“Mike Brown can’t vote. But I can.”
That’s the message of a new voting campaign on signs and Tumblr, the social networking website that allows users to post multimedia content to a blog. By early Tuesday morning, more than 50 voters posted images of themselves and their friends holding square, black-and-white stickers with an inscription of the message.
Veteran Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot unarmed teenager Michael Brown on Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Missouri. Protests and violence broke out in the St. Louis suburb following the 18-year-old’s death, and the community continues to demand justice. The grand jury, which has been hearing evidence since Aug. 20, is considering charges against Wilson.
On Tuesday morning, a small pile of signs sat on a table next to fruit and breakfast pastries in the offices of workers’ rights advocacy group Wisconsin Jobs Now. The boards included photographs of Brown, Dontre Hamilton, and Trayvon Martin, with the words “can’t vote” underneath the boys’ names — all three were killed in gun violence. The text on the sign read: “Don’t let anyone silence your voice. Vote Nov. 4.”
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St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar on Monday defended his staff against allegations that his office previously arranged a no-fly zone over the city to restrict the media’s ability to view local protests from above.
“Trust me, it is not an easy job for these pilots to be out there,” he said during an evening press conference. “They have no reason to preclude anyone from air space other than safety.”
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Meredith Clark contributed to this report.
Michele Richinick