It’s been more than three months since Michael Brown was gunned down in Ferguson, Missouri. The city is on pins and needles as it awaits the grand jury’s verdict which is expected to be handed down in the coming week.
Groups across the country are mobilizing for after the verdict protests. At Saturday’s action rally at the House of Justice, Rev. Al Sharpton said the “abuse of the grand jury” is fueling suspicion:
All eyes around the country have been on Ferguson, Missouri as the grand jury has wound down there… The abuse of the grand jury is the reason there is the suspicion from many of us that they are setting up to do nothing, which is why we want the federal government to come in.
Sharpton added:
It doesn’t take three or four months to determine if unarmed men were responsible for what happened. So you’re trying to figure something out that we done already figured out. We’ve done figured out you’re trying to figure something else. We are on high alert that within 24 hours we’ll be hitting the streets in 20 cities.
Sharpton said “the object of the protest is to put the pressure on the federal government to go forward.”
The community is on high alert. And so are the police.
Before you go to the protest, know your rights. If you are in the Philadelphia area, you are invited to a free interactive training session co-sponsored by Up Against the Law Legal Collective and Avenging the Ancestors Coalition (F)ilm the Police Committee (full disclosure: I’m co-chair of the committee).
Come hear and see what to do when you have an encounter with the police whether walking, driving or chilling on your porch. For more information, call (215) 552-8785.
It’s about to go down.
UPDATE
On Monday, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon issued an Executive Order declaring a State of Emergency in Ferguson activated the National Guard.
