Yo, first off, I just want to remind everybody the reason why we here is the love and the support and the strength for the Brown family, ‘cause at the end of the day they lost a son. They know what that pain feels like, but I don’t personally think I could bear that type of pain from losing my son.
At the end of the day and, what I would hate, is to be sitting somewhere in court trying to make sure that the person that has killed my son – that they use anything that I have done against my son in court or in any type of procedure. Because that’s not fair to the Brown family.
Now to be out here showing support and the love, that is dope, that is exactly what’s needed. But to show out here to show dysfunction, to show evilness, to show devastation, to show that we are who they think we are, that’s working backwards. That’s working backwards.
In order to change the result we gotta change the strategy. That’s the only thing we have to do, because this ain’t the first time a young brother has been killed by an officer. What we have to make sure is that he pays for shooting the young man. Because what that does, is that puts the thought in the next officer that’s about to pull that trigger – he’s gonna say, “Well, you know what, the last officer that did this got life. You know what, I’m gonna put this gun away.”
They asked me today on CNN, they said this is the first time St. Louis has rioted. I said yes, it is. Back in the Civil Rights Movement, riots was breaking out all over the place, riots broke out for Rodney King, riots broke out for everybody – except in St. Louis.
We didn’t riot then. We didn’t riot when the whole world was rioting. We didn’t riot when the rest of the country was rioting for this movement. We didn’t move. We smarter than that. We know we smarter than that.
And for anybody that feels like, “Yo, man, it’s gon’ always be like, it’s gon’ always remain,” you are disrespecting your great-grandfather, your great-great-grandfather and your great-great-great-grandfather. I say none of y’all went to a restaurant and were denied service, and ain’t nobody sat down and was told you couldn’t go in that bathroom because of what you wore.
Them young brothers was killed for racism. We just had a stupid-ass cop. That we need to make sure that he pays for what he done. You need that verdict, but only way that comes is, again, we can’t overreact. I would rather overthink than overreact, because once you overreact, you can’t take it back. You can’t take it back. You can’t undo what’s been done. You can’t undo that.
That ain’t got nothin’ to do with being soft; that’s like making a better plan. We know the percentages of blacks and whites in St. Louis. You are outnumbered, outmanned and outgunned. You are. And all that’s gon’ happen is we gon’ pay the price. Everybody in this neighborhood, we gon’ pay the price. Half our brothers either gon’ die or half our brothers gonna go get locked up. And that’s not helping.
The solution is bein’ positive and knowing what we in front of, knowing how to strategically plan. It wasn’t no coincidence they released that video the day that they released the name. That was the plan. And we fell for it! They waited for the perfect time to drop that, to try to let the air out of some sails, and they did.
See what I’m saying? Everything is strategic. They still got some more plans for ya. I’m telling you, it all ain’t been let out yet.
Peaceful protesting, rallying, with plans to get together strategically to say, “Yo, how do we end this?” – that’s what needs to happen. The rage, I understand it, don’t get it twisted, I understand it, but at the end of the day what you gon’ change?
You must have a strategic plan. We must make sure that our kids are sitting next to their kids when their kids are receiving
the information that is needed to run the rest of this country.
Edited from an impromptu speech made to the protest frontlines at the Ferguson Police Department on August 18. Audio provided by Bradley Rayford.
