A video tour of Ferguson, Missouri
Images of the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, were inescapable when police officer Darren Wilson fatally shot teenager Michael Brown in August. They’re just as ubiquitous this week, when a grand jury declined to charge Wilson, igniting sometimes-violent protests in the town.
Though Ferguson has been well-photographed, the footage hasn’t provided much perspective on just how big the town is and where all of the protests are occurring. Marketplace reporter Adam Allington drove from one end of the town to the other, giving a time-lapse tour of key sites.
Marketplace’s Adam Allington says the scene was quieter today, thanks to a steeped up National Guard presence, but he doesn’t expect the calm to last.
“Going forward I really think you’re going to look at continued unrest of one stripe or another, through Thanksgiving,” Allington says.
With eight years of experience reporting for St. Louis Public Radio, Allington knows the area well. For him, the problem in Ferguson and the surrounding area isn’t just racial, it’s economic too. “What I think the riots really underscore is the broader economic story of St. Louis, which is really how to build shared economic prosperity,” he says.
Allington sees a bright spot for the future of Ferguson in its economy. With a shift from manufacturing to health care jobs and efforts to revitalize downtown St. Louis, Allington hopes economic disparity will improve. “I think a lot of these problems that we’ve been talking about will gradually get fixed, that’s my hope,” he says.
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