Anger and anguish greeted the first meeting Monday of the Missouri governor's commission tasked with figuring out the "social and economic conditions" contributing to violent protests after the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white Ferguson police officer.
The meeting, at the Ferguson Community Center, was supposed to be largely devoted to organizing the proceedings, but community members quickly let the commission know they wanted progress now.
One woman objected that the meeting was being taken up by discussion of rules and "process," gesturing to her young son sitting beside her and saying he'd told her "they don't begin to know what I've been through."
Becoming increasingly emotional as TV and still camera operators moved around her, the woman — identified by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as Dell Taylor — complained about "all of that extra, all of that extra."
"We do not want to hear that," she said. "We are hurting. We don't expect you all to come up with a miracle. That's why we're here, to support you. But don't waste our time with the same innuendo and the same rhetoric. We don't want to hear it."
As another audience member hugged her and commission members tried to respond, the woman called out: "You're disrespecting us! We're tired (of) your killing our babies!"
A few other audience members joined in, delaying the meeting for about a half-hour until order was restored.
IN-DEPTH
- Activists Angry Over Ferguson Decision Call for National Rally Monday
- Racial Divide in U.S. Is Deep and Doesn't End With Ferguson
SOCIAL
— M. Alex Johnson