It’s been more than three months since 18-year-old Michael Brown was gunned down by Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson; more than six weeks since many in the public first heard and/or read reports concerning possible state-sponsored surveillance (at all levels of our government) and behind-the-scenes, Stasi-like security crackdowns targeting protest leaders in Ferguson, Missouri; and, for more than a month, the world’s been listening to Missouri Governor Jay Nixon not-so-tacitly threaten the small St. Louis suburb’s residents that there would be substantial government forces facing-off against any potential protestors should violence erupt upon the potential announcement of a failure of the since-empanelled grand jury to indict Wilson for the murder of Brown.
Over the past 24 hours, almost as if he was continuing to goad the locals in Ferguson into violent social protest, Governor Nixon held a news conference (from Page A14, in today's/Wednesday's NY Times)...
Missouri Governor Says National Guard Is Still Option in Ferguson
By ELI YOKLEY and MONICA DAVEY
NEW YORK TIMES
NOV. 12, 2014
WELDON SPRING, Mo. — Gov. Jay Nixon said Tuesday that the Missouri National Guard was part of a multiforce contingency plan by law enforcement authorities to avert violence as the region around St. Louis awaited a grand jury’s return in the death of Michael Brown three months ago.
“The Guard will be available when we determine it is necessary to support local law enforcement,” Mr. Nixon announced in a news conference at a state highway patrol headquarters here, standing beside law enforcement leaders from the St. Louis area. “Quite simply, we must and will be fully prepared.”
In August, Mr. Nixon called up the National Guard in the sometimes violent protests that followed the death of Mr. Brown, an unarmed black teenager fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis. The role of the Guard then was limited to protecting a police command post, but it drew harsh criticism from demonstrators who said it was more a sign of a military-style approach by the authorities. On Tuesday, some demonstrators criticized Mr. Nixon’s newest plan — and the possibility that he would call up the Guard again — as an overreaction that might only heighten potential anger.
Yet as the St. Louis area braces for a grand jury decision expected later this month on whether the officer, Darren Wilson, will be indicted in the killing, Mr. Nixon struck a firm, unapologetic tone about police plans. “As governor, the most important part of my job is keeping the people of Missouri safe,” Mr. Nixon said, ticking down a list of incidents that had occurred in August, and drawing a distinction between types of protesters — peaceful and not.
“In the days immediately following Michael Brown’s death, peaceful protests were marred by senseless acts of violence and destruction,” he said. “Vandals smashed the windows of small businesses. Criminals looted and set fire to stores. Gunshots and Molotov cocktails endangered citizens exercising their First Amendment rights and law enforcement attempting to maintain peace. That ugliness was not representative of Missouri, and it cannot be repeated.”…
(Bold type is diarist’s emphasis.)
Let me repeat the sentence I bolded in the blockquote from yesterday’s NYT story, immediately above: ”On Tuesday, some demonstrators criticized Mr. Nixon’s newest plan — and the possibility that he would call up the Guard again — as an overreaction that might only heighten potential anger.”
Tuesday afternoon, Kossack Shaun King published an excellent piece on Nixon’s press conference, and it’s linked here: “Five observations about the 'public safety' press conference from Gov. Jay Nixon and team.”
In his post, Shaun asked many questions, including the following…
The entire tone, content, and trajectory of the press conference operated under the assumption that Darren Wilson would not be indicted and that an angry response would follow. This is troubling. Why is the governor operating under this assumption? What does he know?
Obviously, what follows (see links and blockquote, below) is part of the answer to Shaun’s questions.
Over the past 48 hours, according to multiple blog reports (unnamed source in this link states "100%" certainty there'll be no indictment) and a news story in one of the nation’s oldest African-American-owned newspapers, Chicago Defender, the situation in Ferguson is much more far gone than we’ve been led to believe in public statements by Missouri Governor Nixon, yesterday.
As you’re about to learn, it looks like our federal, state and local governments are prepared for all-out urban warfare in Ferguson, as early as Friday.
Frankly, after reading the following, I’m pretty certain that most will agree that to describe it as a government “overreaction that might only heighten potential anger,” would be a gross understatement.
Breaking: Ferguson Decision to Indict Officer Darren Wilson Coming This Week
By Terry Shropshire, National Correspondent
Chicago Defender
Nov. 10, 2014
A member of the St. Louis County Grand Jury reportedly (illegally) leaked the fact that the decision on whether to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, the man who shot college-bound teenager Michael Brown six times, is coming this week…
...
…Media outlets have divulged the verdict will be announced by this weekend at the latest, and more than likely on Friday evening after the schools have long been closed to minimize any potential casualties and collateral damage.
Check out what the Ferguson Police Department, the St. Louis County Sheriffs Department and the Missouri State Police have planned in case demonstrators willingly express their First Amendment Rights of peaceful protests and demonstrations.
• Military assets such as heavily armored vehicles are being stored at Scott Air Force Base [about 30 miles from both Ferguson and nearby Lambert Field] and McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas.
• The Missouri National Guard is on high alert and last week reserved 100 hotel rooms in downtown St. Louis.
• A Northrop Grumman Global Hawk RQ-4 ariel drone has been assigned to monitor and possibly block communications.
• There are 300 homeland security vehicles parked in a three-story underground garage in St. Louis
• Ferguson is reportedly being monitored by Fusion Center. The center acts as an early warning station for terrorism in Ferguson.
• There are 24 agencies getting orders from federal agencies.
Here’s my question:
What does the entirety of this story—in no uncertain terms--tell us about state-sponsored oppression of social dissent in America today?
Of course, if you prefer not to deal with these inconvenient truths and answering this question, you could just sit around and continue polishing the gates of our oppressors, instead of "crashing" them. The choice is yours.
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