If you don't understand by now, you're not listening.
In a
St. Louis Post-Dispatch article published yesterday about the shooting of two police officers in Ferguson this week, there is a quote by Ferguson City Councilwoman Kim Tihen that made me scream at my computer.
With all of the big changes at the top of Ferguson government, namely the resignations of Police Chief Jackson and City Manager John Shaw, Tihen said she wonders what would satisfy the protesters.
“I’m not sure what more they want,” she said. “I would like to ask them come to us, tell us what we can do to continue to heal the community.
Tihen's words are infuriating, since the community has been coming to her, and the world, for over six months now saying what they want. How could she claim to not understand?
It might help to know Tihen's background. It's this background that highlights the need for much more extensive reform in Ferguson. She is not just part of the problem - people like her are the problem, and it's hard to see anything getting better unless they not only out of the picture, but held accountable for the long list of criminal acts that happened under their watch, and often with their knowledge and approval.
As the story above mentions, Kim Tihen was a Ferguson Police Department officer before she was elected to the City Council in 2012. What they fail to mention is that she was one of the officers involved in the 2009 beating of Henry Davis, the man who was charged with destruction of property for bleeding on the uniforms of the officers who beat him.
Mother Jones lays out her role in the assault clearly:
One officer, Kim Tihen, allegedly "struck [Davis] in his head with a closed fist and hit [him] in the head with handcuffs." Davis suffered a concussion and severe facial lacerations, while an officer was left with a broken nose. Afterwards, prosecutors charged Davis with four counts of destruction of property - because his blood had dirtied the officers' uniforms.
The
Daily Beast extensively quotes her deposition in the civil suit filed against her and the city by Davis. It's worth reading. Tihen openly admits beating Davis repeatedly, and she was the one who complained about Davis bleeding on her uniform after she beat him. Her testimony contradicted the other officers involved in the beating, but she never was charged, and a federal judge eventually dismissed Davis's suit because "Davis’ injuries were insufficiently serious to constitute a violation of his rights."
You might ask, "How could a person like Tihen be elected to the Ferguson City Council, in a city where 2/3 of the population is black and the police are widely reviled?" For one, her election was held in April of 2012, not in November with the general election. Turnout was only 10%, and she only needed 270 votes to win her seat. Tihen's opponent in the race, John Knowles, had just resigned from his post as president of the Ferguson-Florissant school board after a widely-reported scandal. The race was for an open seat, which was vacated by Fran Grecco, a former lawyer who had been disbarred for accepting fees and failing to perform work for her clients while sitting on the Council. Apparently the bar for City Council in Ferguson is pretty damn low.
Now, while I think it goes without saying, I'll answer Tihen's question, since even though her City Council page says she's focused on "increased communication between city officials and residents," she obviously still does not get it.
What more do they want?
Justice.
So far, the residents of Ferguson haven't gotten anything even remotely close. Exactly one low-level employee has been fired from the City of Ferguson, for sending disgustingly racist emails. Two police officers and a judge resigned over the same emails. The City Manager and Police Chief have resigned from their positions voluntarily - they were not fired or forced out by the Council. The
Chief is getting a fucking
$96,000 severance payment and a year of continued health care benefits, and the City Manager is getting
$120,000 plus benefits. There's nothing - besides public outcry - to stop them from getting the exact same jobs with a community next door, like
Darren Wilson did when the Jennings PD was shut down during a federal corruption probe.
The only thing that will begin to approach justice for Ferguson is the firing of every single person in the city government, and the prosecution of those who played a role in the massive corruption and civil rights violations that have been ongoing for years. Even the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board understands that. I hope that Tihen and her colleagues will recognize this, too, but I'm not holding my breath waiting. The Department of Justice needs to step in and follow up on their report with action to protect the civil rights of the citizens of Ferguson from being trampled on any further.