By Kenya Vaughn
Special to the NNPA from the St. Louis American
“The temperature is rising is in this room,” said Pastor. F. Willis Johnson. “What is happening right now –it ain’t because the air is not on.”
In the sweltering sanctuary of Wellspring Church in Ferguson, Johnson played host to a conversation about recent unrest in the city incited by the death of Michael Brown Jr. at the hands of Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson.
This particular dialogue exchange was being recorded for broadcast (airs Aug. 29 at 12 noon) by St. Louis Public Radio and National Public Radio host Michel Martin served as moderator.
Johnson – who sat on the panel with guests that included Ferguson Mayor James Knowles, newly appointed Missouri Public Safety director (and former St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Chief) Dan Isom, former senator Rita Heard-Days and Kimberly McKinney, CEO of Habitat for Humanity St. Louis – could no longer hold his peace after hearing the Mayor’s reaction to a young person’s protest trauma.
“You’re not going to be able to explain away everything,” Johnson said. “And to unplug this pot right here – that’s ready to boil over into the street if we’re not careful – there is going to have to be the acknowledging. I say this with all due respect. I’m not trying to set you up. I know you didn’t do everything. But acknowledge what happened actually happened. You don’t have accept it personally, but especially as leaders in this community have to accept the responsibility to do something about it.”
Knowles had to know what he was up against as listeners lined the walls of Wellspring Church and listened intently in two overflow areas.
The audience, the panel and even the moderator seemed shocked by the detachment in his responses.
“There is frustration from people who feel a disconnection with the police,” Knowles said speaking of the African American community in Ferguson.
“I think they feel demeaned and disrespected more than disconnected,” Martin said right after Knowles had responded.
Knowles apparently didn’t see it, but other white residents of Ferguson did.
Jeff Schultz, a resident spoke of his 16-year-old son’s African American friend being stopped and accosted by police while riding his bike. The officers asked him to prove that the bike wasn’t stolen and demanded a receipt.
“How can you expect a 16-year-old to keep up with a bike receipt,” Schultz said. “That won’t happen to my son, because he’s white.”
Knowles promised that if Schultz could get him the identity of the officer, action would be taken against that type of behavior.
“I’m angry,” said Emily Davis, another white resident. “No mother should have to fear for their son’s life every time they leave the house. And I’m not just talking about Michael Brown’s mother – I’m talking about the mothers of those protesters who are just out there trying to make this better.”
She began to choke up.
There was emotion and frustration from every side of the room.
Knowles expressed his sympathy for the situation, saying that he coached African American students in wrestling.
“What do you say to your students who feel hunted on the streets like an animal by police,” Martin said.
It would be Knowles explanation of Brown’s body being left on the street for four hours that sparked disgust.
“As soon as the incident happened, we contacted St. Louis County,” Knowles said. “Unfortunately, he was left right there so that the investigators from St. Louis County, when they could get there, could come to a scene and investigate a scene of a potential crime that was not disturbed by anyone. Because we didn’t want anyone to feel that there would be some sort of cover-up.”
Isom voluntarily chimed in before being prompted.
“I think one thing all of us know is that Michael Brown should not have laid out there for four hours on the street,” Isom said. “So you’ve got to acknowledge that was wrong. And that you’re sorry for it. Because, just from a human standpoint, and if you want to just take it from a policing standpoint, it wasn’t appropriate. Under any circumstances, I don’t care what any kind of investigation was going on; a person’s body does not lay out in the street for four hours.”
Isom’s remarks were met by rousing applause and compelled Martin to chime in.
“Have you ever had an opportunity to meet with his family to apologize the way that he was treated,” Martin asked Knowles.
“I have not,” Knowles said.
“Why not,” Martin asked.
“Our chief did have an opportunity to meet with them and expressed the sympathy for our city,” Knowles said.
Martin seemed at a loss.
“Forgive me, but why didn’t you just go to them and say as your mayor I’m sorry I will look into this,” Martin said.
“We’ve invited them to come to us,” Knowles said. “We have invited them to reach out to us and we have expressed that the sympathy of our city is with them.”
Knowles’ apparent disconnect with the past three weeks brought more feelings to the surface as Martin attempted to take the conversation in the direction of moving beyond the tragic two weeks and into a place of building a better, stronger and more inclusive community.
“We can’t talk about healing if he won’t acknowledge the hurt,” said Ashley Yates, a Ferguson resident who was victimized by aggressive police tactics during the protests.
It was a sentiment shared by Johnson.
“Unfortunately we can’t keep pointing to other things and conveniently hiding,” Johnson said.
Knowles struck a nerve with Johnson upon telling Yates that the misconduct and/or excessive force by Ferguson police and surrounding departments during the protests was out of his control.
“You’ve tripped yourself up,” Johnson said. “We were here about half-an-hour ago and you spoke real tough about all the stuff you could fix and the next thing you did when somebody challenged you the first thing you did was go behind the city manager.
You’re hearing from these young people that are out here and you can’t deny what has happened. There has to be a listening with intent to hear – not just intent to respond. Coming to this event isn’t enough. We have to dare to care.”