The 10 Ferguson Stories You Need to See | Sojourners

The 10 Ferguson Stories You Need to See

Editor’s Note: On Monday night, it was announced that a grand jury in St. Louis County found no probable cause to indict Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson on any of five possible counts. Throughout the country, protests have erupted. For this week’s edition of the Weekly Wrap, we wanted to offer you the 10 most important things you should see, read, digest to understand the situation. We pray for peace.

1. Letter From Birmingham Jail
by Martin Luther King Jr. Far more relevant than it should be. Print it out. Write on it. Pray through it. "In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities."

2. PHOTOS: Scenes From Ferguson — and Beyond
Slate compiled these chilling shots from protests in Ferguson, New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and more.

3. A Sad Night for America
“It is time to right the unacceptable wrong of black lives being worth less than white lives in our criminal justice system."

4. The Confrontation
Washington Post published this play-by-play visual explanation of what the grand jury was told happened between Darren Wilson and Michael Brown on Aug. 9, including the conflicting testimonies.

5. It’s Incredibly Rare For A Grand Jury To Do What Ferguson’s Just Did
Maybe you’ve heard that there were some “irregularities” in the grand jury process that ended in no indictment against police officer Darren Wilson. FiveThirtyEight puts some stats to those claims.

6. Not As Helpless As We Think: 3 Ways to Stand In Solidarity With Ferguson
Rachel Held Evans shares how white churches and individuals can stand with Ferguson, beginning with sharing in lament. "The healing process cannot begin until the severity of these wrongs have been fully acknowledged, until the injustice of it makes us weep."

7. 12 Things White People Can Do Because Ferguson
This piece in Quartz originally was published in the aftermath of Michael Brown’s death in August, but its suggestions are just as applicable now.

8. Black Bodies White Souls
“If you want to be committed to racial justice, you must do more than read a book at home alone. You must do more than add people of color to your social media lists. You must do more than attend an MLK service or a Ferguson vigil. These are good things. You will benefit from them. But buying our books and reading our blogs and sharing our posts were never intended to BE your journey. These things are to aid you in a much larger commitment to justice and reconciliation in the world." 

9. Why Ferguson Must Lead to Change
Sojourners’ Lisa Sharon Harper, in a Q&A with Relevant. "Most churches today have a category for small group ministry to minister to the individual growth needs of the people in the church. They have a category for compassionate ministries that minister to the felt needs of the less fortunate in their neighborhoods. What we need now is the development of justice ministries that examine how local governing systems and structures impact churches in marginalized communities."

10. WATCH: Darren Wilson Talks with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos
Darren Wilson, in his own words.