Local activists had major impact before, during, and after ‘The Ferguson Uprising’

The St. Louis American Comcast-NBC Universal Fellow Devored A. Horton was a high school senior when high school graduate, college bound 18-year-old African American, Mike Brown was shot and killed by white police officer Darren Wilson in his neighborhood in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9, 2014. Horton reflects on Ferguson and the St. Louis region ten years later in this special St. Louis American series “Ferguson 10 years after.”

The legal justice that many feel was never achieved in the Michael Brown Jr. case does not mean that some progress hasn’t been made.  Ten years since that tragic moment, fatal shootings involving Black men and police receive more scrutiny than they did prior to the killing of Mike Brown and the Ferguson Uprising. 

No one can doubt that there is still much work to be done, but there are still those activists who are willing to fight the good fight and speak truth to power.

Ohun Ashe is a community organizer and founder of Fortheculturestl who certainly fits that mold. Meeting with Ashe at B Juiced, a Black-owned business in downtown Ferguson, underscores the stark contrast to the summer of 2014. The feeling on this day was remarkably peaceful and optimistic, knowing that this conversation was happening close to where rioting and chaos made news after a grand jury no-billed the former police officer who shot Brown on Aug. 9, 2014.   

“I went out there in Ferguson to clean up after the rioting and looting happened with my sorority Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.,” Ashe said. “We took a group of people from Greek fraternities and sororities to go clean up on W. Florissant Ave.” 

Cleaning up and removing the debris was only the start of the community healing process, Ashe said. The real goal was to inspire progress and change. 

“People are still being brutalized and cops are still not being held accountable. We haven’t seen a lot of change in a way that St. Louis and Ferguson show up in Black folks’ lives, but we have seen Black people get into office; we have seen small policy changes; we have seen things here and there. Is it enough? No, but is progression happening? Yes.” 

“It’s duality, things have changed and things have not changed,” Ashe said. “We haven’t seen the progressive change we would like to see. People are still being brutalized and cops are still not being held accountable. We haven’t seen a lot of change in a way that St. Louis and Ferguson show up in Black folks’ lives, but we have seen Black people get into office; we have seen small policy changes; we have seen things here and there. Is it enough? No, but is progression happening? Yes.” 

Activists like Ashe also have embraced the modern tools that come with technology, like social media and websites – tools that can be strategically used to reach wider audiences who may not be in a position to tell their stories in person. 

Ashe’s website, www.fortheculturestl.com,  promotes Black entrepreneurs who have their own businesses. 

“At the time that I created Fortheculturestl because there was this narrative in St. Louis that we didn’t have a lot of Black events and businesses and I just knew that wasn’t true,” said Ashe. “So, I thought it would be nice to have a synchronized location where people could go and find all of the things that our community has to offer.”  

The website has been a definite asset for other Black entrepreneurs businesses, Ashe said.

“People want to know what is going on in the Black community, they want to support Black businesses, they want to know about the organizations, and all of the things that we have,” Ashe said. “So, the analytics tells the story that there is a need out there.” 

Before Brown’s death, the tragic stories about Kajieme Powell, 25, and VonDerrit Meyers Jr., 18, most likely would have received very little attention outside of their family and friends. But the Ferguson Uprising and the activists leading that march helped expand this coverage. 

Authorities said Kajieme Powell stole donuts and energy drinks from a convenience store on Aug. 14, 2014, prompting the owner to call police. When two St. Louis police officers arrived shortly before 1 p.m., they said Powell was acting erratically. Police said they opened fire only after Powell refused to put down a knife he was holding while walking toward them. 

On Oct. 8, 2014, tensions between civilians and police reignited after a white, off-duty St. Louis police officer shot and killed VonDerrit Myers. An autopsy ordered by Myers’ family indicates he was shot six times in the back of his legs, and once in the side of his head. The altercation reportedly began after Myers and two friends saw a man dressed in dark clothes emerge from a gangway. The man chased them and eventually caught and confronted Myers.

Both cases were well covered by the media but none of the officers involved were indicted or disciplined for their actions.

A small group of dedicated activists in the St. Louis region has been tracking police shootings since the 1960s. They’d long been troubled by the local police’s treatment of Black residents and its culture of impunity, opaque investigations and the often mind-boggling conclusions — such as the finding that the killing of 25-year-old Cary Ball Jr.,  who was shot 25 times at close range in 2013, was justified.

After Brown’s death, these activists saw an opening.

They dusted off legislation written in 2006 to create a Civilian Oversight Board that would review the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s internal investigations into officers accused of excessive force, abuse of authority and discrimination. The group of seven city residents would also scrutinize the department’s investigations into officer-involved shootings and killings. That bill passed but was later vetoed by Mayor Francis Slay. 

Years later, the reformers enlisted some powerful new supporters — Ferguson protest leaders.

For months after Brown’s death, people were marching to City Hall and shutting down busy intersections almost daily, demanding police reform. These young, Black Ferguson frontliners chanting into bullhorns were soon joined by people who’d never protested before — teens marching alongside their teachers and mothers wheeling babies in strollers. 

This time, Mayor Slay not only refrained from opposing the bill, he added his name as a co-sponsor. The Civilian Oversight Board bill passed on April 20, 2015. 

While the young Ferguson activists cheered the bill’s adoption, many longtime activists who had been pushing to pass this legislation for many years were more sedate.

“I was almost moved to tears, even though I know there is a hard road ahead of us,” said Jamala Rogers, co-chair of the Coalition Against Police Crimes & Repression, who helped write the bill. 

Rogers, founder of  Organization for Black Struggle and columnist for The St. Louis American, used her gift as a writer to promote her activism, penning a book titled “Ferguson is America: Roots of Rebellion.” 

“Some people told me I need to write a book about Ferguson but I said not in the midst of all this that is going on,” Rogers said. “Eventually, when things calmed down a bit I started to put together a group of young people to help me try to paint an historical picture of Ferguson and all that had happened.” 

Using legislation as a baseline to establish a path toward justice and equality is one primary tool many activists use. But it isn’t the only way to raise awareness in this space. 

Kayla Reed is a former Field Organizer at Organization For Black Struggle and current Organizing Director of Three Point Strategy. Reed threw herself into activism after Brown’s killing, confronting structural racism and eventually becoming one of the reform movement’s leaders. At first, she sought solutions to the problems she saw in each individual case of police brutality. And she quickly saw every reform she pushed for failed to fix anything.

“In Mike Brown’s case, there was no camera,” Reed said. “And so people asked for body cameras. The officers were white. So people asked for more diversity. There was no consequence for the officers. So people asked for civilian oversight. But each of those solutions — more training, diversity, cameras, civilian oversight — only add more money to the police and can be derailed or controlled by the police union.” 

In 2020, Ella Jones became Ferguson’s first African-American and woman mayor. Before that, she was elected to the City Council after Brown’s police killing in 2014. She was a member of the council that worked with the Department of Justice on a consent decree with the city based on the DOJ’s findings in its 2015 report on Ferguson’s police department and municipal court.

This year marks 10 years following the killing of Michael Brown Jr. and the Ferguson uprising, which led to Forward Through Ferguson’s creation. The organization plans to honor Brown’s memory through community partnerships and commemorative storytelling.

Forward Through Ferguson centers on impacted communities and mobilizes accountable bodies to advance racially equitable systems and policies that ensure all people in the St. Louis region can thrive.

The organization’s new board members are Adeola Adewale, ABNA Engineering; Shonté Byrd, St. Louis County Counselor’s Office; Carrie Collins, Beyond Housing; Marcel Hagens, Action St. Louis; Ishak Hossain, St. Mary’s Hospital; Jhimae Lewis, U.S. House of Representatives; Vernique May, Washington University, Olin Business School; Justin Raymundo, BioSTL; and Marcherie Vázquez, US Bank CDC.

“Our new board members are passionate leaders in grassroots, civic, and corporate settings,” Elise Miller Hoffman, returning board co-chair said. “With their support, Forward Through Ferguson is in a strong position to serve as a trusted resource for institutions and individuals that seek to build a racially equitable St. Louis.”