Ferguson.
West Florissant. The street I grew up traveling up and down, riding the 74 Florissant bus, going to Charlie Chicken with my father, attending the funerals of dead family members at Bellefontaine and Calvary cemeteries, shopping at the old Northland Mall and the other shops up and down West Florissant.
All of these memories came to me as I walked through smoke and teargas on West Florissant, as I took cover at a Ponderosa I used to binge on wings at, as I watched military vehicles usher in men dressed for war, as I watched the mall of my childhood being turned into a command center for the Missouri National Guard.
The death of Mike Brown changed many things, of course. I describe it as the St. Louis Pearl Harbor.
On December 8, 1941 there wasn’t a lot of partisan bickering or political positioning. There was an almost universal recognition that our nation needed to come together.
In most of our lifetimes, we remember the feelings we had after the tragedy of 9-11. Was there a concern in the streets of Lower Manhattan as smoke engulfed the area and relatives frantically looked for family members over the political factions in New York?
Ferguson is our Pearl Harbor. Ferguson is our 9-11.
The blood of young Michael Brown on the pavement for hours as his lifeless body lay on the pavement. Just the latest in a long line of unarmed black men in the St. Louis area to lose their lives to the police.
The crowd gathered. Photos were uploaded to social media. The streets were talking, and local black radio was abuzz. Within hours a moment had created a movement.
The youth who we said only cared about rappers and Instagram took to the streets by the thousands, soon joined by older residents and activists. Some elected officials were immediately on the scene, and others would later join.
As with any organic mass movement, some mistakes were made and tempers flared. Youth who had often been ill-served by almost everyone and everything in their lives expressed their rage. While many in the media vilified these youth, others have attempted to reach out to them with love with the understanding that the youth are our future.
Our time will now be measured pre- and post-Ferguson. We will be asked what we did, where we stood, and what we did in the aftermath. I look at Ferguson as a communal baptism. All of our sins were washed away in the streets of Ferguson and we were all reborn, and in order to stay saved we must be committed to the cause.
I entered the streets of Ferguson a political adversary of  St. Louis Alderman Antonio French and on not-so-good terms with state Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal. When I looked at their work on behalf of the people, I forgave them and they forgave me.
At the end of the day, is it about us or is it about justice? Is it about politics or is it about preventing the next Mike Brown? The fact of the matter is Alderman French was on the ground from day one, and Sen. Chappelle-Nadal has been in Ferguson every day.
Historic moments create historic movements and leaders. Alderman Bill Clay was elevated in status after toiling in St. Louis jails after the Jefferson Bank protests and would later find himself in the United States Congress. Many political futures and deaths will be attributed to Ferguson, and only time will tell.
With the national media going home in the months and years to come, it will just be us. US. The people of St. Louis. On a personal level, having grown up in North County and been educated in the Ferguson-Florissant School District, I have been writing about the issues of race, poverty, white flight, job loss, housing and police in North County for years while most in our local media have ignored them. God willing, the movement of Ferguson the moment created can bring about lasting solutions to all of these problems and we can all join hands and work together to #HealSTL.
Umar Lee is a freelance writer and taxi driver from St. Louis. His writings can be found at umarlee.wordpress.com or his Amazon author page.
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