On December 8, as protests for Eric Garner waged on in New York and elsewhere in the nation, a group of Ferguson activists came to New York and educated the media about racism. Rolling Stone followed Millennial Activists United co-creator Ashley Yates; rapper T-Dubb-O; and Tory Russell, who co-founded Hands Up United with and hip-hop artist Tef Poe. The magazine filmed a “day in the life” video and the activists’s words have never been more important to listen to.
T-Dubb-O:
They’re constantly killing us. That wasn’t the first time Ferguson killed an unarmed man. 2002, Jason ___. 2013, downtown St. Louis, Cary Ball, shot 21 times with his hands up. Wasn’t no media there. I didn’t see nobody running to get no story. There wasn’t no national organizations flying in trying to help us. They quick to come when we dead already. What about when I gotta sell crack to feed my son? Can I get some help then? They pick comfortable fights, to me. I ain’t been comfortable my whole life. I decided that day, August 9th, that I was going to do something. I would rather die before I continue to live the way I’m living.
Ashley Yates:
Real change will look like, you know, every 28 hours a black person is not getting killed by the people who is not supposed to protect and serve, or by vigilantes, and getting away with it. We have justice. We’re just asking for equality under this system under which we are forced to live.
Watch the video above.
