Russell and others in Ferguson, Missouri have "joined forces with established activist groups ... from across the state and country, crafting a list of demands and studying policy, political science and past social movements."

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Ferguson turns protest into political power
By Trymaine Lee, August 30, 2014

Before Michael Brown’s death, all Taurean Russell wanted was to finish college, teach history and coach high school football. But that changed August 9, when photos of Brown’s lifeless body, shot by a cop and left sprawled in the street, kept appearing on social media.

“I saw a dead body on my timeline. It kept appearing hour after hour and somebody said ‘I hope somebody gets up and does something about it,” said Russell, 30. “Then I heard his mother on TV say, ‘Why did they kill my son.’”

Those words triggered something in Russell. He rallied friends and they headed down to the Ferguson Police Department looking for answers. They didn’t get any so they went back the next day and the day after.

Russell and others incensed by Brown’s killing and the lack of charges against Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown, have grown both more impatient and more organized. They’ve joined forces with established activist groups and other youth leaders from across the state and country, crafting a list of demands and studying policy, political science and past social movements.

“You can’t have patience,” Russell said on a recent afternoon. “We been stuck on the same page in history for the last 60 years, patience is gone. Local police came and said y’all need to leave, we stayed. They shot tear gas, we stayed. They shot rubber bullets we stayed and got stronger. They gave us a curfew, we stayed all night.”

As weeks of unrest in Ferguson have cooled and as a huge national media presence recedes, local policy makers, residents and a new crop of social activists will likely be left to pick up the pieces and move the city forward.

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Since being thrust into action by Brown’s death, Taurean Russell said he’s found his true calling.

“I haven’t had a day off yet,” said Russell.

Russell has become a core member of a group called Hands Up United, which has joined other groups including the Organization for Black Struggle and the Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment to issue a list of demands including Wilson’s immediate arrest and more accountability for police practices.

For Russell, the mission is deeply personal. He and other residents have detailed a long, strained history between the many local black communities that make up an inner-ring of suburbs outside of St. Louis city and the mostly white police departments that patrol them.

State data on police stops show deep disparities in how often blacks are targeted for traffic stops compared to non-whites. The stops often result in traffic tickets, that when left unpaid lead to additional fines, warrants and sometimes jail time.

Russell said a number of traffic tickets led to warrants for his arrest which went on his record and prevented him from finding employment in any of the local high schools, which he’d hope to become a teacher and coach.

“My traffic tickets and bench warrants wouldn’t let me work in the public schools,” he said. “My dreams were crushed over something that could have been avoided or if the system wasn’t as racialized as it is.”

Russell said the old guard and traditional civil rights organizations don’t resonate with a younger, brasher generation of activists.

“A lot of these organizations aren’t on the forefront. They came in for the photo op and pulled out. The people who are actually grassroots and anchored here, people know we are here helping and are going to be here for the long run,” he said.
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