>>> LET’S GO TO DEVELOPING NEWS FROM WITHIN THIS PAST HOUR FROM
POLICE IN FERGUSON, MISSOURI
FOLLOWING THE DEADLY SHOOTING OF
A TEENAGER BY POLICE,
18-YEAR-OLD MICHAEL BROWN SHOT
DEAD BY POLICE SATURDAY
AFTERNOON TWO DAYS BEFORE HE WAS
REPORTEDLY SET TO BEGIN HIS
FIRST DAY OF COLLEGE.
#
.
. >> CAN YOU HEAR ME?
>> YES, I CAN HEAR YOU.
>> WHAT’S GOING ON AT YOUR
LOCATION NOW?
LOCATION NOW? >> A LOT OF POLICE OFFICERS
STARTED MARCHING FORWARD, I’M
NOT SURE IF YOU CAN HEAR IN THE
BACKGROUND THE BOOMS,
EXPLOSIONS.
EXPLOSIONS. NOTHING BUT SMOKE AND AIR AND
PEOPLE ARE RUNNING BACK.
THEY’RE MARCHING ON AND PEOPLE
WERE STANDING IN THE STREET.
SOME GRENADES AND TEAR GAS.
THE ENTIRE STREET IS FILLED WITH
SMOKE.
SMOKE. YOU CAN’T SEE -- I CAN’T SEE 20
YARDS AHEAD OF ME.
>> THAT’S WHAT WE’RE COVERING.
THE GENTLEMAN BEHIND ME IN THE
MASK IS TELLING ME THIS IS A
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT NOT JUST
ABOUT MIKE BROWN BUT ALL PEOPLE.
THERE IS A LOT OF FRUSTRATION.
>> IT HAS BEEN FIVE YEARS SINCE
AFRICAN-AMERICAN TEENAGER
AFRICAN-AMERICAN TEENAGER MICHAEL BROWN WAS SHOT TO DEATH
BY A WHITE POLICE OFFICER IN
FERGUSON, MISSOURI.
FERGUSON, MISSOURI. A KILLING THAT PROMPTED
THOUSANDS TO TAKE TO THE STREETS
AND DEMAND EQUALITY AND JUSTICE.
THE PROTESTS LASTED FOR MONTHS
AND HIGHLIGHTED FOR ALL THE
WORLD TO SEE THE DEEP ROOTED
PROBLEMS WITH RACE RELATIONS IN
THIS COUNTRY.
THIS COUNTRY. SO AS WE LOOK BACK ON THAT DAY
AND THE MONTHS OF ANGER THAT
FOLLOWED, THE QUESTION IS, WHAT
HAS CHANGED IN THE LAST FIVE
YEARS?
YEARS? WHAT STILL NEEDS TO BE DONE?
JOINING ME NOW MSNBC
CORRESPONDENT TREMAINE LEE WHO
WAS IN THAT VIDEO WE JUST
SHOWED.
SHOWED. HE REPORTED ON THE GROUND IN
FERGUSON FOR WEEKS.
SOMETIMES IN VERY DANGEROUS
SITUATIONS.
SITUATIONS. AND JASON JOHNSON BACK WITH ME.
FIVE YEARS.
FIVE YEARS. YOU WERE ON THE GROUND THERE.
SOMETIMES CHOKING ON TEAR GAS.
WHAT GOES THROUGH YOUR MIND AS
YOU LOOK BACK ON THE LAST FIVE
YEARS?
YEARS? >> Reporter: YOU KNOW,
STEPHANIE, WHERE DO WE BEGIN?
I THINK BACK TO THAT AUGUST DAY
AND IT WAS SO HOT.
YOU KNOW, AUGUST IN ST. LOUIS.
MORE SO, EMOTIONS WERE RUNNING
EVEN HOTTER.
EVEN HOTTER. TO THINK THIS WAS SPARKED NOT
JUST BY THIS LONG HISTORY OF
ALLEGED POLICE ABUSES IN THAT
COMMUNITY BUT MICHAEL BROWN’S
BODY LAYING OUT BAKING IN THE
SUN FOR FOUR HOURS, DRAWING
PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR HOMES.
REALLY THE NEIGHBORHOOD THAT
SPARKED THIS MOVEMENT.
AND IT TRULY WAS A MOVEMENT THAT
SPREAD NOT ONLY FROM ST. LOUIS
AND MISSOURI BUT ACROSS THE
COUNTRY.
COUNTRY. I REMEMBER THE PAIN IN PEOPLE’S
FACES.
FACES. THERE WAS SO MUCH EXCITEMENT
FROM YOUNG PEOPLE WHO REALLY SAW
THIS AS A MOMENT TO FORCE SOME
CHANGE BUT IT WAS BUILT ON
EMOTION AND PAIN AND HURT AND SO
MANY PEOPLE IDENTIFIED WITH
MICHAEL BROWN NOT BECAUSE THEY
KNEW MICHAEL BROWN BUT THEY KNEW
OF MICHAEL BROWN.
THEY KNEW AN 18-YEAR-OLD BLACK
MAN STOPPED BY THE POLICE EVERY
SINGLE DAY IN MISSOURI.
THEY UNDERSTAND THE DISPARITIES
IN THE TREATMENT FROM LAW
ENFORCEMENT AND THE COURTS.
AND TO THINK BACK TO THAT
MOMENT, THERE WAS SO MUCH ANGER
AND FRUSTRATION AND PAIN BUT,
ALSO, SO MUCH GREAT HOPE.
WHEN I THINK BACK TO THOSE DAYS,
FIVE YEARS AGO, AND WE WONDER
HOW MUCH HAS CHANGED AND WE
REMEMBER THOSE MOMENTS WHERE THE
SEEDS WERE PLANTED WE HAVE TO
QUESTION HOW MUCH HAS CHANGED?
HOW MUCH BLOOD AND SWEAT AND
TEARS WERE SPILLED?
AND FOR WHAT AT THIS POINT?
>> HOW MUCH HAS CHANGED, JASON?
>> A LOT HAS CHANGED AND NOT FOR
THE BETTER.
THE BETTER. WHEN I THINK OF THAT AND I WAS
THERE, I WAS THERE FOR TWO
RIOTS.
RIOTS. I WAS TEAR GASSED.
I SAW THE POLICE BASICALLY DO
THE MOST ABUSIVE SIMON SAYS GAME
POSSIBLE OF TELLING ACTIVISTS GO
HERE THEN GO THERE AND THEN USE
IT AS AN EXCUSE TO BEAT PEOPLE
DOWN AND SHOOT THEM AND EMBRACE
A KIND OF VIOLENCE THAT MOST OF
US DIDN’T BELIEVE WAS POSSIBLE
IN THIS COUNTRY OR TO LIVE WITH
IT ON A REGULAR BASIS.
I THINK TO MYSELF, IMAGINE IF
THIS HAD HAPPENED UNDER
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP.
IMAGINE WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED
TO THAT TOWN.
HE WOULD HAVE SENT TANKS.
PEOPLE WOULD HAVE DIED.
THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN MASSIVE
ARRESTS.
ARRESTS. HAVE WE CHANGED AS A COUNTRY?
YES.
YES. PEOPLE ARE AWARE THESE THINGS
HAPPEN NOW BUT HAVE WE CHANGED
FOR THE BETTER?
I WOULDN’T SAY YES.
NOT WHEN YOU HAVE A WHITE
NATIONALIST IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
NOT WHEN YOU HAVE A JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT THAT IS SNATCHING
BACK CONSENT DECREES FROM THE
VERY COMMUNITIES THAT WERE
ENGAGING THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR.
NOT WHEN FERGUSON STILL HAS THE
SAME MAYOR.
SAME MAYOR. SO, YOU KNOW, I AM TRYING TO
SORT OF HOLD CONTROL OF MYSELF
BECAUSE IT WAS A PRETTY
DISTURBING EXPERIENCE AND
TRYMAINE AND I HAVE HAD THIS
KIND OF CONVERSATION BEFORE.
IT ALSO MARKED A CHANGE IN THE
RESPONSIBILITY AND BEHAVIOR OF
BLACK JOURNALISTS IN THIS
COUNTRY BECAUSE THESE ARE SOME
OF THE PLACES THAT WE WOULD GO
THAT I THINK SOME OF OUR WHITE
COLLEAGUES WOULDN’T AT THE TIME.
AND SO WE HAVE BEEN DEALING WITH
NOT JUST THE TRAUMA OF WHAT HAS
HAPPENED TO THIS COUNTRY BUT
HAVING TO GO INTO THESE PLACES
AND DIRECTLY LIVE WITH THIS KIND
OF VIOLENCE ON A REGULAR BASIS
AND EXPLAIN IT TO OUR
COLLEAGUES.
COLLEAGUES. THAT’S WHAT I’VE EXPERIENCED IN
THE LAST FIVE YEARS.
>> ARE WE MOVING BACKWARDS AS
JASON SAYS?
JASON SAYS? THIS WEEK ALONE WE SAW ANOTHER
MINORITY COMMUNITY TARGETED IN
THE WAKE OF THE SHOOTING IN EL
PASO, LATINOS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
ARE SAYING, THEY’RE LIVING IN
FEAR.
FEAR. AND I’M NOT JUST TALKING ABOUT
UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS.
UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS. I’M TALKING ABOUT CITIZENS.
ARE WE MOVING BACKWARDS?
>> I THINK IT IS TWOFOLD.
JUST TO KEEP IT KIND OF HOIP
HYPERLOCAL IN FERGUSON ONE ISSUE
WAS WITH THE ST. LOUIS COUNTY
PROSECUTOR DECLINING TO LEAD THE
GRAND JURY TO AN INDICTMENT OF
DARREN WILLIAMS THE POLICE
OFFICER.
OFFICER. THAT HAS CHANGED.
WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT
FERGUSON ACTUALLY REPRESENTS THE
SAME WAY OBAMA’S PRESIDENCY
USHERED IN THIS NEW ERA OF HATE
AND PEOPLE COULDN’T IMAGINE THIS
BROWN SKINNED MAN WITH THE NAME
BARACK OBAMA WAS IN THE WHITE
HOUSE THAT WAS A PIVOT POINT.
YOU SAW BLUE LIVES MATTER EMERGE
NEXT TO BLACK LIVES MATTER.
IT REALLY WAS BAKED INTO THAT
RIGHT AND RACIST WHITE
SUPREMACIST RIGHT.
SUPREMACIST RIGHT. WHAT I SEE FROM FERGUSON FIVE
YEARS ON, IT WAS REALLY A
TIPPING POINT IN MANY WAYS.
WE HAD TO ADDRESS AND CONFRONT
THE LONG HISTORY OF ABUSES FROM
LAW ENFORCEMENT BUT THEN THERE
WERE THE SEETHING OF RESENTMENTS
FROM OBAMA TO TREVONE MARTIN TO
MICHAEL BROWN AND I DON’T THINK
WE GET WHERE WE ARE NOW WITHOUT
THOSE EVENTS OF MICHAEL BROWN.
PEOPLE WILL POINT TO FERGUSON
AND SAY LOOK AT THAT.
THEY’RE ANIMALS BURNING AN
AMERICAN CITY WITHOUT PEELING
BACK THE LAYERS TO UNDERSTAND
THE FRUSTRATION AND PAIN AND ALL
HEAPED ON FOLKS FOR GENERATION
AFTER GENERATION.
AFTER GENERATION. IN SOME WAYS THERE HAS BEEN
PROGRESS BUT IF THE LAST THREE
YEARS HAVE PROVEN ANYTHING AT
ALL IT IS THAT THE PENDULUM
ALWAYS SWINGS BACK.
WHENEVER THERE IS PROGRESS
ESPECIALLY IN TERMS OF RACE
RELATIONS YOU SEE THE PENDULUM
OF WHITE SUPREMACY SWING BACK.
I THINK WE ARE SEEING THE SEEDS
OF THAT NOW.
I THINK JASON IS RIGHT ON.
BUT STILL I DO BELIEVE IN
TALKING TO ACTIVISTS ON THE
GROUND AND COMMUNITY FOLKS AND
YOUNG, A GROUP OF YOUNG VOTERS
IN PARTICULAR WHO ARE ACTIVATED,
ENGAGED, ENERGIZED, THEY STILL
BELIEVE IN CHANGE, THE SAD PART
IS THERE IS SO MUCH WEIGHT ON
THOSE FOLKS IN FERGUSON WHERE SO
MANY ACTIVISTS HAVE LOST THEIR
LIVES.
LIVES. THERE HAVE BEEN A NUMBER OF
SUICIDES, A NUMBER OF DEATHS.
MYSTERIOUS DEATHS IN THAT
COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE LINKED TO
THE FERGUSON UPRISING.