the next day.

an ongoing discussion/moment of clarity.
 
words. 

"The pleas of Michael Brown’s father and Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, were ultimately incapable of containing the violence that erupted last night, because in so many ways what happened here extended beyond their son. His death was a punctuation to a long, profane sentence, one which has insulted a great many, and with damning frequency of late. In his statement after the decision was announced, President Barack Obama took pains to point out that “there is never an excuse for violence.” The man who once told us that there was no black America or white America but only the United States of America has become a President whose statements on unpunished racial injustices are a genre unto themselves. Perhaps it only seems contradictory that the deaths of Oscar Grant and Trayvon Martin, John Ford and Michael Brown—all unarmed black men shot by men who faced no official sanction for their actions—came during the first black Presidency. Or perhaps the message here is that American democracy has reached the limits of its elasticity—that the symbolic empowerment of individuals, while the great many remain citizen-outsiders, is the best that we can hope for. The air last night, thick with smoke and gunfire, suggested something damning of the President."

THE NEW YORKER: Chronicle of a Riot Foretold

SEE ALSO:

THE NEW YORKER: Ferguson: An American Dilemma

PAJIBA: Because I Am Sick And I Am Tired, And I Want You To Be Sick And Tired With Me - A Guide To Understanding Ferguson

ROLLING STONE: Watching Ferguson Burn: What Constitutes Appropriate Rebellion?

THE POWDER ROOM: Darren Wilson Was Afraid

SLATE: Why the Urgent Anger of Michael Brown’s Mother Matters