The Ferguson Decade
A decade on, Ferguson remains central for those working toward a world free from the harms of policing and prisons.
This week marks the tenth anniversary of the police murder of Black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Of the essays that we receive at Inquest, nearly half of their first drafts make mention of Brown’s death and the uprising that followed. Inasmuch as present-day prison abolition has something like an origin story, it is clear from this fact that its narrative runs through Ferguson.
In this collection of reflections, essays, and poetry, we look to the legacy of Ferguson as we continue to envision a world with true safety for all—and not more policing, prisons, or other forms of social control.
—August 2024
Image: Jamelle Bouie/Wikimedia Commons/Inquest
Editors’ Introduction
Activists Reflect
The World Ferguson Made
Three activists from ‘the Michael Brown generation’ reflect on what changed in St. Louis after the uprisings—and what didn’t.
Fines and Fees
Ferguson’s Pound of Flesh
Ten years ago, the killing of Michael Brown exposed a system that extracts what little wealth marginalized people have. That system is still here.
Pattern-or-Practice
A Pattern of Injustice
The Ferguson report was a landmark. But the Department of Justice needs to do much more to empower communities in the fight to end police abuse.
Coming of Age
Growing Up Post-Ferguson
I was the same age as Michael Brown when he was killed. The uprising set me on the path to abolition.
‘Empirical’ reflections
Poems on Policing
Poetry has the power to help us grow past the stale and rote ways of thinking about safety that tend to characterize policy discussions.