Civil Rights Legend Calls for Militarizing Ferguson

by Kim D

Democratic Congressman (GA) John Lewis took to MSNBC airways yesterday and called on President Obama to declare martial law in Ferguson, MO. In addition, he thought that the federalization of the Missouri National Guard would be a good idea.


Lewis' reasoning stems from his experience in 1961 when he and other civil rights protesters were aided when Robert Kennedy sent federal marshals to Alabama and the governor at that time issued martial law, sending in the Alabama national guard. But the situation in Ferguson is quite different than what took place in Montgomery, AL in the 60's.

While it is true that the shooting death of Michael Brown may equal the horrors black citizens of Alabama faced at the hands of the Klan, the response of looting and rioting does not. The citizens of Ferguson deserve to know the truth about Brown's death and they have the right to protest peacefully, but when this tragedy is used as an excuse to wreak havoc in a community, the focus of police turns to crime prevention.

Take a look at the #Ferguson and #FergusonRiot hashtags on Twitter, and you will see that the police are militarized already.  The result of this has escalated tensions in the community. Issuing martial law on a federal level would be scarier than what we are already witnessing.