(ThyBlackMan.com) The state of Missouri is once again in the news due to police violence against black males. And as a journalist I cannot be more pleased. Let me explain. On Wednesday October 8, 18 year old Vonderrit Myers Jr. was shot and killed by an off-duty St. Louis police officer in the Shaw neighborhood. The death of another young Black man by the hands of a white police officer is nothing to celebrate-in fact there were protest-peaceful for the most part from all reports-throughout the Shaw neighborhood on Thursday night. What I would like to thank the cities of Ferguson and St. Louis for is much more complicated than what seems to be becoming a common ocurrence in this country.
The cities of St. Louis and Ferguson, Missouri, respectively, have brought Civil Rights and what I like to call Black Awareness to the forefront over and over again for the past few months. Thank you ‘Show Me State’ for showing the world, the Black world in particular that we better not get comfortable in these United States, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, dozens of other cases and now Mr. Myers was and is no fluke. Believe the hype people. 
The officer that shot (reportedly 17 shots were fired by the officer) and killed Mr. Myers was off-duty. Reportedly three shots were fired by Mr. Myers in the direction of the officer so I fully expect retaliation from a policeman, be him/her off-duty or on. That aside I am also very tired of young Black males being shot to death by police and thanks to the cities of St. Louis and Ferguson amongst many other the nation will continue to be frustrated as well. The major broadcast networks and websites available in this country continue to focus on Syria, student protest in Hong Kong, the horrible job the Secret Service is doing of protecting the President, First Lady and their children (Don’t let me get started on this story!) while pushing aside news of more and more Black murder and attempted murder by police. We have to keep those candles lit and cell phone cameras on the police-everywhere, not just in Ferguson, not just in St. Louis.
Flags were burned on Thursday night as protesters in Shaw took to the streets to protest Mr. Myers murder. Hand held signs read ‘No Justice, No Peace’ and ‘Don’t Shoot’ just like they did in Ferguson two months earlier. The frustration of feeling like there is no protection for young (and for that matter old, middle aged, etc.) Black men that are the sons, brothers, husbands, friends of US all from the police is
reaching a feverish pitch. The people are way paste “enough is enough” and are now moving on to the “I’ve had enough” stage. The last time we were there as a people the Black Panther Party was created and for a long time respected nationwide. We forced their hand, we stopped taking police murders as NEWS and started approaching them as “NOWS”. NOWS have to be dealt with immediately while NEWS circulates and eventually disepates.
The murder of Mr. Meyers in St. Louis (Note: I understand that Mr. Myers was allegedly armed, on probation for weapons charges and fired shots at the St. Louis officer-the focus of this piece is the death by police gun fire of a young Black man) unfortunately won’t be the last of it’s kind and as long as ISIS and the Secret Service are concerned you won’t have time to care about the NOW and focus more on what they consider the NEWS. Thanks to St. Louis and Ferguson the time is NOW to protest, to fight back with our minds, pens, paper, tweets, Facebook post, questions and answers. The time is NOW.
Staff Writer; Donnell Suggs
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