‘It Hurts Me So Much’: A Dispatch From Ferguson

‘It Hurts Me So Much’: A Dispatch From Ferguson

‘It Hurts Me So Much’: A Dispatch From Ferguson

How residents are doing Mike Brown’s legacy justice.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

Walter Rice has lived for most of his life in Ferguson, Missouri, but he has never seen anything in his community like the passion and anger that he’s experienced these past few months. Ever since Mike Brown’s death at the hands of Darren Wilson in August, the city’s protests have spurred a long-overdue national conversation about race, inequality and police brutality. Throughout it all, Rice has held a steady vigil in front of the Ferguson Police Department with a steel drum to show that he, like so many in Ferguson, won’t allow this injustice to quietly continue. The 75-year-old Vietnam veteran knows that if major changes aren’t made in how this country’s authorities—from law enforcement to politicians—treat the people they serve, “you will have chaos in your town.”

A Film by FS Productions. Produced and Edited by Whitney Green.
Videography by Derek Ha​mmeke. Music: “Did You Feel It” by Dexter Britain.

Time is running out to have your gift matched 

In this time of unrelenting, often unprecedented cruelty and lawlessness, I’m grateful for Nation readers like you. 

So many of you have taken to the streets, organized in your neighborhood and with your union, and showed up at the ballot box to vote for progressive candidates. You’re proving that it is possible—to paraphrase the legendary Patti Smith—to redeem the work of the fools running our government.

And as we head into 2026, I promise that The Nation will fight like never before for justice, humanity, and dignity in these United States. 

At a time when most news organizations are either cutting budgets or cozying up to Trump by bringing in right-wing propagandists, The Nation’s writers, editors, copy editors, fact-checkers, and illustrators confront head-on the administration’s deadly abuses of power, blatant corruption, and deconstruction of both government and civil society. 

We couldn’t do this crucial work without you.

Through the end of the year, a generous donor is matching all donations to The Nation’s independent journalism up to $75,000. But the end of the year is now only days away. 

Time is running out to have your gift doubled. Don’t wait—donate now to ensure that our newsroom has the full $150,000 to start the new year. 

Another world really is possible. Together, we can and will win it!

Love and Solidarity,

John Nichols 

Executive Editor, The Nation

Ad Policy
x