National
In Ferguson, the Struggle Continues
 Demonstrators converge on Ferguson Police Dept. headquarters. |
by J.A. Salaam
Special to the NNPA from The Final Call
FERGUSON, Mo. (FinalCall.com) – Nearly seven months since the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr., the small St. Louis suburb of Ferguson still wrestles with many unanswered questions. Is the movement over? Was the protesting across the country all in vain? What’s on the horizon for the little town of approximately 22,000 residents, 67 percent of whom are Black? And do Black lives really matter?
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What is apparent is emotions and tensions still run high. Recently, over 250 protesters filled a meeting at the aldermanic chamber at St. Louis City Hall to voice concerns on a proposed independent police review board called the Civilian Oversight Board for the city.
The Jan. 28 meeting came to an abrupt close when Jeff Roorda, business manager and spokesperson for the St. Louis City Police union yelled at moderator, Alderman Terry Kennedy for failing to “restore order” when protesters interrupted.
“Can we get some order in here?,” Mr. Roorda yelled at the alderman to which Mr. Kennedy responded, “First off you don’t tell me about my function.”
Mr. Roorda then rushed towards Mr. Kennedy when he encountered Cachet Currie, a Black woman, in the aisle leaving the meeting. Mr. Roorda grabbed and pushed the woman down to get her out the way resulting in a scratch on her forehead. Ms. Currie is reportedly filing charges. Mr. Roorda was observed wearing an “I am Darren Wilson” wrist band to the meeting.
The proposed board would have the authority to investigate allegations of police misconduct, research and assess police policies, operations and procedures.
It would inspect complaints against members of the police department involving excessive use of force, abuse of authority, sexual harassment and assault, discourtesy, racial profiling, or use of offensive language, including, but not limited to, slurs relating to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, immigrant status and disability.
St. Louis tourism is taking a blow as protesters, college students, clergy and legal activists are disrupting events in the St. Louis region. On Jan. 31 about 30 anti-racism activists walked through the St. Louis RV Vacation & Travel Show with “Face Racism” and “Are you comfortable” drawn on their faces. Some of the protesters held signs that read “White Only” and “No Coloreds.”
Pushing and pressing forward
Reports are surfacing that the federal investigation of former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson will not result in charges he violated Michael Brown Jr.’s civil rights when he shot and killed the teen.
The Justice Department report has not been completed, and Attorney General Eric Holder will make the final decision whether to press federal civil rights charges against Mr. Wilson. But activists won’t quit pressing for change, despite the outcome in Ferguson and other cities. Community groups and individuals are still organizing and demanding accountability from political and law enforcement leadership. Many meetings and forums took place during the weekend of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday.
Lesley McSpadden, mother of slain teen Michael Brown, Jr. and her family participate in King holiday march. Photos: D.L. Phillips
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“The movement is not over, we are not going to settle with the way things have always been. We still have more to do and we didn’t do a good job. Because nothing has changed, we haven’t gotten any of these police officers arrested for misusing their authority; we haven’t gotten any policies changed, the system of preying on poor people are still in effect, police officers are still allowed to do what the hell they want in the community and nothing is done anything yet,” said Dauud Amun Royal, co-chair of the St. Louis-based Center of Hope and Peace.
“So for people to be slapping each other on the back and giving awards as if something meaningful has been done is an insult to the brother who got killed. That’s why we can go on T.V. and jump up and down like we’ve done since the 60s. And it means nothing because we don’t follow through,” continued Mr. Royal who was attending an event honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There is much more work to do and “we are not finished,” he said.
Participants from across the country gathered for open dialogue with law enforcement representatives, politicians and protestors from various cities. Ferguson 1000 Jobs co-founders St. Louis businessman Dave Spence and economist and investment advisor Dr. Lance McCarthy, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III and Paul Muhammad founder of the St. Louis Peace Keepers participated.The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Racial Justice hosted an event at Harvard Law School Jan. 17 to discuss racial profiling of Blacks and injustices in the legal system and formulate solutions.
The event was filled with moments of anger and tension toward Ferguson officials.
“I cannot quit or resign as chief in the middle of this, because I must have a chance to fix what’s wrong, that’s my responsibility and no one else can do it but me,” said Chief Jackson to The Final Call when asked about comments during the forum calling for him to resign.
The movement is far from over and diversity training is one of the keys to moving forward but it will be a challenge, Mr. Muhammad told The Final Call. “But if the police departments are willing to allow those of us who are out in the community with the people, we can become the bridge between the police and the community. This would at least start the healing process and build a level of trust between the two,” he added. Police must first engage and get involved in the community and build relationships with the people to serve and protect, said Mr. Muhammad. He also recommended police become more actively engaged in schools, community centers and get to know people on a more human level to develop trust.
On Jan. 18 Missouri Representative William Lacy Clay Jr. and members of the Congressional Black Caucus were at the Wellspring United Methodist Church in Ferguson to speak with the community.
“We need to be outraged when local law enforcement and the justice system repeatedly allow young, unarmed Black men to encounter police and then wind up dead with no consequences,” said Rep. Clay.
Dr. Leah Gunning Francis, an associate dean at the Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, insisted that society needed to regard the lives of Black men to be as important as those of White men.
We have to restore the humanity of young Black men, she said.
“We are going nowhere. We have several actions in place to take us from the selfishness thought process and bring it back to the village mindset. We are focusing on awareness, the community, education and the government. We have plans to raise the level of thinking first of the people then we can help sustain the community,” said Jeremy Rhone of the community group Mighty 13 of Ferguson.
Marchers continue anti-police misconduct marches in Ferguson, Mo.
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Before the non-indictment of Mr. Wilson many groups had hopes of justice to counteract issues that run deep in the city but the unrest increased locally and nationally, said Mr. Spence. His group, Ferguson 1000 Jobs unveiled a comprehensive plan to address the issues.
“We have been convening meetings with leaders for the last four months and understand there is apathy. People are tired of hearing lip service, hence we developed our views that were delivered as such from a wide variety of leaders in the community,” said Mr. Spence.
Faith-based, corporate, community and youth leaders gave their opinions on what it would take to help get Ferguson back on track. The discussions have resulted in what’s been dubbed “Wish List for Ferguson.” It includes housing development, youth education and scholarships.
Mr. Spence believes the “Wish List” will prompt more dialogue among all St. Louis region stakeholders, leading to action.
Ferguson 1000 Jobs also aims to bring together some of the area’s largest employers to give St. Louis county residents job training, business development, and employment opportunities.
“We are moving towards the poor people’s campaign. You are not going to see us just running out in the street to get tear gassed for freedom. We have to make everyday life a protest. We’ve had demands for six months and not one of our demands were met. None of them!” said youth activist Tory Russell of Hands Up United. He criticized President Barack Obama for not coming to Ferguson like former President Bush went to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
“Here’s the same man that wanted us to vote but he couldn’t come see the people when they were hurting the most. Then the worst was that we thought there was enough to get a civil rights charge. Not just local but nationally, there was cases that were clearly violations but that didn’t matter. That hurts when you have Black officials in high positions of politics but they can’t do nothing for their people,” said Mr. Russell.
“We are begging an uncivil system for civil rights and an inhuman system for human rights and that’s not going to happen. They cannot grant you what you want. They are trying to act like this movement never existed like a 199 cities didn’t rise up.’
“In the 2016 election we will make the question does Black Lives Matter as part of the ballot and they will have to answer that question,” vowed Mr. Russell.
Business
Car Wash Workers Cope with Lingering Impacts of ICE Raids
WAVE COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS — Hundreds of car wash workers across Southern California have been detained in federal immigration raids, leaving lingering impacts on families and communities. Mario, a 33-year U.S. resident and father of three, was arrested at a Santa Ana car wash last August and held for two months.
LOS ANGELES — Mario relied on his job in the car wash industry to raise his three children. It was during a shift at a Santa Ana car wash last August that he was arrested by federal agents, taken to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center and held for two months.
“They made me sleep on the cold floor for a week without a blanket, a toothbrush or basic medical care for the injured man next to me,” Mario, a 33-year resident of the United States, said at a news conference earlier this summer at Inglewood’s Crenshaw Imperial Car Wash, which is now closed after being raided by federal agents.
Mario, who is being identified only by his first name for safety reasons, is among hundreds of car wash workers detained across Southern California in the year since the Trump administration began an aggressive immigration crackdown in the region, according to the CLEAN Carwash Worker Center.
News of raids by masked agents has faded from the headlines, but the effects still linger for those caught in the crosshairs. Family members have been deported or left to languish in detention, and many who remain live with the fear of being hunted down by immigration officers.
At least 373 car wash workers have been detained at car washes across Southern California since the raids began last summer, according to figures compiled by CLEAN. The group’s data also shows federal agents raided or attempted to raid at least 106 car washes in communities across Los Angeles, Orange County and surrounding areas, including Inglewood, Culver City, Westchester, Bell and Whittier.
CLEAN, an advocacy group founded in 2007, has been fighting to protect car wash workers from exploitation and unsafe conditions. When the raids began last year, the group sprang into action, working around the clock to help detained workers and provide their families with legal and financial support.
“We gathered our information from workers, managers, and owners of the car washes that were being raided,” CLEAN Deputy Director Andrea Gonzalez said. “We also gathered information from rapid response teams who were on the ground responding to the raids.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment on the group’s findings.
Mario said he was one of seven workers at the Harbor Blvd Car Wash detained on the same day last August, but the only one who has been released. He said he refused to sign deportation papers and is fighting to stay in the United States, a process that has drained his family emotionally and financially.
“Being released is not the same as being free,” he said.
During Mario’s detention at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, his wife and children struggled to cope with his sudden absence while fighting for his release, his wife Alejandra said.
“The employer gave us a video showing my husband being taken away under arrest, treated worse than a common criminal, with chains binding his legs, arms and waist,” Alejandra said. “It wasn’t right.”
The experience of a car wash worker named José was recounted at the news conference by the Rev. Andy Schwiebert of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, who said agents “took him” from the La Cienega Car Wash last August.
José’s wife is a U.S. citizen, Schwiebert said, and José had a pathway to gaining citizenship before he was detained. By the time a judge ordered his release on bond, the car wash had shut down, Schwiebert said, leaving José without a job.
“These raids did not just target workers; they destabilized families, congregations, workplaces and entire communities,” Schwiebert said.
The administration’s aggressive enforcement operations have continued across the nation in the months since José’s and Mario’s detention, with ICE arrests in July surging to their highest rate so far under President Donald Trump.
Last month, ICE agents shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old father of three in Houston. Less than a week later, an immigration officer fatally shot 26-year-old Johan Sebastián Duran Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine.
Back in Inglewood, Mario said he was grateful to share his story and that, even though he was released, his experience in detention stays with him.
“I still feel frustrated and traumatized,” Mario said, “because my life is no longer the same as it used to be.”
Ernesto Ureño is a Loyola Marymount University journalism major and intern at Capital & Main, a nonprofit publication focused on inequality. It is published here with permission.
Based on reporting by Wave Community Newspapers.
Art
Misty Copeland Shapes Ballet’s Tomorrow
THE POSITIVE COMMUNITY — Misty Copeland will curate the 2026 Joyce Ballet Festival, a two-week event in New York City from August 4-16. This role allows her to influence the future of ballet by showcasing a wide range of dancers, choreographers, and companies. The festival will present both established and contemporary works, blending classical traditions with new artistic expressions.
This summer, Misty Copeland will step into a different kind of spotlight. Instead of taking center stage as a dancer, she will help determine what audiences see onstage as curator of the 2026 Joyce Ballet Festival. Taking place August 4 through August 16 at The Joyce Theater in New York City, the two-week celebration will bring together dancers, choreographers and companies representing a broad spectrum of ballet. The festival gives Copeland an opportunity to share not only her appreciation for ballet’s traditions, but also her vision for its future.
Copeland understands better than most how powerful a ballet stage can be. Her historic career with American Ballet Theatre changed the conversation about representation in one of the world’s most traditional performing arts. When she became the company’s first Black woman to reach the rank of principal dancer, her achievement carried significance far beyond a personal milestone. It gave young dancers of color a new image of what was possible and challenged the industry to reconsider who belonged at the center of ballet.
That history informs the perspective she brings to the festival. Copeland has spent much of her career moving between performance, mentorship, advocacy and storytelling. Her curatorial role allows her to bring those interests together by creating a program that does not treat ballet as a museum piece. Instead, the festival presents dance as an evolving language capable of carrying classical traditions into new cultural and artistic territory.
Audiences will encounter a mixture of established works and contemporary creations during the festival. Classical ballet vocabulary will share space with choreography that pushes dancers toward different physical, emotional and theatrical possibilities. The result is intended to give audiences a broader understanding of the art form while demonstrating that tradition and innovation do not have to be competing forces.
The lineup also provides an opportunity to see dancers from different artistic environments. Performers connected to organizations including American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Houston Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem and Complexions Contemporary Ballet are among those represented in the festival. Each company carries its own history and artistic identity, making their participation part of a larger conversation about the many ways ballet can be performed and interpreted.
The presence of Dance Theatre of Harlem is particularly meaningful within the larger story of Copeland’s career and the evolution of Black representation in ballet. Founded during a period when opportunities for Black dancers were severely limited, the company helped demonstrate that excellence and classical training could flourish in a Black cultural environment. Its legacy continues to influence dancers and audiences, making its connection to a festival curated by Copeland especially resonant.
The program also reaches beyond a single definition of contemporary ballet. Choreographers with different backgrounds and artistic philosophies contribute to an evening that can move from recognizable classical structures to works shaped by modern dance, theater, popular culture and new approaches to movement. That diversity reflects a generation of artists who increasingly see ballet not as a rigid vocabulary but as a foundation from which they can explore.
For New York audiences, the festival offers something that is increasingly valuable: the opportunity to experience outstanding dancers in an intimate setting. The Joyce is known for presenting dance in a theater where audiences can see movement and artistry up close. That environment can make a familiar ballet work feel newly personal while allowing experimental pieces to communicate with unusual immediacy.
Copeland’s role as curator also sends a message about the importance of artistic leadership. The people who select performers and choreography help determine which stories receive attention and which artists receive opportunities. By bringing a range of voices into the festival, Copeland is using that responsibility to broaden the conversation around ballet. Her choices can introduce audiences to artists they may not otherwise encounter while encouraging longtime ballet followers to look at the form from a different perspective.
The 2026 Joyce Ballet Festival ultimately arrives at an important moment for the art form. Ballet is carrying centuries of tradition into an era defined by changing audiences, broader representation and increasingly adventurous choreography. Copeland’s festival reflects that transition. For two weeks in August, The Joyce will become a meeting place for the familiar and the unexpected—a celebration of where ballet came from and a preview of where it may be going. And with Misty Copeland helping shape the conversation, the future of ballet promises to be as expansive as the dancers who are defining it.
Based on reporting by The Positive Community.
Community
As Part of Your Back-to- School Checklist, Vaccinate
POST NEWS GROUP — Vaccines protect your household and also limit the spread of diseases such as measles and polio. The higher the vaccination rate in a community, the greater the protection for everyone – especially the most vulnerable.
Berkeley Public Health recommends families catch up on immunizations before the new school year begins
Parents, check that your children return to school up to date on vaccinations. If necessary, schedule a visit with your family’s doctor or with the City of Berkeley’s Immunization Clinic to catch up.
Vaccines protect your household and also limit the spread of diseases such as measles and polio. The higher the vaccination rate in a community, the greater the protection for everyone – especially the most vulnerable.
Families are encouraged to:
- Check their child’s vaccination records. Ask their health care provider or check California’s Digital Vaccine Record portal.
- Schedule a check-up with your child’s doctor.
If your child doesn’t have a health care provider, you may be able to access free vaccinations through the City of Berkeley’s Immunization Clinic. Make an appointment by calling (510) 981-5350, emailing phmailbox@berkeleyca.gov, or booking online.
See what shots are required for pre-kindergarten or TK-12th grade, and check that your kids have all their recommended vaccines.
FREE VACCINE CLINICS AUG. 4-13
Children without health insurance or whose insurance doesn’t cover vaccines can get them for free:
City of Berkeley Immunization Clinic
West Berkeley Family Wellness Center
1900 Sixth St.
Hours: Tuesdays–Thursdays, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.
Closed 12 p.m.–1 p.m.
Make an appointment between Aug. 4–6 or Aug. 11–13 for back-to-school vaccine clinics:
- Call: (510) 981-5350
- Email: phmailbox@berkeleyca.gov
- Book online
Children 18 years and under are eligible for free City vaccines if they are:
- Medicaid-eligible
- Uninsured
- Underinsured (insurance does not cover vaccines)
- American Indian or Alaska Native
If you are unsure whether you or your child is up to date, the City of Berkeley Vaccination Clinic can help review records and provide recommended vaccines.
FAMILY WELLNESS RESOURCES
Vaccines are just one of the many public health services you can access at the West Berkeley Family Wellness Center. The center is home to the Women, Infants, and Children program, nutrition support, case management services, and a variety of family support services, plus free classes throughout the year.
Vaccinations aren’t just for kids. Throughout adult life, everyone should keep up with their vaccination needs. See recommended vaccines for adults.
Get a healthy start to the school year. Check your child’s vaccinations. Make an appointment with your doctor or get free vaccines at the City clinic.
VACCINE INFORMATION AND FAMILY RESOURCES
- City of Berkeley Immunization Clinic
- TK–12 school vaccine requirements:
- Family support services:
Get trusted information about the City of Berkeley by bookmarking berkeleyca.gov, subscribing to our newsletter, and following us on Bluesky and Instagram.
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