I'm not jumping on ppl for not following RRoO right now, either.
Seems like some educational/informational meetings would be helpful in the community ATM
and some there are organizing meetings toward that end & ppl adjusting expectations/demands.
Like the ppl at city council meeting who wanted/demanded/expected the mayor to go out & arrest Officer DW.
Not gonna happen, no power to do so, no authority, no can do.
Hope that will lead some ppl to understand how to participate in municipal, state, federal gov't processes to influence outcomes.
In Northwest Arkansas there is currently a
huge controversy underfoot regarding a proposed ordinance involving civil rights. There was a
10-hour city council meeting regarding the ordinance. I googled it (I'm a google, not a twit lol), and sure enough the whole thing's on YouTube. With the chaos of the Ferguson city council meeting in mind, I skimmed through this Fayetteville city council meeting. Night and day, folks, night and day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P88_CMOwlrA (Part 1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFZcP9Cknlo (Part 2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QutBSB3vNPQ (Part 3)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcOfm4akIis (Part 4)
[Shall we play "spot the differences?"]
Additionally, from the first hints of a Ferguson boycott, I've been having "deja vu all over again," back to 1969 and a boycott in the town of Port Gibson, MS which I observed first-hand for about a year and a-half. Here's some background on that boycott and the results:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAACP_v._Claiborne_Hardware_Co.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Gibson,_Mississippi
(I'd like to get my hands on the people that fashioned the articles, but that's another story).
Note the name "Charles Evers" (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Evers). That's Medgar Evers' (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medgar_Evers) brother. In the late 60s, Charles Evers had a reputation for being a mean, hot-headed individual, but if my brother had been gunned down like Medgar was, I guess I'd be a bit hot-headed and mean as well.
Anyway, as the articles show, there was a very effective boycott...way way too effective. It resulted in fear, anger, many lawsuits, and ultimately a hatred and distrust along racial lines that exists to this day. And it killed the town. The present PG demographics bear this out to a degree. In short, it was a lose/lose situation passed down to the next generations.
I can't help but think that the people of Ferguson would fare much better if they followed the example of the citizens of Fayetteville. I guarantee you those citizens, win or lose, will ultimately accept and abide by the decisions of their elected officials, and Fayetteville will continue to grow and prosper. Port Gibson? It will sink into rust fed by the acidity of long-held hatred and distrust.