About 150 marching protesters shut down more than five major intersections last night in South St. Louis City, demanding justice for Michael Brown, VonDerrit Myers Jr. and the many other African Americans killed by police.
At each intersection, participants formed lines on the intersections’ crosswalks to block cars, while they stopped traffic for 4.5 minutes – representing the 4.5 hours that Michael Brown lay dead in the middle of the Canfield Green neighborhood on Aug. 9.
“We are out here for black life because they say our lives do not matter,” said Ashley Yates, a member of the Millennial Activists United (MAU), into a bullhorn at the intersection of Manchester Avenue and Kingshighway Boulevard. “But we know black lives matter, and we know that we must fight to prove that.”
Organized by the South City Solidarity activist group, the march started at the corner of Shaw Boulevard and Klemm Street by the memorial for Myers, 18. Two months after unarmed Brown, also 18, was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson, Myers was killed by an off-duty city police officer on Oct. 8.
Banging on drums and pots and pans, the diverse group wove through the Botanical Heights neighborhood and then confidently walked out into the busy intersection of Vandeventer Avenue and Kingshighway Boulevard at about 7:30 p.m.
As the cars backed up and headlights stared them down, the protestors yelled and chanted about justice. Minneapolis-based activist Deray McKesson watched proudly from the middle of the circle.
“It’s beautiful,” said McKesson, who writes a newsletter on the Ferguson protest movement with local activist Johnetta Elzie. “It’s cool to see new leaders emerge in the movement, 107 days in.”
The march’s organizers went through the direct-action trainings held last week, he said.
From there, the march went down Vandeventer and back up to Kingshighway, all the way down to Manchester and through the Grove. The group passed Sweetie Pie’s, marching down Tower Grove Avenue – trailed by a dozen police cars, who helped block off intersections. They continued down Shaw all the way up to Grand Boulevard, shutting down the intersection at Interstate 44.
Although the protestors were peaceful, some of the response from drivers was not. At one point, an agitated driver threw objects, possibly rocks, at the protestors. During the confrontation, Los Angeles Times reporter Matt Pearce was hit in the head. He visited the hospital as a precaution, and did not need stitches, according to the Huffington Post.
The energy from the young black women of the Millennial Activists United was infectious. All night, Alexis Templeton, 20, ran through the crowds, jumping up and down and leading chants – even though her voice was raw and tired.
At one point, Yates asked the group to circle up and “ground” the movement.
“We appreciate you coming out, but we want to remember why we are out here,” she said.
Yates led the group in what MAU calls a community chant – and a chant that has become group’s hallmark. It comes from a quote by 1970s activist Assata Shakur.
As printed on the back of her MAU T-shirt, Yates yelled, “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
