Mid-Missouri group rallies for Michael Brown
A Mid-Missouri group rallied for Michael Brown Monday night in Jefferson City.
The NAACP held a rally and marched to the Capitol, calling for people in Ferguson to keep pushing back.
It was apparent that rallies like this are not so much to remember Mike Brown anymore, they’re more to shape a conversation about racial lines.
While the rally on the Lincoln University campus was small, the message was the same as the one coming out of St. Louis, a call for something most of us already enjoy every day in America and take for granted; peace.
The message Monday night made it clear the black community, even in Mid-Missouri felt unequal, as it did decades ago. Police watched the truly peaceful protest of about two dozen as they talked about Ferguson.
“One of the things that made so many people go from ‘Hey there has been a murder, to get that guy’ is that it has that sense and the feel of some sort of cover up or at least a less than candid investigation than you would expect,” said one protester.
Others at the rally called for calm, and wished law enforcement could be given the chance to conclude their investigation. Paul Vanhorn used to live in Ferguson. He was an educator and saw the demographics of the city change while he was there. He said the problems didn’t come up overnight.
“When you have individuals that don’t have skill sets. They don’t have jobs. Perhaps they haven’t acquired the skill sets for the jobs, they have automation that is taking place today and robotics and the displacement of workers because of inadequate skill sets,” said Vanhorn.
