(AllHipHop News) Several high-profile individuals have traveled to Ferguson, Missouri to join the protests against the police killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
New York rapper Talib Kweli, grass-roots organizer & activist Rosa Clemente, and acclaimed poet Jessica Care Moore were among a group of people that were reportedly chased down by cops in the city last night.
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[ALSO READ: Live From Ferguson: Skyyhook Gets The Ferguson People’s Side Of The Story]
Kweli, Clemente, and Care Moore each shared their experience with the authorities in Ferguson via social media.
Kweli wrote on Twitter:
Been in Ferguson for an hour and the police are clearly agitating the people. They are treating these people like animals.
— Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) August 20, 2014
Cops just rushed in pulled out on us. Keep your hands up or I will blow your brains out is what I was just told by police. — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) August 20, 2014
These Ferguson cops are savages.
— Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) August 20, 2014
Still trying to process what I just saw — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) August 20, 2014
Still trying to process what I just saw
— Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) August 20, 2014
Police in riot gear got in formation to rush us. THEN someone threw a water bottle. Police went ham. — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) August 20, 2014
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Clemente wrote on Twitter:
An hour ago, Jessica Care Moore Talib Kweli, folks from the Fellowship of Reconcillation, Philp Agnew of Dream Defenders, Bgyrl ForLife
— Rosa A. Clemente (@rosaclemente) August 20, 2014
Malik from Occupy the Hood and Trymaine Lee from MSNBC and many others were chased like animals by the cops. We ran to get away and were
— Rosa A. Clemente (@rosaclemente) August 20, 2014
surrounded on a small path on bridge, surrounded by all types of police and told to lie down and put our hands up. We complied and we were
— Rosa A. Clemente (@rosaclemente) August 20, 2014
told if we did not stop moving we would be shot. We were breathing. The young brother lying on my feet as I was holding him was not able to
— Rosa A. Clemente (@rosaclemente) August 20, 2014
control his breathing he said “I’m choking” the cop told him to stop or he would shoot him. I told him “try not to move, just lay still I
— Rosa A. Clemente (@rosaclemente) August 20, 2014
got you.” The gun was at his chest. I looked at the cop and said “please, he is not doing anything” I tried to record but the cop had his
— Rosa A. Clemente (@rosaclemente) August 20, 2014
finger on the trigger. I could feel Talib’s hand on my back and Jessica behind me. We laid there until one Black officer said “Let them go,
— Rosa A. Clemente (@rosaclemente) August 20, 2014
we got who we wanted.” In all my life I have never been so terrified. The young brother Devin said thank you I think you saved my life.
— Rosa A. Clemente (@rosaclemente) August 20, 2014
What is going down here in #ferguson in all my years of activism, organizing, I have never seen. This is a war zone, a military occupation
— Rosa A. Clemente (@rosaclemente) August 20, 2014
and our children are the cannon fodder. The white boy who threw the water bottle a big f### you, I am sure you were an agent provocateur.
— Rosa A. Clemente (@rosaclemente) August 20, 2014
But for the police to act this way, they are itching to kill more of us. P.S. Women are also brutalized and terrorized by the police, at the
— Rosa A. Clemente (@rosaclemente) August 20, 2014
end all of us are Black and Brown and animals to them. We don’t know where @PhilofDreams_ is and Ryan from Peace Poets was arrested.
— Rosa A. Clemente (@rosaclemente) August 20, 2014
Care Moore wrote on Facebook:
I know what it feels like to be #mikebrown I know what it feels like to be a 15 year old black girl or boy and very alone in this country, in our own neighborhood. I know what it feels like to feel like i might get shot for nothing. Rosa Clemente Talib Kweli #ferguson is a war zone. Is President Obama still at Martha’s Vineyard? Really?
So much tension was in the air…the people were peaceful..I’ve never experienced police terrorism so close up. . We weren’t allowed to stand still. Any small move and it was an excuse to attack the people. It’s planned. The rifles are out for no reason. When people began to leave the police began closing in. Everyone was running then they pulled out their guns and made us all lie down on the ground…when we ran with hands up they wld scream “I got one” like we were dogs…this is a PEACEFUL night in Ferguson. It’s difficult to articulate how we all feel. This is American terrorism. Our beautiful babies are out here…they need us. These cops are trigger happy. You can see their disdain for us. You can feel it….Its traumatic.. It’s sad..it’s 2014.