“Whatever we may think or affect to think of the present age, we cannot get out of it; we must suffer with its sufferings, and enjoy with its enjoyments; we must share in its lot, and, to be either useful or at ease, we must even partake its character.”
— John Stuart Mill, “The Spirit of the Age, I”, Examiner (9 January 1831)
Two young men were found dead inside torched cars. Three others died
of apparent suicides. Another collapsed on a bus, his death ruled an
overdose.
Six deaths, all involving men
with connections to protests in Ferguson, Missouri, drew attention on
social media and speculation in the activist community that something
sinister was at play.
Police say there is no
evidence the deaths have anything to do with the protests stemming from a
white police officer’s fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, and
that only two were homicides with no known link to the protests.
But some activists say their concerns about a possible connection arise
out of a culture of fear that persists in Ferguson 4 ½ years after
Brown’s death, citing threats — mostly anonymous — that protest leaders
continue to receive.
The Rev. Darryl Gray said he found a box inside his car. When the bomb squad arrived, no explosives were found but a 6-foot (1.8-meter) python was inside.
“Everybody is on pins and needles,” Gray said of his fellow activists.
