With protests against the police shooting of 18-year old Mike Brown ongoing in Ferguson, “seven people, all charged with ‘failure to disperse,’” were arrested this morning according to the New York Times. The arrests were a function of a recently imposed midnight-to-5 A.M. curfew. The Sunday morning arrests are the latest in on-and-off clashes between protesters and police in the small Missouri city.
Apparently responding to news of intermittent looting among the protests, both Nelly and T.I. spoke with TMZ about the recent events.
“I understand the frustration, but we have to strategize before we overreact,” Nelly, a St. Louis native himself, said. “We don’t get no do-over on shit like this, so we have to do it right the first time.”
Nelly added, “Ain’t nothing happen no different that hasn’t been happening. At the end of the day, we should have waited to strategize first and take all the right steps to organize.”
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T.I. also commented on the nature of the protests, urging for strategic movements.
“We needed to play chess instead of checkers,” he said. “We should have waited to see if justice was going to be served first. We shouldn’t have played our strongest hand first.”
TMZ also reports that Nelly plans to initiate a scholarship fund in the name of the murdered youth. Besides the Country Grammar rapper, T.I., Kevin Hart, and Al Jefferson will reportedly be the first to pledge “$15,000 a year in college tuition to teens chosen by the Brown family.”
(August 17, 2014)
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UPDATE: Nelly has visited Ferguson. During his visit, the rapper spoke to an audience about his perspective regarding the situation.
A reporter for The Guardian, Jon Swaine, says that Nelly was criticized during his visit.
During his visit, Nelly was also being interviewed and followed by a group of people and cameras. His visit also included a speech to a crowd.
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