"The police are still killing people. Six people died Wednesday. But I
think it is so unfair that people expect leaps and bounds to happen in
just 365 days. Nothing in the Civil Rights Movement was accomplished in a
day. The Civil Rights Movement spanned 10 years. So, for people to
expect so much out of one year is really, really wild to me. And that
question kind of shows me how far removed people are from this.
Proximity matters. So, if you are an onlooker, and you're just looking
for progress and improvements and things like that, then that's a
different conversation to have with someone else who's not so invested.
But for some people, this is their life. They've been harmed by the
police. They've seen their family and friends harmed by the police. And
this is emotional work to be doing. So in this one year, I feel like we
have accomplished much. But there is still a lot to do because police
are still protected by their unions, by the institution of policing in
general. And still have been killing people at higher rates than even
last year, for example. July was literally the deadliest month of 2015. And that's a problem." Johnetta Elzie
"Oppressed People Are Everywhere": A Year After Ferguson, a Conversation With One of the Protests' Organizers
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/08/johnetta-elzie-ferguson-black-lives-matter
"With this movement, there are many people who make it move right and many voices. I think that I just try to tell the truth as much as I can. I think about two goals that I’ve always had: “How do we tell the truth differently?” And then ‘How do we tell the truth in ways that empower people?”.
I remember when I first got to Ferguson, I tweeted a lot because I literally didn’t know anybody. I just showed up here. And the beautiful thing about Twitter is that I don’t need you to be ready, I can talk when I’m ready. And, I wanted to tell the story of all the beautiful stuff in Blackness that was happening like a woman who brought out her grill every day and made hot dogs and hamburgers for the protestors. Or the clean-up crew that would come out and clean up stuff. It was so much community and I’m always so proud of how we’ve never lost our sense of joy as a people. Despite it all, we’ve never lost joy…I would hope that I’ve used the platform to amplify other voices and to tell the truth about who we are." DeRay McKesson
[FERGUSON FORWARD]
DeRay McKesson: He, the Protestor
http://www.ebony.com/news-views/ferguson-forward-deray-mckesson-222#.Vcn5Lq1NqqG
