Protesters anxiously awaiting the St. Louis grand jury decision relating to the shooting death of 18-year-old Mike Brown have been training activists all weekend in preparation for the day the grand jury makes an announcement about whether to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for Brown’s death.
In a small room located on South Jefferson Avenue in a building used by IUOE Local 148, organizers like Rev. Osagyefo Sekou are instructing groups of individuals about tactics relating to resisting police commands during demonstrations. Sekou is a St. Louis native who grew up in the area but now lives in Massachusetts.
Topics covered by organizers like Sekou as well as Deray McKesson and others included decentralized protest actions, jail support, first aid, legal issues, as well as staying safe on the streets during demonstrations.
McKesson explains, “Today we’ll talk about what it means about decentralized actions. So one of the four parts of what we’re doing is we are not actually telling you where to go or what to do or anything to do with most of your actions. We have some central things planned, but the power of this movement has been with really strong decentralized actions.”
Sekou however, kicks off the training with audience responses to questions he asks.
Sekou says to the group, “Our task in part is, in addition to all the information is get a sense as to why we are here. We are part of the guiding principles for this movement. It’s militant non-violent civil disobedience. Can you please say that?”
Attendees respond, “militant non-violent civil disobedience.”
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Complete text and video linked here.
