Ferguson, pt. 3

Last night was intense. I put my gear on and radio up and watched the crowd have a block party for a sizable amount of time. The heat here is unreal. I sweat through every inch of clothing and just walk around drenched. So does everyone. Last night, the heat did not help the situation.

RevCom, or RCP, or Revolutionary Communist Party decided to agitate the crowd. Their tactics are to say all the right words and empathize just enough to get a large enough crowd and then start a march. The march went south when the local Ferguson community decided they didn’t want to concede control of the situation and RevCom got angry. The crowd was agitated, between a local pregnant community member crying for her city and white RCP people trying to piss the cops off, tension kept building and building.

The march finally turned back around after the Ferguson community told RCP to back off. As we returned to the block, the police kettled us into a small section of sidewalk. I watched medics put on their protective gear and starting scoping exit routes. We were surrounded as we watched local PDs and SWAT start to don riot gear and they began lining up. I kept relaying information to as many folks as possible on the situation. It was the tensest few hours we’ve had this whole trip. The officers pushed and pushed as the march was mandated to continue walking. In that moment, one false move and we all would have been helpless to tear gas and rubber bullets.

Finally, the crowd calmed down. RCP left and I overheard them say something about needing a strategy meeting. Police presence diminished.

Today is a peace festival for #MikeBrown. There are going to be a lot of folks out tonight, especially out-of-towners that have come in droves in the past two days. I don’t know how tonight will go. Police gave a warning last night to not return to Florissant. Everyone seems to be planning on returning, as per usual.

As usual, love y’all always and forever.