Don't come to Ferguson if you're not ready to die.
Local leftist Tef Poe issued that warning to supporters in advance of yet another weekend of planned protests in the St Louis area. Although the official message of the protest surrounds the police shooting that left Ferguson teen Mike Brown dead, the unrest seems to have taken on a life of its own.
Protesters just this past week interrupted a performance at the St Louis Symphony, where they chanted “black lives matter,” and then walked out on Brahms' Requiem. They ambushed baseball fans who were leaving Busch Stadium after the first home game of the post season, videotaping the responses of people who just wanted to get to their cars and go home.
Some of the people the protesters caught on video responded badly, making statements that could easily be construed as racist. Most simply tried to ignore the interruption, although the looks on their faces betrayed their weariness of it all.
And that's how most of St Louis can be described: weary. We are weary of wondering which stores will be looted next. We are exhausted at the prospect of changing travel plans because someone decided that the best way to draw attention to racial disparities in the justice system is to block traffic on I-70. But more than that, we are bone-tired of the implication that anyone who opposes either the duration or chosen methods of all of these protests is inherently a racist and part of the problem.
No.
When Mike Brown's stepfather put on a sign and stood on the street, I was ready to hear him out. When people raised a legitimate concern about the prosecutor's ability to be unbiased in this case, I was ready to listen. They wanted to draw attention to their cause, and I – along with many others – was ready to give it to them.
But not anymore.
Like a child who acts out because he wants attention and doesn't care whether that attention is negative or positive, the people who are still protesting in Ferguson are no longer seeking justice for Mike Brown. The protests have become an end in themselves rather than the means to achieve it, and as long as they are allowed to continue they will escalate. They will keep attracting other groups that want attention – such as the Communist Party USA and pro-Palestinian groups that are already rumored to be on the ground here. And they will continue to keep St Louis contained by the fear that they may be caught in the next violent protest if we have the gall to attend a post season game or drive through Ferguson after dark.
It's not racism to want our children to be able to play outside without fear. It's not racism to want to be able to attend a symphony and have it be about the music, or attend a post-season baseball game and have it be about the American pastime.
It's not racism to want our city back.
