Whose Streets? Page #7

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at this memorial today.

We not doing that, man. I don't care, man.

Look, and I'm tired of

compromising with everybody

cause ain't nobody came down here

to Canfield, talked to the residents.

I been out in this street.

- I talk to my community.

- You think I don't know that?

No, you don't know how

much sh*t we went through,

kicking mainstream media out of here

and y'all bringing them back down.

And the fact that they removing the memorial

and got mainstream media down here.

That's two in a one.

It's like, dog, you trying

to take away our sh*t

and you going to allow them to

broadcast that sh*t on national TV.

I gotta f***ing live here when they leave.

I agree.

And that sh*t that happens after

that sh*t happens, affects us, man.

And I'm getting my family out of here.

The day that the memorial

had got taken up,

the security grabbed me up and security dude

got his arm in my back like on the ground.

And so, he came back and he

told me he was like, yeah, man,

they tried to get me to lie

and make up a story on you.

And he was telling me...

he was like, yeah, man,

they been paying them guys to come

and take that stuff from the memorial

and they was like it's the Lipton

Company that's paying them to do it.

And it's like they was taking it every day.

Where is my paper at?

I got a summons to go

to court and everything.

They trying to sue me, man.

I was supposed to be gone,

like, about two months ago

and they didn't give me no

explanation of why they, uh,

why they going to, uh,

why they not going to renew my lease.

I been living here two years already now.

I ain't got no complaints and now

you not going to renew my lease

and when I ask them they say, you know,

it was a corporate decision, you know.

No matter how much I put into

the preservation of that memorial,

I still ain't build it, the people did.

That in itself is, like, how

you fight back for space...

like we fighting for our

space, like, right here.

Keep it going. All right.

There you go.

Justice.

This is public property.

The community has spoken.

The community said this is what we want.

- Okay.

- Okay?

The grandmother and the mother

want this memorial to continue.

So, let's be their voices.

Let's honor them and keep it moving.

I'm a resident that

stay up here in Canfield

and just like a lot of the

residents that's been still here,

we been making sure this

memorial is still here.

And that them police ain't been

able to come through and take it.

I'm out here with my family,

you know what I'm saying,

because I don't want my

child to be killed by cops

cause that'll kill me.

And I rather die, man,

before my kid die, man.

So, let them kill me first.

And we out here for y'all, you know.

And we want, like she said,

man, y'all come back out here.

Bring some teddy bears,

let's build this back up.

Keep that memorial going on that grass.

This is public property.

You keep it going.

Be relentless. We are warriors. Okay.

One, two, three.

I'm gonna take a deep breath cause

I actually feel like I'm in a panic.

Why?

- What does this say, mama?

- What does it say?

- I don't know.

- Read it.

- Rackims...

- Ray...

Rasums kills.

Racism.

Black lives matter.

Racism kills.

Which one's your favorite?

Is it... it is our duty

to fight for our freedom?

- No.

- Which one?

I don't like that one.

The Assata chant is not your favorite.

- I am just hurt.

- Why?

I'm kidding. That's my favorite one.

As time went by, the

more involved that I got,

the nights... the late nights I spent

on West Florissant or South Florissant,

the gas masks, the

bullet proof vests,

the more dangerous it got for us,

the more emotionally

involved she got into it

because she would be afraid that

the police is gonna shoot me.

Or she would be afraid that I

wouldn't come home, you know?

I caught her crying in the

bathtub one day because she said,

What if the police shoot you and

killed you like they shot Mike Brown?

I can't make her feel like

that could not be a reality

but I have to reassure

her that, you know,

I do this work for her and for

other children like her because

Mike Brown shouldn't

be dead right now.

The only thing I have to

say to you guys really is

we just live here and this is our home.

I don't want to be a

part of the problem here.

I don't want to have to

defend my home, my family,

but by gosh, I'm ready to do it.

And that's... two years ago if

you'd told me I'd own guns...

I'd have laughed hysterically.

And that's the way a lot

of us live is in fear.

We live in fear of this whole situation.

Good evening, my name is Bernie Frazier.

And like all of you all,

I'm a Ferguson resident.

There are a lot of people

in Ferguson who have become

very fearful of living in this community.

But I would like to help

you understand one thing.

There are many people who only have

only been fearful for two months.

There are more people who've

been fearful for two decades.

Please don't shoot me dead,

I got my hands on my head.

What?

Please don't shoot me dead,

I got my hands on my head.

What?

Please don't shoot me dead,

I got my hands on my head.

What?

Please don't shoot me dead,

I got my hands on my head.

What?

Please don't shoot me dead,

I got my hands on my head.

What?

Please don't shoot me

dead, I got my hands...

We're people. We're not

animals. We're not dogs.

We're not criminals. We human beings.

We bleed just like you do.

We breathe just like you do.

We wake up and go to work and

punch the clock just like you do.

Give us what we deserve.

How can we respect the red, white, and blue

when every time we see red, white, and blue

we being harassed, killed,

assaulted, or our lives ruined?

We want an indictment.

We know you do.

You ain't gotta protect her from us...

We want an indictment.

...we gotta protect her from you.

We feel for you, sister.

We want an indictment.

We want an indictment.

These cops don't like it.

We want an indictment.

The argument around this gotta be,

do we need police in the current institute.

We gotta talk about

policing as an institution

and it's a failed institution.

I'm thinking about these

young knuckle heads out here.

They going to go crazy,

man. And they going wild over

materialistic things that ain't

going to get you out of poverty.

- Because they poor.

- That's, that's...

all this is learned behavior.

Well, why rob somebody that

you know ain't got sh*t?

- Cause you don't value...

- Like that don't make no sense.

Same way...

You gonna rob me and you know all I got

is five dollars in my pocket just like you.

So, it don't make no sense to

even do what you doing down here.

Cause we ain't got sh*t.

I'm in the same hood as you.

I get up and go to work every day.

When people not valued,

people don't have no value.

And where they going, like, they going

to catch the bus to go rob some niggas?

If they ain't got nothing, it's proximity.

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