In Ferguson, varying views on the legacy of Aug. 9, 2014

FERGUSON, MO. >> Mayor James Knowles III was doing volunteer cleanup work at the Ferguson Farmers Market when he got a phone call that a teenager had been fatally shot by a police officer .

Videographer Chris Phillips, who lived in the apartment complex where 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed, started getting texts from neighbors. Michael’s dad drove to the site hoping beyond hope that it wasn’t his son — until he saw the red St. Louis Cardinals cap next to the body.

Five years later, the legacy of the fatal shooting of the black teenager by a white Missouri police officer depends on who you talk to. Those affected by the shooting and those who have sought change in its aftermath acknowledge that Brown’s death and the upheaval that followed forever changed race relations in Ferguson and beyond. Here are some of their stories: Cardinals caps at the father’s wedding. Michael’s cap lay on the ground next to the body.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Brown said he was so angry that every time he spoke, he “started feeling changes” in his body. He eventually turned the anger into activism and today works with young people and counsels others who have lost loved ones to violence.

“I went through those stages (of anger), but what people don’t understand is that being angry wasn’t doing nothing but killing myself,” Brown said. “I can’t just stay angry ... I knew I had to get somewhere with a little bit of peace or I would lose, my family would lose.”

Five years later, Brown said he’s “in a little better space.”

“I beat myself up for a bunch of years thinking it was my fault because you vow when the child comes out of the womb that you will protect him,” he said.

Michael was an aspiring rapper. His father recalled that Michael would often say, “The world will know my name.”

He was right, just not in the way that he planned.

“Michael’s legacy is through me,” Brown said. “I am his legacy. We stand in the public, try to do the right thing, keep the work going. Try to pull families and communities together.”

Brown also sees his son’s legacy in reforms in Ferguson, such as community policing and body cameras for officers.

“They could have done more, but, hey, one step at a time, right? So we’ll accept that and work on trying to do better.” in activism. “I really started saying to myself, ‘There’s no turning back,’” he said.

Brown’s death was followed by a series of other shootings in the St. Louis area in which young black men were killed by white officers. Protests followed each shooting. Williams was always there, usually in his signature red hoodie.

In December 2014, Antonio Martin was killed in a confrontation with police at a gas station in Berkeley, near Ferguson. In what he called a fit of anger during a protest, Williams grabbed a few things from the store and set fire to a trash can.

“I was mad that night, and I wasn’t thinking clearly,” Williams said.

The crime was captured by a TV news crew, and Williams was arrested the next day. He was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison. His only prior arrests were for disturbances related to protests.

Now 23, Williams is housed in a prison southwest of St. Louis. He said he spends much of his time counseling other prisoners, helping them prepare for life once they get out.

As for his future plans, Williams wants to open youth centers, including one that will be named after Brown. He sees Brown’s legacy in people like him who now devote their lives to helping others.

“He gave me the opportunity to find my calling and be who I am today,” Williams said. stand at a podium and criticize or berate him.

Nobody said politics would be easy. Especially in Ferguson.

Yet James Knowles III, who is white, was re-elected to a third three-year term last year. He said the election was evidence that despite those who speak out at council meetings, he has plenty of support, including in the black community.

Knowles, 40, is proud of the work Ferguson has done to reform its police and court practices, reforms that he points out began weeks after Brown’s death, long before they were mandated by a 2016 agreement with the Justice Department.

The Ferguson Police Department drew heavy criticism in 2014 for many reasons: It had only three black officers out of 53 in a city that is two-thirds African American. Police were accused of racial profiling in traffic stops, of treating blacks with aggression.

Today, Knowles said, the department is almost evenly split between white and black officers. Officers now wear body cameras. They’re more involved with people rather than just reacting to crime.

“They have certainly made an effort to be part of the community, to engage with the community,” Knowles said.

He also believes the agreement with the Justice Department slows rather than expedites reforms.

“Someone has to stop at some point and ask themselves: Is this effort chasing your tail?” Knowles said. “Why are we still paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in legal bills and monitoring fees” instead of hiring experienced staff and officers?