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Missouri Governor Jay Nixon(Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images)
FERGUSON, Mo. — A black minister and a white businessman were tapped by Gov. Jay Nixon on Tuesday to lead an independent commission charged with making recommendations on how to deal with issues raised by the fatal shooting of Michael Brown and the protests that ensued.
"They are tough, they are smart and they are empowered," Nixon said of the 16-member panel. "They are also independent."
Local minister Starsky Wilson and businessman Richard McClure, who chairs the St. Louis Regional Board of Teach for America, were named as co-chairs of the commission.
The commission is being asked to conduct a "thorough, wide-ranging and unflinching study" of the underlying social and economic conditions underscored by the sometimes violent protests, Nixon said when he promised to name the panel last month. The panel is charged with tapping into expertise needed to address those concerns and to make specific recommendations "for making the St. Louis region a stronger, fairer place for everyone to live."
The group must produce a report with recommendations for the region by Sept. 15, 2015. Nixon said the group can also make interim recommendations before the official report.
"I said to the commission when I met with them today that I want them to tolerant of people's opinion but insistent on change," Nixon said. "We clearly live in a society where there are existing inequalities...They are economic. They are educational challenges. There are issues in the relations between law enforcement and communities that are deep, that are long, that his time presents us an opportunity to address maturely but aggressively."
The 16 members of the Ferguson Commission(Photo: STLPositiveChange.org)
Nixon said more than 300 people had volunteered to serve on the commission, which is expected to take up to a year to complete its work. The panel consists of five black men, four black women, five white men and two white women.
Wilson, 38, said the commission will tackle several issues including the relationship between police and citizens, racial equities and disparities, the structure of municipal governments, as well public education and access to healthcare.
"The commission represents the people," Wilson said. "The future of the region and how it's built has to do with how we address these challenges now...We know it's going to be difficult."
The group includes Scott Negwer, president of Negwer Materials in Ferguson, Grayling Tobias, superintendent of the Hazelwood School District, Felicia Pulliam, director of Development for FOCUS St. Louis and a Ferguson resident as well as Kevin Ahlbrand, who is a detective sergeant with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and president of the Missouri State Fraternal Order of Police.
Rasheen Aldridge, Jr., director of Young Activists United, is also part of the commission and wore a shirt with the words "demilitarize police" to Tuesday's press conference. Aldridge, 20, has been protesting regularly since the shooting and admitted he is skeptical of the group. But, he wanted to join because the members are seeking justice for the whole St. Louis region.
"It's a start to changing the system," Aldridge said. "I'm here to find the change so so we don't have to have another Mike Brown. And, if we do have another Mike Brown, it's not played out the same way. It's not handled the same way."
McClure, 60, hopes the commission can make some recommendations that can be addressed in this legislative session.
"I'm involved because I care about making St. Louis a stronger fairer place," he said. "I think fundamentally every citizens has a responsibility to work toward that goal."
He added that extends to companies in the area.
"The business community must be committed to seeing this as broad, wide ranging set of challenges and issues and to engaged in addressing those issues, to listening carefully and I believe they will," McClure said.
The press conference came one day after Nixon activated the National Guard and declared a state of emergency in preparation for possible backlash to a grand jury decision on whether to indict the white police officer who killed the unarmed, black teen. The decision could be announced within days.
The emergency order Nixon issued Monday instructs the St. Louis County Police Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol and local police departments to work together to keep the peace regardless of what the grand jury decides. The order puts the county police, rather than Ferguson police, in charge of security if unrest develops in the St. Louis suburb.
The governor directed police "to protect civil rights and ensure public safety in the city of Ferguson and the St. Louis region."
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The National Guard will provide security at command posts, fire stations and other government buildings to leave police officers free to attend to regular service calls, St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said. Police, city officials, schools, businesses and protesters have been meeting daily in an effort to avert repetition of the chaos that immediately followed the Aug. 9 shooting, when protesters clashed, sometimes violently, with police.
Some at Tuesday's press conference criticized Nixon for activating the guard ahead of the grand jury's decision and said he was overreacting to largely peaceful protests.
"I'm not preparing for war," Nixon said. "I'm preparing for order and peace."
The grand jury convened Aug. 20 to hear evidence in the case. Police say Brown struggled with officer Darren Wilson, 28, inside his police car, then reached for Wilson's weapon. Brown's family and some witnesses say Wilson killed Brown as he raised his hands in surrender.
A look back at the ongoing unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, since the death of Michael Brown. The unarmed black teen was shot and killed by a white police officer. Video shot by KSDK. VPC
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