Sceptical that an entire police force can be broken? Then you should have tuned in back when the residents of the city of Ferguson, Missouri, confronted their local police department over its rampant abuses and racial profiling, which culminated in the execution of Michael Brown, who was gunned down in broad daylight in the middle of the street. Thus was Black Lives Matter born, massive protests spreading like wildfire all across the country and beyond.
At first Ferguson Police responded to the massive protests the only way it knew: brutality, going as far as arresting journalists covering the events. Of course it only made things worse, and for over a year the city would grapple with nightly protests while Ferguson Police was ordered to back off, the National Guard taking over policing the city.
Meanwhile, Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown avoided being indicted for murder by a grand jury process widely perceived as rigged in favour of cops, and whose ruling just poured fuel on the fire. But in the end these battles aren’t won in courts of law, they’re won in the court of public opinion. And indeed the outrage would force him into exile and his reputation is in tatters. More heads would fall in the coming year, including that of the police chief, and there were even serious talks about disbanding the entire police force altogether.
Some would argue little has changed in the end. I beg to differ, as it earned the Black community the one thing it needed the most: a healthy dose of respect from law enforcement. Of course the cops aren’t going to like Blacks any more than they used to, but at least they now fear them somewhat. Don’t forget cops are psychopaths and only respect those who pose a threat to them, and now they realise the mob poses such a threat. That in the age of social media, a single incident can unleash hordes of protesters that will keep hounding them for years on end, and this is the kind of exposure authorities fear the most.
And that is exactly the kind of moment we the homeless need.
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