It was Brandon Moore’s first black-tie gala. “It’s not easy, as a young black man, getting into that kind of event,” Moore, a 31-year-old Ferguson resident, told The American.
“It’s not like they physically stop you at the door, but you have to work really hard to strategically avoid so many pitfalls,” he said, to reach the point where you are invited to attend a charity fundraiser hosted by five mayors of North County municipalities, all of them white.
Moore attended the Mayors’ Shamrock Ball on Saturday, March 7, representing the Greater St. Louis Chapter of the National Black Nurses Association. Retired from the U.S. Army on medical disability after being injured during artillery training at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska, Moore is completing his nursing degree.
He also designed the logo for the local Black Nurse’s Association chapter that was projected during the event, because the chapter was a co-sponsor. Chapter President Kenya Haney, a registered nurse and manager at BJC HealthCare, encouraged him to attend the gala, despite racial tensions with North County government that has received national attention.
The days leading up to the gala were dominated by media discussion of the Department of Justice’s investigative report on the Ferguson Police Department, which was released on Wednesday, March 4. The 102-page report revealed a racist email culture in the department and predatory policing practices that were deliberately intended to generate revenue by issuing tickets. The disparity in how blacks are ticketed, policed and prosecuted, compared to whites, is so stark that the Department of Justice is calling for sweeping reforms of the department.
“Kenya told me to leave politics at the door,” Moore said. “I was there to meet good people.”
Moore said he got into the spirit of hobnobbing with the mostly white political establishment. Haney and Moore said there were at most 30 African Americans in a crowd of about 300, and most were from the older generation. Moore said he was one of only two younger black men at the gala.
“There was one other guy, and I’d try to give him a little head nod,” Moore said. “I’m not even sure if he saw me. I was acutely aware of being a minority.”
As a Ferguson resident, Moore said he wanted to meet Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III, one of the five white North County mayors featured at the Irish-themed program. Irish immigrants once dominated north St. Louis city and county, but their descendants have gradually left these municipalities as African Americans moved in.
“I thought I would love to meet my mayor and shake his hand,” Moore said.
Haney made the introduction, as president of the local Black Nurses Association chapter, because Moore was “nervous” as a first-time gala-goer. Knowles consented to posing with Moore, and Haney snapped the photograph on her phone.
“They talked about their goatees and why men wear them,” Haney said of the Ferguson mayor and his constituent. “They didn’t spend much time together. I took their picture, there was a little small talk, then he left.” Haney sent that photo and many other pictures from the event to Moore that night.
It was Sunday morning, after Moore had forwarded the photos to family in Florida, that a relative called him and told him to take a closer a look at one of the pictures, which turned out to be the picture of him posing with Knowles. In the picture, Knowles has the middle finger of his right hand fully extended, with the rest of his fingers withdrawn.
“I was in shock,” Moore said. “He looked me in the eye and shook my hand and then said, ‘Fuck you.’”
He called Haney, who showed the photograph to a political friend, who sent the photograph to The American and encouraged Haney to meet with newspaper staff.
The American invited Haney to the paper to download the original file and enlarge it for a closer look, which confirmed that the apparently obscene gesture is unmistakably included in the original photo file.
The American contacted Christy Lopez at the U.S. Departure of Justice, who led the Civil Rights Division’s probe into Ferguson, offering the DOJ access to the original photo file. Lopez responded and thanked the paper for reaching out, but declined to make any further analysis of the image.
The enlarged image reveals Knowles to be holding a top hat in his right hand, which blends into Knowles’s black tuxedo pants in the lower-resolution image. When the enlarged image showing the black top hat was shared with Moore, he was even more certain the obscene gesture was deliberate.
“I am a bald-headed man, so I wear and handle hats every day,” Moore said. “I have never held a hat like that.” He tried to hold one of his brimmed hats with his fingers in that position and found it took deliberate effort.
“That actually took away my reasonable doubt,” Moore said. “You have to try to protrude your finger like that.”
Moore and Haney looked at other photographs of Knowles from the event, posted on the event’s Facebook page. When Knowles is holding his top hat in other photographs, he cradles it. In no other photograph is he extending his middle finger to hold onto his hat.
Haney and Moore wanted to show Knowles the photograph personally to see his initial reaction, which they expected would be more revealing than getting his response after he saw the image without them present. The American contacted Knowles on their behalf, but a spokesman for the mayor said Knowles would only grant the meeting after he had a chance to see the image.
Haney and Moore declined to meet him on those conditions.
Moore said he wanted to observe the mayor’s reaction face-to-face, the same way the photograph of them was taken. “Of course, the gesture had to be intentional, but I know he would deny it anyway,” Moore said.
On the morning of Tuesday, March 10, The American asked the Ferguson spokesman if Knowles intentionally made the obscene gesture of giving anyone the middle finger on Saturday night at the Mayor’s Shamrock Ball.
“It’s a shame he wouldn’t meet these people face to face and react to the photograph in their physical presence,” The American wrote to the Ferguson spokesman.
The spokesman offered a response to the image and subsequent article several hours later.
“As you can see in the photo, Mr. Knowles was balancing a hat and in no way, shape or form was making any vulgar gesture to Ferguson resident Mr. Bandon Moore,” a spokesman for the Mayor’s office said. “We look forward to partnering with the St. Louis American to update not only the City of Ferguson residents but the entire world on new initiatives. “
Moore made it clear that he is not speaking out to get attention, which in fact he does not want and even fears. However, he considers it a matter of self-respect.
“I was reluctant to come forward, because as a black man who grew up in North County and lives in Ferguson, I know you are not supposed to speak up or cause trouble with authority,” Moore said. “But I have a son, and I have to hold my head high.”
