FERGUSON, MO. – It was an incredible scene.
As dozens of people drove down Canfield Avenue in Ferguson to visit the makeshift memorial set up for slain 18-year-old Michael Brown, Aurellia Davis sat and watched.
She set up a lawn chair and fed her 6-week old son, Byron, from a bottle. Less than 50 feet from where Brown’s dead body had lain for more than four hours, her 3-year-old daughter, Aurolla, and 2-year-old son, David, ran around and wrote on the sidewalk with chalk.
It was like they were at a picnic – in the middle of a war zone.
“It’s not stressful to me at all,” said Davis, 23. “We should take a negative like this and turn it into a positive. I have been out here every day with my husband watching the people come and go. I am not gonna go up on West Florissant, but I don’t mind the protesters. We need to be out here fighting for our rights.”
With that, Aurolla came up to tell her mother she had to use the bathroom.
They excused themselves to their apartment, as Davis promised little David that they would come back out to play.
For 11 days now, Ferguson has been on edge. The world’s media has dissected the tiny St. Louis suburb trying to come to grips with the death of Brown, who was shot and killed by a white police officer.
There have been protests daily, and nearly all of them have shifted toward violence once the sun set.
Several people have been shot. Dozens have been arrested. Buildings have been looted and burned. The opening of school has been postponed.
Valerie Davis, 48, was among those standing Tuesday afternoon outside the Ferguson Police Department. Suddenly, she realized it was time to go. Her daughter, a ninth-grader in a private high school in St. Louis, was due home soon.
“I can’t be out here all day. I have to go home and cook,” said Davis, who owns a daycare center. “I like to have a hot meal ready for her when she gets home. It is important to be out here, but life has to go on.”
In downtown Ferguson, where the police station is, the full extent of the protests and rioting are not felt. Most of the problems have been up on West Florissant. In other neighborhoods, people continue in their daily rounds, aware but largely unaffected.
Gerry Noll, owner of the Ferguson Bicycle Shop, said that after the first wave of protests, he and several downtown business owners were worried – so much so that they all closed down the following Monday.
“But it was so quiet that I came down and opened up anyway. People were calling about their bikes,” Noll said. “It was bizarre. It was peaceful over here.”
Noll said it is too early to tell how the protests have impacted his business, but Sonny Lewis, owner of Drake’s Place, a soul food restaurant, said they have helped his.
“Business has been better. People are actually coming from all over to support us,” said Lewis, who opened about three months ago. “But you can feel the tension in the air.”
Across the street at the Ferguson Brewing Company, James Earle, the women’s golf coach at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Darryl Meese, pastor of North Hills United Methodist, were having a few drinks and soaking in the atmosphere.
Both are regulars at the restaurant, which, to an outsider’s eye, looked busy. But looks are deceiving.
“I came here to support this establishment. In fact, I had already eaten lunch, but I wanted to come here and have a bowl of chili and a couple of beers,” Earle said. “To see this place this slow is amazing. It is usually packed right now.”
Outside the McDonald’s on West Florissant, Jernetta Conner used her hand to wipe ice cream off the face of her 9-year-old daughter, Jania.
With the civil unrest in the town, the school district has delayed the start of the school year. As of Tuesday, school is set to start next Monday. But that could change.
“It has been very frustrating for all of us, but we are making the best of the situation,” said Conner, who taught third grade in a neighboring community. “The first few days of school are very important and intense. The kids need that. They need every day.”
With school not in, Conner has been taking her daughter and son to the library, where students have been getting tutoring. She has also brought them out to West Florissant every day to protest, usually staying until about 6 p.m., before it gets crazy.
“Its okay,” said Jania, about her daily trips to the front lines. “But I want to go to school. If I stay home, my mom makes me do chores.”
Angela Whitman, a local radio disc jockey, has a daughter who is a senior in high school and is waiting to go back to school. Whitman has been organizing the downtown protests. She said she hasn’t been to work since the protests started.
“I can pick and choose when I work. I can afford to miss work for this,” Whitman said. “As a parent, this is more important.”
Airen Lapsley doesn’t have that luxury. He is a cook at a restaurant in another town. He still goes to work. He only comes out to protest on his days off.
“I can’t afford to be stupid about this,” Lapsley said.
Khalid Mullen, a 19-year-old recent high school graduate, rode his bike up to the downtown staging area and picked up a banana off the table. His pants were sagging, and Whitman motioned to him to pick them up. He did.
“My life has been normal since all of this happened. I went down West Florissant to see what was going on, but I am not participating in all of that,” Mullen said. “I am on my way to college. I can’t get caught up. So today I am just out relaxing, exercising and getting ready to go to Bible study.”
Back at the Brewing Company, Dan Steiner, who drove up from Loogootee, Ind., to go to the St. Louis Cardinals game, enjoyed a couple of beers with his college pal and Ferguson native Gregg Tiemann.
Tiemann, 63, said he is angry about what is happening in his hometown, but he was talking about the Cardinals, who were hosting the rival Cincinnati Reds. He said he wanted to take Steiner to a Ferguson restaurant before the game.
“I like this place, and I posted on Facebook earlier that wanted to support Ferguson businesses,” Tiemann said. “I feel bad for Ferguson. But having said that, I am here now, but you wont see me after dark.”
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