Activist Cornel West arrested at #MoralMonday march
Renowned author and activist Cornel West is among more than 50 people arrested today in a “Moral Monday” march in Ferguson, Missouri.
According to local news source KMOV, police confirmed that West and 42 others were detained at the Ferguson Police Department protest site for disturbing the peace as they tried to push through a police line.
West is also a philosopher, academic, public intellectual, and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America. His commentaries focus on race, gender, and class in American society.
A half-dozen people were arrested at another site for blocking traffic and refusing to clear the street.
There also appeared to be a handful of arrests at a Ferguson Walmart.
Yes, another Walmart is SHUT DOWN. #MoralMonday pic.twitter.com/vBNhrcyaST
— deray mckesson (@deray) October 14, 2014
Demonstrators were not deterred by rain and tornado watches as they demanded the arrest of the police officer who killed 18-year old Michael Brown.
On Sunday night about 2,000 people attended an interfaith rally at the St. Louis University’s Chaifetz Arena, where West was the featured speaker, KMOV said.
One protester demanded a chance to speak before West took the stage. “If you can see a dead black boy lie in the streets for four hours and that doesn’t make you angry, you lack humanity,” a woman, who didn’t give her name, told the crowd.
She was referring to how long Brown’s body lay on the street before officers removed it on the afternoon of August 9, 2014.
The encounter between the 18-year-old and police officer Darren Wilson, who authorities said shot the teenager after he attacked him and tried to take his gun, remains under investigation.
Witnesses claim the unarmed teen had his hands in the air when he was shot.
The Moral Monday march followed the Sunday rally and has now earned the twitter hashtag #MoralMonday for anyone wanting to keep with further developments.