. The street I grew up traveling up and down, riding the 74 Florissant bus, going to Charlie Chicken with my father, attending the funerals of dead family members at Bellefontaine and Calvary cemeteries, shopping at the old Northland Mall and the other shops up and down West Florissant.
All of these memories came to me as I walked through smoke and teargas on West Florissant, as I took cover at a Ponderosa I used to binge on wings at, as I watched military vehicles usher in men dressed for war, as I watched the mall of my childhood being turned into a command center for the Missouri National Guard.
The death of Mike Brown changed many things, of course. I describe it as the St. Louis Pearl Harbor.
On December 8, 1941 there wasn't a lot of partisan bickering or political positioning. There was an almost universal recognition that our nation needed to come together.
In most of our lifetimes, we remember the feelings we had after the tragedy of 9-11. Was there a concern in the streets of Lower Manhattan as smoke engulfed the area and relatives frantically looked for family members over the political factions in New York?
Ferguson is our Pearl Harbor. Ferguson is our 9-11.
The blood of young Michael Brown on the pavement for hours as his lifeless body lay on the pavement. Just the latest in a long line of unarmed black men in the St. Louis area to lose their lives to the police.
The crowd gathered. Photos were uploaded to social media. The streets were talking, and local black radio was abuzz. Within hours a moment had created a movement.
The youth who we said only cared about rappers and Instagram took to the streets by the thousands, soon joined by older residents and activists. Some elected officials were immediately on the scene, and others would later join.
As with any organic mass movement, some mistakes were made and tempers flared. Youth who had often been ill-served by almost everyone and everything in their lives expressed their rage. While many in the media vilified these youth, others have attempted to reach out to them with love with the understanding that the youth are our future.
Our time will now be measured pre- and post-Ferguson. We will be asked what we did, where we stood, and what we did in the aftermath. I look at Ferguson as a communal baptism. All of our sins were washed away in the streets of Ferguson and we were all reborn, and in order to stay saved we must be committed to the cause.
I entered the streets of Ferguson a political adversary of St. Louis Alderman Antonio French and on not-so-good terms with state Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal. When I looked at their work on behalf of the people, I forgave them and they forgave me.
At the end of the day, is it about us or is it about justice? Is it about politics or is it about preventing the next Mike Brown? The fact of the matter is Alderman French was on the ground from day one, and Sen. Chappelle-Nadal has been in Ferguson every day.
Historic moments create historic movements and leaders. Alderman Bill Clay was elevated in status after toiling in St. Louis jails after the Jefferson Bank protests and would later find himself in the United States Congress. Many political futures and deaths will be attributed to Ferguson, and only time will tell.
With the national media going home in the months and years to come, it will just be us. US. The people of St. Louis. On a personal level, having grown up in North County and been educated in the Ferguson-Florissant School District, I have been writing about the issues of race, poverty, white flight, job loss, housing and police in North County for years while most in our local media have ignored them. God willing, the movement of Ferguson the moment created can bring about lasting solutions to all of these problems and we can all join hands and work together to #HealSTL.
LOL.
Laying it on a little thick, aren't we, Umar?
He probably thinks Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
Everyone knows if the the Germans hadn’t attacked U.S. Pacific Fleet we wouldn’t have engaged in the war....
Idiot.
” Ferguson is our Pearl Harbor. Ferguson is our 9-11. “
Ferguson was more like the Reichstag fire.... with Eric Holder, HOLDER-ING the Match!
The Ferguson population’s response to this article...
“What’s Pearl Harbor? Can we still loot for it?”
The Toilet Fisherman always lookin to smear YT!
He got the sequence wrong. The activists were involved within minutes.
Here I thought 9-11 was their 9-11.
Here is his name: “Umar B. Abdullah Hasan Hussein Husamuldeen Lee” http://umarlee.wordpress.com/about-umar-lee/
So how is it possible to reason with people who have such a warped view of reality? It isn't possible.
Just when you think these people have run out of stupid, another shipment arrives.
Their 9-11? So they don’t take ownership in 9-11? Figures.
I suggest it is more appropriately thei 4-1.
And THERE is the elephant in the room that no one pimping the Ferguson! Justice! Now! line wants to notice or talk about.
They played that one during the riots ...
Independent journalist. Author of urban FICTION and social and political commentary.
“Umar Lee is a freelance writer and taxi driver from St. Louis.”
Well, I didn’t have to read much further than that to understand that he must have been one of the “pillars” of the journalistic world.
Oh for heaven sake
The riot was closer to 9-11 than the shooting.
I presume disaster relief is coming to rebuild the riot areas. Well that relief should only go to businessmen who move their trade/service OUT of Missouri if these leftists keep dominating their state. That governor of theirs egged them on during the first few days. Let HIM rebuild.
“Ferguson is our Pearl Harbor. Ferguson is our 9-11.”
Nope. Ferguson more closely resembles a going-out-of-business sale at the local Woolworth dimestore.
What happened on West Florissant is nothing compared to whats coming. The LE community it getting ready for Rodney King level events. It may also be in other communities in the nation depending how much the activists can agitate the feces.
I think this goes with saying but Freepers and families need to be armed at all times and keep your head on a swivel.
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