On Saturday afternoon, a tree was planted in memory of Michael Brown at a park in Ferguson, Missouri. Barely 24 hours later, some bottom-feeders chopped the tree in half and made off with the plaque.
KMOV in St. Louis got reaction from Ferguson residents who saw the results of this ugly act of vandalism. Watch here.
The tree was planted in January Wabash Park by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. It was intended as a living memorial to Brown, who was gunned down by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson under questionable circumstances last summer. On Sunday morning, the tree was found sliced in half, leaving only part of the trunk behind. Ferguson police believe someone chopped the tree off at the trunk late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. An officer who happened to be patrolling the area found the remains of the tree on Sunday morning. An investigation is well underway, though police don’t have any suspects as of yet.
Ferguson residents are understandably dumbfounded. This city has just started to heal from the upheaval that ensued last summer after Brown’s death. A new tree was planted in its place on Monday, and city officials plan to get a replacement plaque.
Almost as troubling as the vandalism itself are that people are actually applauding it. Several commenters at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Website express basically the same sentiment–Brown was a thug, so there was no reason to have a memorial for him. One person even called the vandals heroes, and another said that anyone who replanted it should be charged with a hate crime. They probably wouldn’t be so quick to defend the vandals if they realized that there is something very wrong with Wilson’s side of the story. Even if you accept Wilson’s account, he still fired at Brown 10 times–way too many to chalk up to an adrenaline rush, and way beyond what can plausibly be considered self-defense.
Let’s hope that whoever did this is found soon–and gets a badly-needed reality check.