Thread by @stevemizel

Reflecting on the five year anniversary of the killing of Mike Brown and the Ferguson protests that followed - I want to tell you a story.

A Thread on #mikebrown #BLM #police and my struggle to know how to use my voice for good

Sometime in the early or mid-1990's, after I had recently moved to the St. Louis area from California, I volunteered to make a run to the food bank for my church.

This was my first trip to North County (traveling north of the Del Mar divide). I lived in a working class neighborhood in South County - and had learned enough from my neighbors to know "you don't go to North County or East St. Louis"

This was before everyone had GPS - so I was working from a map on the passenger seat of the truck I borrowed from my friend. I had to make my way to the food bank was in a place called Beverly Hills, MO. (that made me smile as a Southern California boy)

I navigated St. Louis' ridiculously unintuitive streets into North County and into Beverly Hills (I'm not sure if Harland Bartholomew was responsible for the street layouts in addition to the housing planning, but if he was, he was drunk when he designed the roadways)

Beverly Hills is a town of around 600 people - around 93% African American - and has it's own police force. (Somewhere along the line, North County subdivided itself into 24 municipalities - Think: one big urban sprawl, divided into small "towns" w/ their own police forces)

and as I was driving slowly, and looking at my map, and looking at the road, and looking for the food bank, I missed that the speed limit changed (down) on the road as I crossed over into Beverly Hills - an annoyingly common thing throughout St. Louis

A police officer driving the other way suddenly swung a u-turn behind me and turned on his lights - He was friendly and gave me directions to the food bank - he also gave me two tickets. One for speeding (a couple miles over the speed limit) and one for no proof of insurance

(My friend kept his insurance in his wallet and I kept mine in my glove compartment). Even though I was driving slowly and carefully, apparently I was still just over 25. I remember the officer carefully telling me how to pay for the ticket through the mail. I didn't do that.

I decided that (1) I should have received grace for speeding, given the circumstances and the obvious lack of real speeding, and (2) I had proof of insurance and shouldn't have to pay. So, on the court date, I went back to Beverly Hills and went to court.

I started to realize what I bad decision that was when I pulled up to the court house and saw people lined up outside and sitting along the wall / curb in front. Tons of people - pretty much all African American.

I asked around about how to get into court and was told to sit in an area (the M's) and wait until we were called. We all sat around looking at the ground under a gloomy cloud of growing dread. They were batch loading us for processing. I started getting more nervous.

After a long wait (I don't remember how long - but it was getting toward early evening), my batch was called. We were led down a tight hallway to the courtroom which was already full of people and were called up one at a time.

My turn before the judge was fast - "on the count of no proof on insurance, how do you plead" - "not guilty" - BAILIFF! who took my proof to show to the judge - "on the count of speeding, how do you plead" - "Guilty, but..." BAILIFF! who grabs my arm and escorts me quickly out

The bailiff took me out of the courtroom to a line leading to a woman behind thick glass - a cashier. When I get up there, I am presented with a bill for my speeding ticket and TWO court costs (1 for each ticket) - it was MORE than if I had just mailed in the check to begin with

I was frustrated, tired, and honestly confused by the conveyor belt of processing I was now trapped on. I pulled out my wallet and was told, "Cash only" - I said I didn't have it - I only had plastic. BAILIFF! who grabbed my arm...

and took me to a small, stuffy room filled w/ people and 1 phone on a table. "Call someone to bring you the money" - I remember his eyes were tired but not unkind, then turned to the room and shouted, "Fifteen minutes till the next trip to the lock up!" (or something like that)

An older man was crumpled against one wall, waling, "Take me now! Just take me now!" Everyone was talking loudly - stressed - angry. Room was stifling, hot & moist. it was now early evening & I knew my wife had put our kids to bed - no way I was going to call her to load them up

I tapped the bailiff's arm when the next person was brought in - "I'm not going to call my wife and ask her to come down. Not going to happen. I've got $40 cash - that's it. If you are going to lock me up, take me - I don't want to be in here." I shouted the words in a flood

"You've got $40 cash? Why didn't you say so?" Grabs my arm and leads me back to the window - "He's got $40!" She barely looks up. Not-there eyes. "Give it to me." gives me a bill for remainder to be mailed in. I mailed it the next day and have never gone back to Beverly Hills.

That was one bad experience for me - one I stumbled into and one I was able to avoid from that point forward. The people who live in those communities, though, can't. The system feeds off the very people it was built to protect & further impoverishes the poor

There are 2 fundamentally different experiences in St. Louis - and those experiences largely fall along racial lines (south of Del Mar is 70% white while North is 98% black). I lived in a lower-middle working class white neighborhood - & never experienced anything like this there

What does this have to do with Mike Brown and Ferguson? At the time of Michael Brown's killing, almost every person living in Ferguson had a warrant out for their arrest (a staggering 16,000+ warrants issued for people living in Ferguson in December of 2014).

To call for reform to a system of abusive policing is not the same as being against police. To call for real accountability is not to discount their sacrifices. To say that black lives do indeed matter is not the same as saying those who wear the blue don't.

As a follower of Christ, I am called to love my neighbor. How can I love people if I refuse to see them or acknowledge their experience? How can I love them if I discount their voices and ignore their experiences? How can I love them if I just walk by?

justice.gov/sites/default/…

The DOJ investigation concluded that police officers in FergusonRoutinely violated the constitutional rightsOf the cities residence by applying racial stereotypes and discriminating against African-Americans

The city's practices were shaped by revenue rather than by public safety needs.

A single missed, late or partial payment of a fine could mean jail time.

Arrest warrants were "almost exclusively" used as threats to push for payments.

The 67% of African Americans in Ferguson account for 93% of arrests made from 2012–2014.

The disproportionate number of arrests, tickets and use of force stemmed from "at least in part, because of unlawful bias," rather than black people committing more crime.

Officers used canines in law enforcement, but in every dog bite incident reported, the person bitten was Black.

From October 2012 to October 2014, every time a person was arrested because he or she was "resisting arrest," that person was Black.

Summary above from Wikipedia’s page en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferguson_…

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