Leid Stories - 08/18/14

Ferguson Protesters See Movement Tied to Mass Leadership Change;

They Tell Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson: ‘Get Outta Here!’

Ferguson, Missouri, in its third day of a 5 a.m.-to-midnight curfew and state of emergency imposed by Gov. Jay Nixon, remains a boiling cauldron of anger and resistance in the aftermath of the Aug. 9 police killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Upping the ante, Nixon has now called in the National Guard to restore order to the predominantly African American town of 21,200 just outside St. Louis.

SWIP Stop the Violence, a grassroots movement spawned by a collective of spoken-word poets and local activists, oppose almost entirely the way the crisis in Ferguson is being handled—most especially back-room political dealings they say imperil justice not only in Ferguson, but in the Fergusons of America.

Leid Stories talks exclusively with Yah Ammi, a key representative of the collective, from “Ground Zero,” the movement’s base of operation in locked-down Ferguson. He reveals shattering information about what really is happening in the beleaguered town; continued police violence against residents; the political accommodations that have already been made at the expense of justice for Michael Brown; and why one of the movement’s top goals is exposing, opposing and removing from influential positions sellout leadership at all levels nationwide.

Public confrontations in Ferguson with the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson over their questionable actions as political operatives and self-assigned leaders of mass movements have started the ball rolling, Ammi says.