In the four months since a white police officer named Darren Wilson shot and killed Mr. Brown (an unarmed, black 18-year-old) here, Ferguson has become a living illustration of what happens when America's three central maladies – racism, poverty and violence – intersect. Activists, politicians and journalists from all over the globe have come to document the mass protests that followed the shooting in August and a grand jury's decision this week not to indict Mr. Wilson.
But what began as a localized protest has morphed into a nationwide reckoning of the social and political systems that produce the sorts of imbalances optimized by Ferguson – a town where two-thirds of the population is black but virtually all the levers of political and police power are in white hands. A town where one portion of the population wants nothing more than a return to normalcy, and the other wants anything but. Full story by Omar El Akkad at www.globeandmail.com
Photography by Natalie Keyssar for The Globe and Mail
The Family Faith of M.B. Church displayed a message of peace on Ferguson Street near the site of Monday's rioting. After a week of unrest Ferguson, MO celebrated Thanksgiving under a cold and uneasy calm.
Police and National Guard stationed around the town. As dwindling news crews worked on the holiday protesters called for a boycott of Black Friday sales.
Boarded up business with the message that reads "We Open" following a week of unrest after Monday’s Grand Jury decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson on charges in the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
Police had West Florisant Avenue, the site of many protests, blocked off on Thanksgiving day.
(Left) Ferrell Moore of Ferguson poses for a portrait on West Florissant Ave. (Right) William Calloway, 25, an activist from Chicago.
At an activists Thanksgiving dinner with the Whitt Family in the Canfield Apartments, protesters and friends serve themselves as young Aurolla Whitt, age five, waits for a plate.
David Whitt, center, eats a thanksgiving meal with his family and fellow activists.
Activist Jacob Crawford of Oakland, CA, looks out the window of the Copwatch office.
A woman takes a selfie at the Memorial on Canfield Road.
The view of the memorial from the window of the Copwatch office.
Activists from left, David Whitt, Marcellus Buckley, and Williams Calloway, snack on pie and coffee for an early Thanksgiving meal at the Copwatch office in Canfield.
Marcellus Buckley looks at his tablet in the Copwatch office at the Canfield Apartments.
The Canfield Apartments at nightfall.
A National Guard post on Canfield Road blockades the quiet residential street Thursday night.
West Florissant Ave.