Tag Archives: Michael Brown

Here We Go …

Posted on by
Reply
The Far Bar Corridor

The Far Bar Corridor

As I write, Saint Louis is awaiting the grand jury’s decision in the Michael Brown case. As this decision has approached the city has succumbed to a mounting sense of fear and foreboding. Not one day of late has passed without another watcha-watcha moment occurring. Today at work there were two separate mass emails warning employees to exercise caution in the event of trouble. Really? There must be a shortage of plywood in town by now, what with all of the boarding-up of windows that has occurred. We live near Clayton, the county seat, where the grand jury was impaneled. I could possibly understand boarding-up in the vicinity of the courthouse, but why was it done over half-a-mile away at the old Famous Barr building? When I stopped off at the grocery store tonight, I noticed that they had removed all of their outside merchandise. It is the week of Thanksgiving, a week that normally sees an increase in grocery shopping, but the mass of people shopping tonight had more the desperation that Saint Louis normally reserves for impending snowstorms.

The picture with this post doesn’t have anything to do with this evening’s events. I chose this image of the entrance to the Far Bar of Los Angeles for tonight’s post, because its dark corridor initially seemed foreboding. That feeling matches the one that I am experiencing now. While the Asian fusion restaurant inside turned out to be a delightful experience that does not infer any hopeful happy endings tonight. We went there on our last night in LA. We had planned to dine with Lou and Pearl, Anne’s uncle and aunt, but Anne fell ill and we had to beg off. Dan suggested it and went with us too. It was just across the street from our hotel and provided just the right amount of nightlife for us that night. It was rated best Little Tokyo bar in 2013.

Zooming Up Wydown

Posted on by
1
Warning Objects In This Picture Maybe Slower Than They Appear

Warning Objects In This Picture Maybe Slower Than They Appear

We rode our bicycles today. The weather was warn (60 ˚F), windy, cloudy and it drizzled off and on, but it felt good to get back out on the bikes again. Anne took this post’s photo the last time we went cycling, which was two-week ago. The light was better then. It was sunny and not raining. The trees had more leaves, but at least my outfit was the same. You might notice some Photoshop effects in the picture. It is called the burst-zoom effect and it works quite well with this photograph’s subject matter, if I do say so myself. This effect is new to me. I found it when I upgraded to Photoshop Elements 13, as part of our new desktop PC upgrade this month. Warning, objects in this picture maybe slower than they appear.

The big news in town is of course the impending grand jury decision on whether or not white police officer Darren Wilson will be indicted for last August’s killing of black teenager Michael Brown. Any new wrinkle in the case inevitably leads the news. The grand jury met and recessed today, without making any announcements and will not reconvene until Monday. The prosecutor that is leading the grand jury has promised to give 48-hours’ notice of any impending announcement, to allow Saint Louis to prepare. The prosecutor had also promised a decision by the end of the month, which is a week away. This whole story is sad from start to finish and offers little hope for an outcome that will help heal our community. Still, one can hope and pray that from the ashes of these events something good can occur.

At work preparations for dealing with civil disturbances have been underway. Last week, we got a memo and had two drills that were related. The memo asked that in the coming days all employees should be extra watchful and vigilant. The first drill was an online drill. In this drill a pop-up appears on your computer screen alerting you to an emergency, its nature and any action that the employee should take. The problem with this kind of drill is that it is only effective if an employee is actually looking at their computer. This week only one out of the six colleagues that were discussing this drill was even aware that it had occurred. The other drill comes over the PA. I was aware of this drill, because a speaker over my cube blared it at me. It ends with the instructions, “If you cannot hear this announcement, contact maintenance. Test is now complete.” If you can’t hear the announcement, how can you take any action?

We Live Our Lives in Fear!

Posted on by
Reply
Attention Company!, William Michael Harnett, 1878

Attention Company!, William Michael Harnett, 1878

Saint Louis is waiting on pins and needles for the grand jury verdict to come in on the Michael Brown killing. Brown, an 18 year-old black man who was shot on August 9th, by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer. Protests, both peaceful and violent ensued. About two weeks ago, when we returned to Saint Louis from LA and while Anne and I were loitering at the airport, we were waiting for Joanie to pick us up, a security guard came by and gave us the third degree. After he was satisfied, he then asked us, “Do you think that there will be riots?” He meant after the grand jury verdict came back with no indictments. I told him that nothing was going to happen until after the election, which is now more than a week past.

One of my Facebook friends put out a post recommending preparing for the consequences of a grand jury verdict. It sounded like disaster preparedness, what with a call for having cash and bottled water around, like something we should do in the event of an earthquake or nuclear war. I pray that all of this talk is merely hyperbole and whatever decision that the grand jury returns does not lead to violence.

A new neighbor is a Saint Louis County cop. We knew this when he started parking his marked police car in front of our house. He is a tall, young, friendly, Asian-American man and having him as a neighbor is an asset. At our block party last month, he explained that he had been working a lot of overtime because of Ferguson. At the party, he also said that there are plans for a major call up of police officers come the grand jury verdict.

Preparations extend across the river. A co-worker who is also a reservist told me that the Illinois National Guard has evacuated all heavy weapons (tanks, rocket launchers, etc.) from their East Saint Louis armory, as a precaution for the expected grand jury verdict. This story seemed farfetched to me, but its source is impeccable. Meanwhile, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon (D) announced yesterday, a unified law-enforcement command that will be ready to respond when the grand jury verdict is made public. This command will be composed of local police, state police and the Missouri National Guard. Nixon is also in regular consultation with President Obama (D) about Ferguson.

Foreshadowing the expected Michael Brown grand jury verdict the Saint Louis County prosecutor, Robert McCulloch (D), announced this week that the killing in July of another black man by another white policeman was justified and that no charges will be brought. This is exactly the ruling that the black community feared would occur, when McCulloch seated the Michael Brown grand jury. Last weekend anxiety was running so high that McCulloch felt compelled to tamp down the “rank speculation”. The grand jury verdict is expected in mid to late November. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!