One year later, Ferguson tries to move on
After Michael Brown’s death, change in city officials helps better reflect demographics
FERGUSON, MO.— A year ago, Ferguson, Mo., was a mostly quiet, workingclass suburban town. The uneasy relationship between its growing black population and its mostly white police force barely registered in local headlines.
Everything changed on Aug. 9, 2014, when a white police officer named Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18year-old. The street confrontation on that sultry day launched the Black Lives Matter movement.
Now the city government, and the streets themselves, look much different.
The city has a new police chief, a new city manager and a new municipal judge: all black people who replaced white leaders. All Ferguson officers wear body cameras. The city council has new members, too, several of whom are black. And the business district that was at the centre of last year’s sometimes violent protests is slowly rebuilding.
The unrest that followed the shooting scarred a proud community, which has spent nearly a year trying to atone for past sins and move ahead. Mayor James Knowles III acknowledged that events after Brown’s death exposed fissures that had long existed.
“For whatever reason in the past, either through lack of communication, lack of outreach, there were segments of the community that really felt like they were disaffected and not really part of the community,” said Knowles, who is white. “I think a year later, what you see is a community that’s much more engaged, wholly engaged.”
Adrian Shropshire, 62, and many other Ferguson residents applaud the changes, especially those aimed at overhauling the police force.
“When it comes to the community and law enforcement coming together, we’ve both dropped the ball,” said Shropshire, who is a black retired carpenter and runs a non-profit jobtraining effort. “Most conflicts start with not listening. Everyone’s listening now.”
Wilson is long gone, having resigned in November, shortly after a St. Louis County grand jury cleared him of wrongdoing. Through his lawyers, he declined interview requests from The Associated Press.
In March, the U.S. Justice Department found no grounds to prosecute Wilson. But at the same time, the government issued a report so critical of Ferguson’s police and municipal court system that it hastened an upheaval in the town of 21,000 people, two-thirds of whom are black.
The result is a leadership becoming more reflective of the town’s demographics.
Within days of the federal report, top city officials resigned. The city chose the new judge, city manager and police chief on an interim basis. Two of the three city council members elected in April also are black, so black people now hold three of six seats, compared with a single seat prior to the election.
The city has made it a priority to recruit more minority officers — an admittedly slow process that hinges on departmental turnover and the city’s ability to fend off area agencies that offer higher pay. At the time of the shooting, just three of Ferguson’s 53 officers were black. The force now has five African-Americans among a total of 50 officers.
Within weeks of Brown’s death, Ferguson police began wearing body cameras donated to the city. Steps have been taken to establish a citizen police review board. Reforms in the police department and municipal courts have led to fewer traffic stops and fewer fines, and dealt a blow to the city budget.
In the first six months of the fiscal year that ended June 30, the city had a revenue deficit of almost $700,000, “due entirely to the shortfall in fines and public safety revenues,” according to a February report from the city finance director.
Financial details for the full fiscal year have not been compiled, city clerk Megan Asikainen said. Interim police Chief Andre Anderson wants officers to engage with the community, doing things such as getting out of their cars and mingling. He has publicly acknowledged that he hopes to be considered for the job permanently, and has implored the city’s populace to help him “set a course in the history books that clearly proves that peace prevails.”
But some residents question the improvements. Emily Davis says she has seen little change for the better, especially along the busy roadway that was looted and burned.
“People are still being targeted by police officers,” the 38-year-old said. “Our city government has not become any more communicative. They have not made any attempt to engage in dialogue — meaningful dialogue — with the citizens, which is not any different than it was a year ago.”