- Eichel Davis
BP #22: Ferguson: The Lack Of Conversation Is Going To Break A Nation
I'm going to start with this, because I need to establish the validity of my statements I am about to make. My name is Eichel Davis, and I live on the Berkeley-Fergusson line, less than a mile from the heart of tonights actions. I went to one of the top schools in the city, and now attend the University of Missouri. I am known for thoughtful opinions. I lived in a mostly black community, but went to school in a most white one. And each one of them showed the true strength and advantage of a good community.
Ferguson has been at the center of national, and to an extent global coverage, since Michael Brown was gunned down in early August. And the small, and for the most part middle class neighborhood, has been thrust into a state of chaos. The people who live here have tried their best to preserve their community, and preserve the great image they had before that fateful August day. Its the people who have come from outside of the community that are destroying and vandalising. It is not the citizens. It is not us.
And while many of us do not agree with the verdict of the Grand Jury, me included, we will not show our anger with violence. We will show our anger and our frustration with change, and with a conversation.
And I know, tonight will go down in the history books. It will go down as the time that people said enough is enough. Michael Brown was not an isolated event. His death was nothing but a small spark, that lit the fire that had been brewing for over 60 years. From personal experience, I can say that St. Louis IS a very segregated place. Racism IS deeply rooted in this community. And unfortunately, the conversations have not happened. And to be honest, they won't happen, until they have no other options. Until they are at the end of their ropes. And if this is not it, then I don’t know what is. I don’t wanna think about something worse than this for a community.
But the conversation can not stop in a suburb of 22,000. We as a nation, not as a race, need to address the issue of that this has brought to our attention. From police brutality toward all races, to the Black and White Relations. We. Need. To. Talk. In this world we live in, we don't talk about Race Relations because we feel like we can’t. But this generation, this current group of human beings, will have to talk about it. Or else these types of responses are going to become more and more common. Because people are fed up. After 200 years, we as a race are saying enough is enough. We as a country need to say enough is enough. And while I don’t ever agree with violence, I get it. I get the pain, and the frustration. You feel as if the world is either uninformed, or just ignorant of your pain. So I want those people to know, that people are listening. People outside of our race hear us. They stand with us.
This is so much bigger than Ferguson. Its so much bigger than a small town put on the big stage because of one day. This is about a change that needs to be made. This is about deeply rooted issues that will take years to undue.
This is about a conversation.
So Lets Start Talking,
Eichel Davis
