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"A riot is the language of the unheard." chapter heading

Having never participated in a protest, much less a riot, I felt I had done both after experiencing directors Sabaah Folay and Damon Davis's Whose Streets? Their documentary about Ferguson, Missouri, and the death of Mike Brown in 2014 is an unremittingly real and passionate participant point of view that celebrates the will of an oppressed people to be heard.

Whose Streets? documents the thoughts and actions of the largely black population as they experience the white-cop brutality of Ferguson and St. Louis police forces, culminating in Mike Brown's being shot 8 times by an officer who justifies the assassination with his fear. The grand jury believed he was faultless, leading to disbelief and riots reminiscent of the reaction to Rodney King's killers' exoneration.

The doc is especially effective bringing home the pain with portraits of such sufferers as Brittany Ferrell, a comely and articulate young lesbian who is not afraid to speak her outrage. We see her at home with her children and on the street with the microphone chanting the will to fight to be free, an anthem echoed by virtually everyone facing down the daunting police and national guard forces.

The street's-eye view happens largely because cell phones recorded the abuse with a probing expertise heretofore only the province of professional filmmakers. But not today, when those little devices are adjuncts to the spirit of justice, albeit not always enough to bring convictions. David Whitt, a Copwatch citizen videographer, meticulously records and publishes images that damn the militaristic response, for the film's expert doc makers put them together to devastatingly powerful effect.

Although white cop Darren Wilson, 28, had Brown in his sights after Brown allegedly robbed a convenience store, Brown should not have died for the crime nor should his body have lain in the street for hours while the community and security reacted. However, most of the forensic evidence and testimony proved that Wilson acted in self defense.

If there can be a criticism of this doc, it would be that the evidence finally exonerating Wilson is not presented; he remains guilty in the spirit of the film if not the reality. Although the filmmakers could claim an interest only in the people's plight and reactions, full disclosure for me requires that I also see where the police can be at least partially exonerated.

Justice both civil and spiritual is elusive. Whose Streets? is an estimable rendition of a disadvantaged populace struggling to be heard.

I came here to read about and review this documentary after viewing. I was so moved by it that I am leaving my first review of anything.

Then I read the last two reviews, both posted on November 16, 2017. Neither are reviews of the documentary but attacks on Mike Brown. I won't get into how I grew up within 10 miles in of Ferguson or about how I've lived in St. Louis for 50. How I know that, even though I'm a white woman, racism is alive and well in St. Louis. This documentary was a very accurate portrayal of what the reality is for black people (and other POC) in St. Louis. I've witnessed it over and over again.

The documentary was very well done. It was straight forward and real. Everybody should watch it.

It's a shame for the documentary maker and those in that community this entire "Hands Up Don't Shoot" if a lie. Michael Brown was a thug on his way to becoming a career criminal just like George Floyd. The lack of an education and a decent income is the fault of the system itself and also the very citizens that continue to vote the same crooked politicians into office year after year. Why would anyone continue this insane behavior? The media constructed a narrative of this incident, BLM(a domestic terror organization) began to collect donations and the very people that created the BLM movement stole and misappropriated those funds to fund a lavish lifestyle with million dollar homes, luxury cars and vacations. These people are getting exactly what they voted for. Not my problem.

Really shows the perspective of some local activists living in Ferguson of what the Mike Brown protests were all about. There is not huge detail into the Mike Brown shooting. It's more about raw footage of street protests, police reactions, some town halls, and so on. It really shows how the protesters were not armed and were faced with a much more weaponized police response. The police clearly are not a part of the community and one wonders why the officers appear so alien from the people they are policing. The police are portrayed as a failed institution. There are some brief news clips interspersed in. Most of it is just amateur video on the streets. There is a glimpse into the personal life of some of the activists.

At one point, one of the activists said that you can burn down a convenience store yet it can be rebuilt, however all the magicians in the world can't bring back a dead person. Therefore, the real question of violence should be: was anyone hurt? This encapsulates the overall theme of the documentary which is that people come before everything. Clearly the Mike Brown killing became a rallying point but he was also a symbol for much deeper grievances, which is the community didn't feel the police force treated them as people. You won't hear much from the other side in this documentary but it doesn't pretend to be that.

This documentary indeed examines a particular social and cultural phenomenon, but not the one that it claims it analyzes.

The real leitmotif here is the relatively recent advent, the zenith and the unchallengeable reign of the so-called Post-Truth Era which we're all enabling in one way or another. In that tenor, the message this movie disseminates, and even promulgates, happens to be virtually diametrically opposed and recusant to the one the author declares to be the documentary's objective.

Some of the smartest, most capable and highest paid professionals in the U.S. and the European Union work in the field of disinformation and prevarication. These are the propagandists - the PhD's in spin-doctoring. Their objective is to create such a cacophony in, what Jurgen Habernas calls, Öffentlichkeit - a public space outside of the control by the state, where individuals exchange views and knowledge.

This is what I, personally, got the strongest sense from in this movie - the cacophony, since it engenders the best possible environment for circumvention of the objective truth. Ultimately, there little doubt in my mind that it is entirely within these talented public sphere operatives' and propagandists' possibilities to render the truth largely irrelevant.

The people who gave this movie a bad review for the reasons they provided need to read a history book. I am not even American and I know that this kind of stuff is not pushing an agenda of any kind. It's continuing a centuries long struggle that unfortunately seems to have no end.

This documentary was emotional and powerful and told the story from a point of view many of us cannot possibly understand because we have not lived it. The only problem I have with this movie is that it doesn't contain more information from the people involved. I wanted even more interviews and more footage.

I have to say that the director has to take the blame for using this opportunity to put together a poor documentary. There was no backstory on Michael Brown, well not a Knouff! Also a lot of video camcorder phone footage was used that was pointless. There was no investigative investigative journalism and the story wasn't linked together properly. For those who don't know anything about Michael Brown this story would be confusing it seems it was just made for the people of Ferguson who were aware of the story anyway. Really poor effort and missed opportunity by Sabaah The Director. Shame because it should have been a powerful story.

This film entirely changed the way I saw Ferguson and how the death of Mike Brown impacted the local community. Please watch this film.

Don't kid yourself. This isn't even close to a documentary. This is a one sided TALE of a person who is trying to push his own agenda. If you watched any of the news videos or youtube videos when these riots took place, you could easily tell the videos in this so called movie were edited to show a specific side of events. I really expected some truth to come from this movie but I found very few actual facts being portrayed. Watching this was literally a waste of time unfortunately.

With the recent #blackout tuesday taking social media by storm, I too feel the need to reflect and revisit crucial moments of unrest in recent history.

I grew up in suburban Missouri. I had a few good friends who were half-black, but I largely lived in an insulated, middle class environment where racial tensions were out of sight and mind.

My appreciation for hip hop, Jazz, James Baldwin, Dave Chapelle, and Ta-Nehisi Coates has brought me baby steps closer to appreciating black culture over the years. But there is still a lot of fetishization on my part.

Overall, my laziness has kept race on the outskirts of understanding. And perhaps it should always be at the outskirts of understanding - me being a white man who will never truly understand the struggle of the African American in a America that doesn't give our black neighbors the time of day.

I have learned to treat racial understanding like Zen. The impossibility of understanding means the process is both the journey and the endpoint. The moment I begin to think that I "understand" is the moment I get lazy again.

Rewatching this movie, and being reminded of what happened right down the street from me in Ferguson, has given me a momentary respite from laziness. And I hope watching Whose Streets will give you the same chance for reflection.

Another documentary made by the radical left filled with lies. It has already been proven by witnesses at the scene that there was no " hands up" " don't shoot". That was all made up by Obama and his Democrat lying cronies. Brown was coming back from a convenience store which he had shoplifted from. Police were only responding to a call. Black communities need to stop listening to the Democrats who are and indoctrinating them. Bottom line, don't be a criminal, don't break the law, and you will not have to deal with the police.

This film will of course hurt many people who think they're not racist but. I have seen it a few years ago in Sheffield doc fest and learned a lot about BLM from it. I am here today because of what happened to George Floyd and to urge people to watch it and share it and do their part in educating others, feel empathy for the oppressed and be aware of the privilege not to be one.

Great start for Director, strong topic. Gave me motive to be more active as activist

The footage is so valuable. There is no story there. Still, the footage is powerful. I have no idea if the images were carefully edited to show the people in the streets all of African descent and the police all of European descent.

The sad part comes later. Poor people exploited.

Exploited by the thieves and robbers who make use of the revolt to destroy property. Not only they disgrace the manifestation, but they will make the lives of the people living there even worse without shops and restaurants nearby.

Exploited by the police. The police who does not care or interfere with the problems of the people living there only to ask for more money, more wages, more equipment and bigger pensions.

Exploited by the speakers. Young men and women taking about "our kids". Even if the "kid" was quite an adult. Progressive speakers who care about their possible speaking engagements and TV shows. Speakers who put salt on the wounds in the names of "being united". History shows these people usually move beyond the racial lines, in low crime towns and keep talking about the suffering while sending their kids to private schools.

Exploited by the film makers who get to travel and walk the documentary.

And the people are left there. With less police. Less places to shop. Less employments opportunities nearby.