My good friend Chrisopher Arps was on scene in Ferguson...bye the way his skin tone is black and his heart is gold

http://moveonup.ning.com/profiles/blogs/my-eyewitness-account-in-ferguson-after-the-grand-jury-decision-w

the Ferguson Police Department before the grand jury decision was announced
There had been a pall of expectancy all weekend after the St. Louis Mayor and St. Louis County Executive held a joint press conference that Friday afternoon before the eventual Monday announcement. Among other things, they discussed law enforcement's plans to handle the after effects of a no true bill decision regarding the indictment of Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson. The prosecuting attorney, Robert McCullough, had promised the public and local school districts weeks prior that they would be given 48 hours notice once a decision had been made by the grand jury. The speculation was that a joint Friday press conference was a precursor to a Sunday announcement.
Sunday came and in the early afternoon it was leaked to the media that no grand jury decision would be announced. The St. Louis region had been on high alert for the last two weeks once it was known that the grand jury was finishing up its work and that a decision was imminent. It was also disclosed that the grand jury would be meeting again on Monday morning. This was unusual and significant because the grand jury normally met once a week and only on Wednesdays. I was hosting a good friend who was covering the decision for The Blaze TV network so we headed to South St. Louis on Sunday evening to cover demonstrators who were first shutting down a highway and then a major street in the city of St. Louis. They were relatively peaceful with the sentiment among them that there probab... of Officer Darren Wilson.
Monday came and anger seemed to replace the pall of expectancy among the public. Thanksgiving was a few days away and still there was no indication that a decision was forthcoming. About mid afternoon, rumors started percolating from unknown sources that an announcement would be made that day. Then later it was confirmed that the prosecuting attorney had said that an announcement might be made today. Then it was finally confirmed: the grand jury had reached a decision and an announcement would be made at 6 pm CST.
Although it was announced that 6 pm would be the time, we later learned the announcement would be pushed back to 8 pm instead. Many have questioned the wisdom of announcing such a potentially controversial decision at night, especially since all of the previous mayhem occurred at night, but the explanation from officials was they wanted to make sure students and workers in Clayton - the St. Louis County seat and location of the decision and grand jury - would be out of harms way in case there was trouble from unhappy people. My friend and I decided to stay in Clayton for the announcement. We figured that was where the most protestors would be and where my friend could get the best video footage. We thought wrong. Reports kept coming throughout the evening that protestors were gathering at the Ferguson police station instead and that some of them were getting rowdy. At 7:40 we hopped in my vehicle and made the 20 minute trip to Ferguson.
We arrived in Ferguson at precisely 8 pm and parked about a block from the Ferguson police station. As we were walking towards the crowds, my friend checked his smartphone and saw a report on the USA Today website reporting sources close to the Brown family saying Officer Wilson would not be indicted. I thought others would see the same reports and that it was only a matter of time before all hell broke lose. It didn't. Ferguson police along with the state police were in full riot gear behind barricades in front of the police station.
There were probably about 500 people milling around with some carrying bullhorns decrying racism and police misconduct. The media, both local and national and probably international too, were present and there was a van in a parking lot blasting out a rap song with the lyrics "F*ck the police." There was a palpable tension in the air that you could literally cut with a knife. At about 8:15, a short woman wearing a knit cap and sunglasses (it was fully dark at that time) with a four person entourage knifed their way through the crowd bumping into people while apologizing unconvincingly. As these folks made their way to the makeshift stage in front of the police station, whispers broke out among the crowd that the woman leading the entourage was Leslie McSpadden, Michael Brown's mother.
I told my friend who the person was and we followed her to the hood of car that I later learned was the makeshift stage. We were literally five feet from her. She climbed on top of the hood and started an emotional tirade against the police, Officer Wilson, Prosecutor Bob McCullough and the grand jury process in general. At the same time, a loudspeaker was playing the audio of the prosecutor explaining the decision from the grand jury. Eventually, it filtered out that Wilson would not be indicted and the anger and tension could be felt rising. Then, Leslie McSpadden's husband climbed on top of the hood to comfort his wife and then that is when he uttered his infamous words: "BURN THIS B*TCH DOWN, BURN THIS B*TCH DOWN in a steady cadence.
You could literally feel the tension rise to a dangerous and feverish pitch. The crowd was yelling "we're with you sister," and "we're going to get justice tonight!" I tapped on the shoulder of my friend that I thought it was time to leave and that the situation felt unsafe. A few others felt the same as they started slowly leaving. Then after McSpadden's husband finished his rant, two gunshots rang out in close proximity to the stage and then all hell broke lose. Everyone just started running away away from the police station down the middle of the street. More police were behind us and then they started moving in in full riot gear. As we're running towards the car, a gray SUV was parked in a business parking lot. Someone in the car fired of five quick shots in the air and then took off.
By that time the demonstrators had left their position by the police station and proceeded to march down South Florissant avenue where they were met by a line of police officers in riot gear. The adrenaline, mixed with fear, was coursing through my body as we inadvertently passed the side street where we parked. Admittedly, I have never been that afraid in my life. All we were thinking about was getting the hell out of there! As we were heading to the car, reinforcement officers were pouring in to shore up the officers who were being flanked by more demonstrators heading to the scene.
We passed the street where we parked so we doubled back and was met by an aggressive supervisor cop who told us to go in a different direction. Pointing, we told him politely that our car was in that direction but he still insisted authoritatively that we go in the opposite direction from the car. My friend respectfully insisted we had a legal right to walk on the sidewalk and then the officer said he was only "suggesting" we not walk on the sidewalk. Again we told him our car was in a different direction and then he said rather briskly, "go for it it." Then we heard tear gas canisters go off and more gun shots as we're driving away. We drove to the periphery of the mayhem, parked, and then listened live to President Obama calling for peace while watching smoke from smoke bombs waffling into the air.

In conclusion, you had two types of protestors in Ferguson that night and both were not peaceful. You had those hell bent on destruction, looting and rioting. And you had those out there who were not doing those activities but who were encouraging the looters and urging them on. In my opinion, they are both just as culpable for the destruction and mayhem that occurred that night.