They’ll stay “as long as it takes.”
Jim Dalrymple II
FERGUSON, MO — Four nights ago, Ned Alexander IV and Steve Wash sat down in an overgrown parking lot and never left.
The two men were among the hundreds of protesters who retreated from police late Tuesday during demonstrations over Michael Brown's death on Aug. 9. But rather than fade into the surrounding neighborhoods for the night, Alexander and Wash — along with a handful of others — ran to an "approved assembly area" at the far end of protest zone on W Florissant. That night, with a cadre of police watching from across the street, Alexander told BuzzFeed the group wasn't leaving. And sure enough, the next morning the group was still there, somewhat diminished and fatigued, but holding on. The scene has repeated everyday since, with both men becoming more adamant that they aren't leaving until they get justice.
Alexander and Wash are part of a small but growing group of protesters in Ferguson who are digging in for the long haul. In their case, a furniture store is letting them camp out in the parking lot, and for the time being police are leaving them alone as well. It's a brutal space; during the day, the asphalt soaks up the sun and amplifies the already-stifling heatwave. At night it's cut off by wide streets and endless parking lots.
Steve Wash in Ferguson Friday night. via Jim Dalrymple II
Still, Wash said the group's numbers have more or less double nightly, growing from only six people to more than twenty. They began sleeping on the bare pavement, moved up to cardboard boxes and by Friday had sheets and stockpiles of food. Wash said someone always stands guard while the others sleep. And they have no plans to move. "We ain't going nowhere," Wash said as his fourth night began Friday. "We out here all night until we get justice. And it don't matter if it takes us all year round."
As the marches in Ferguson grow smaller, this apparently semi-permanent encampment has echoes of Occupy Wall Street and other radical encampments who sought to claim and hold territory in 2011 and 2012.
"Why do we need a leader?" Alexander asked. "I'm saying everybody can be leaders." The camp even has a few Occupy veterans who drifted in during the last week and are giving them pointers on how to deal with things like tear gas — a threat Alexander said is still present, especially as their numbers grow.
A couple of miles away in downtown Ferguson, across the street from the still-under-construction police station, another group is also digging in. Unlike the protesters on W Florissant, the gathering downtown is older and includes more women than men. Many of the demonstrators leave by the middle of the night, though someone is always out and always will be until they "get some answers," according to organizer Angela Whitman.
"We come out when it's storming and raining," she said. "We don't play around. We don't care what the weather is. We'll be out here as long as it takes."
The atmosphere downtown is almost familial, with chairs and tables spread out across the street corner. Friday night, the group had prayers and competing chants between men and women, among other things.
