Early Saturday afternoon an uncaptioned photo of a then-unknown man holding a crudely made cardboard sign that read “The Ferguson Police Executed My Unarmed Son!!!” exploded on social media. Chaos was underway.
With his makeshift protest mechanism, Louis Head tipped the community to the fact that his stepson Michael Brown, a 2014 graduate of Normandy High School, was gunned down in the Canfield Green Apartment Complex by a Ferguson police officer two days before he was to start classes at Vatterott College.
By weekend’s end, all hell would break loose in Ferguson and surrounding municipalities for all the nation to see.
Protests symbolized night one. On night two, peaceful demonstrators would be overshadowed by a small minority who decided to voice their rage and capitalize on the volatile situation by damaging and looting surrounding business.
Night three was marred by what many deemed excessive force by police and a “peace by any means necessary” approach to maintaining order. Area residents and journalists were victims of collateral damage while caught in the crossfire of tear gas and rubber bullets.
While the most dramatic moments played out like scenes from a film inspired by the milder moments of the civil rights era, committed individuals followed Head’s lead in feeding the people with an on-location, direct line of information.
Brittany Noble of KMOV-TV, Majic 100.3 FM’s Tammie Holland, Casey Nolan of KSDK-TV, rapper and Riverfront Times contributor Tef Poe and Patricia Bynes were among them. Though it may run the risk of appearing self-serving, the work of The American’s own Wiley Price, Bridjes O’Neil, Lawrence Bryant and Chris King is worth a mention as well.
But it would be former PubDef publisher and current St. Louis Alderman Antonio French who would emerge as the go-to citizen journalist using the digital-age approach to capture every waking moment of the aftershock following Brown’s killing.
A retweet of Holland, “@TammieHolland What the hell is going on in Ferguson,” would start a stream of on-location coverage from French that is still underway at press time.
He has never been offline for more than two or three hours once or twice over the course of three days since the community began to react. His cell phone became a portable newsroom as he provided 140-character features, vivid Instagram images and Vine videos that served as a play-by-play in real time at a host of locations related to the outcry for justice.
Tweets were often prefaced with ICYMI (in case you missed it) and featured accompanying photos.
“Right now in #Ferguson” served as headlines for most of the Vine videos.
From the moment he arrived on the scene, he began sharing first hand observations:
“Police from several jurisdictions have formed a line to separate the crowd from the crime scene.”
“People are marching to the #Ferguson Police Dept. Headquarters following the killing of a 17-year-old boy” (Michael Brown’s age was later revealed to be 18).
“Ferguson police have dogs and shotguns. The unarmed crowd is raising their hands.”
“Police cars trampled the rose petals and candles at the memorial for #MikeBrown
“People are angry, frustrated but peaceful tonight in Ferguson. The police dept.’s heavy handed approach made things worse. Leaving was good.”
“Lots of people – some prayerful, some sad, some angry – have gathered outside the Ferguson police headquarters.”
People following the killing and chaos began to take notice of French’s coverage. He garnered thousands of new Twitter followers, including celebrities.
“Your coverage, Spirit, Intention & Attention contributed 2 these moments of Peace,” Grammy Award-winning singer Anita Baker said in response to his coverage. “Grateful 4 your Obedience… #PeaceJustice”
“@Antonio French did some heroic reporting tonight #WeAreMichaelBrown,” said best-selling author and Jay Z biographer dream hampton.
By day three, French had become a trusted source on the situation by those devouring information through social media and a contributor to major news outlets – including CNN and MSNBC.
On Monday morning, he spent the better part of five minutes (which converts to about two hours in breaking news time) eloquently giving local insight on the situation to CNN.
“I don’t know exactly what happened, the community doesn’t know exactly what happened, but those people that do think they know what happened have been very angry over the past few days and that anger is very palpable,” French told CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield.
“What happens is there is such a disconnect between the community and the police that tensions have been rising for years and years. It’s not exclusive to Ferguson – or even the surrounding communities. It’s a disconnect around America between the community and the people that police it.”
He didn’t know it at the time, but later than night he would prove his statements true with video of tear gas being unleashed, guns being drawn at peaceful protesters and aggressive, confrontational behavior across the board.
And though Tuesday showed promise of being a busy, yet peaceful day of action and activism, French was back on the scene to capture what would become yet another evening of unrest.
“Four men on the ground being detained by police on West Florissant and Chambers. Not sure if it is related to protests,” French tweeted. “Crowd forming around arrest. Helicopter now here.”
He would, naturally, use Twitter to explain his motives.
“We as leaders can help redirect their justified anger,” French said. “But we can’t do it from churches or our living rooms. We have to be with them.”
His words reflected what he explained to the world Monday on CNN.
“A lot of people from outside of Ferguson have come here because they share the anger and frustration,” French said. “Hopefully this can be a part of a conversation that lasts a long time, and we can rebuild in a better way.”
