Source: Delmar Records / Label Submitted
That first night in Ferguson , Aug. 9, 2014, before the protests turned all the way up the next night, so many cops from so many different towns had arrived in town, the lights from their sirens changed the color of the sky above the St. Louis suburb’s streets. A specific street in Ferguson, Canfield Drive, had changed color hours before all the cops arrived. It was a static, mean, crimson red and had been since a minute past noon on Aug. 9, the moment 18-year-old Michael Brown, Jr. was shot to death by a white cop, Darren Wilson.
It was in this way that Tef Poe , poet, activist, co-founder of HandsUp United, began his conversation with our colleague, Tory Russell, the father, mentor and coach, who led the 2014 uprising. He is serving as co-producer of Ferguson 10, the focus of this year’s Urban One’s annual, iOne Digital limited-series podcast, Witness to History.
But on Aug. 9, 2014, roughly 25 or 30 seconds before the clock hit noon, Michael, unarmed, young and Black–and set to begin college just two days later–was walking down the middle of the Canfield Drive with a friend, when his killer, on the job and driving a black Chevy Tahoe, pulled up. Within seconds there were shots fired. Six hit the teenager, two in the head. It was less than 90 seconds between the moment the killer saw Michael and the moment the teenager was dead by his hand.