Cornel West, Faith Leaders and Activists Arrested as Ferguson October Continues

TRANSCRIPT:

PROTESTERS (SINGING): Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around, turn me around, turn me around!

JAISAL NOOR, TRNN PRODUCER: On Monday, October 13, 20 demonstrators, including Dr. Cornel West, among other faith leaders and activists, were arrested as they carried out civil disobedience at the Ferguson police station after their demands to meet with local officials were denied.

DR. CORNEL WEST, ACTIVIST AND PHILOSOPHER: We’re here because we love the young folk and we’re going to bear witness. We want them to know that there’s an older generation of brothers and sisters of all colors who are willing to put their bodies on the line so that justice can roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

NOOR: This was the latest in renewed protest in Ferguson demanding the arrest of officer Darren Wilson, who killed unarmed black teen Michael Brown. Dozens have been arrested in the latest wave of protests that began on Friday as part of Ferguson October, a national and international campaign to keep pressure up on local, statewide, and national authorities to take action months after Brown’s killing.

PROTESTERS: Hey! Convict! Send that killer cop to jail!

MEGAN SHERMAN, TRNN PRODUCER: The first began in the morning at the office of prosecuting attorney Robert McCulloch, who was in charge of the investigation of Officer Wilson. Activists are demanding that McCulloch be taken off of the case, as they believe that his bias is in favor of law enforcement, because his father was an officer killed in the line of duty.

One of the more tense marches happened later in the evening, when a large crowd swelled at the Ferguson Police Department, where officers blocked the entrance onto the steps of the station. The protesters eventually traveled to the Shaw neighborhood in St. Louis, where they were met by the SLMPD, who were already dressed in riot gear.

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PROTESTER: Why can’t we walk across the bridge? On the sidewalk?

PROTESTER: It’s public property. We pay for it.

PROTESTER: Public property. Why? Why?

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SHERMAN: Despite quite a bit of tension between law enforcement and the protesters, the night ended peacefully.

One main theme that ran throughout the speeches delivered at the Justice For All March was that the movement that began in Ferguson cannot die in Ferguson.

TEFPOE, LOCAL ORGANIZER AND RAPPER: Even though the news cameras and the glitz and the glamor has left the city, the foot soldiers, the young people, we have not packed up our bags. We are not going home. We’re not going to go home. This is not a fly-by-night moment. This is not a made-for-TV revolution. This is real people standing up to a real problem and saying, we aren’t taking it no more.

SHERMAN: Many of the speakers emphasized how it is necessary for those who were present to continue to support what is happening in Missouri, but it is also necessary for them to organize in their hometowns.

TORRIAN, LOCAL ORGANIZER: The key part to this for me is that we had a very bloody August. We had a rebellious September. And now we’re here. We’ve got to go home. We’ve got to go back to the hoods, the projects, your parish, your town, your city, your borough. And I’m going to do like Stokely Carmichael said: we must organize, organize, and organize.

SHERMAN: The entire nation will be watching as the people who are involved in the protest following Mike Brown’s death continue to work with people across the country and around the world to address what they consider to be an unjust system of policing.

NOOR: A Real News team is reporting on the ground from Ferguson, so go to TheRealNews.com to stay updated on the latest.

This is Jaisal Noor.

PROTESTERS (SINGING): We’re going to let no police turn us around! We’re going to keep on walking, we’re going to keep on talking, marching up to freedom land!