Professor Cornel West was “taken into custody” in Ferguson, Missouri earlier today, according to the New York Times:
Protesters, including religious leaders, were arrested on Monday as they stepped forward into a line of officers in riot gear outside this city’s police department, a day when organizers here have promised numerous organized demonstrations of civil disobedience around the St. Louis region over questions about police conduct.
About a dozen people were taken into custody by midday, and more protesters, arms linked, were waiting in the rain. Though the mood was tense, the arrests were relatively calm as clergy members and others said they wished to meet with Ferguson police officers inside the building, then stepped forward after saying they were prepared to be arrested if they could not. Among the first taken into custody was Cornel West, the author and professor, who told the line of officers, “We’re here because we love the young folks.”
As they arrived at Ferguson’s police department, which has been the scene of testy nightly protests since the death of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in August, the religious leaders of numerous faiths stepped forward to a line of waiting police, offering to “take their confessions” and pray with them.
About a dozen people were taken into custody by midday, and more protesters, arms linked, were waiting in the rain. Though the mood was tense, the arrests were relatively calm as clergy members and others said they wished to meet with Ferguson police officers inside the building, then stepped forward after saying they were prepared to be arrested if they could not. Among the first taken into custody was Cornel West, the author and professor, who told the line of officers, “We’re here because we love the young folks.”
As they arrived at Ferguson’s police department, which has been the scene of testy nightly protests since the death of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in August, the religious leaders of numerous faiths stepped forward to a line of waiting police, offering to “take their confessions” and pray with them.
West “marched for more than an hour” before being detained.
