Secret Santa brings gifts of cash, hope to Ferguson
Source: AP
By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER
FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) Gherica Lewis expected the worst when five squad cars sirens blaring stopped suddenly as she walked with her 10-month-old daughter and the girl's father along the street in Ferguson, Missouri, where riot police clashed with protesters for months after Michael Brown's shooting death, making widespread arrests and deploying tear gas to control sometimes violent crowds.
"I thought I was going to jail," she said.
Instead, Lewis, 24, and Kimoni Griffin, 23, received several $100 bills from a secret Santa who chose Ferguson for the Wednesday afternoon holiday cash giveaway to help the community recover after the August 2014 fatal shooting of Brown, who was black, by former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who is white.
The anonymous benefactor, a Kansas City businessman, asked to not be publicly identified to focus attention on the importance of charity rather than his own background.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/52f3276457704caba02576a7e582ac71/secret-santa-brings-gifts-cash-hope-ferguson
jamzrockz
(1,333 posts)I know he is trying to cheer them up by giving out cash but does the money have to be delivered by "five squad cars sirens blaring"? Maybe the secret Santa was really trying to give them all a heart attack. Maybe he/she is a cardiologist
Number23
(24,544 posts)big_dog
(4,144 posts)the deputies are for security and crowd control
Earth_First
(14,910 posts)...what on earth would possess someone into thinking that this was an appropriate avenue of holiday benevolence?
This 'anonymous' benefactor choosing cops to dole out Christmas cheer...
This sounds like a Public Relations campaign by someone very close to law enforcement.
Or a really fucking stupid Samaritan.
Joe Shlabotnik
(5,604 posts)Ino
(3,366 posts)pretending to write a ticket to a toddler
a boss pretends to fire an employee or jokingly reminds you that he could fire you
People in authority seem to think it's fun & adorable when they use their power to scare others, then do something nice instead.
Heaven forbid any of the victims of these escapades gets "ungrateful".
I wonder how this incident would have ended had the father taken off running as the cops were surrounding them.
BumRushDaShow
(130,389 posts)More fucking domestic terrorism.
Until they stop the psychological insanity - in essence, the obviously racist effort to foster the internalization of docility by associating "blaring sirens" with "charity" - then nothing will change.
The above quote was a correct response by a normal person experiencing the freakish environment of Ferguson, MO.
Ino
(3,366 posts)In the OP's link where it talks about cop elves going to schools, there's this jaw-dropping sentence:
"Instead of shouts, curses, raised fists and projectiles, state Trooper Justin Lacy and the other officers were greeted with hugs, tears of joy and smiles of disbelief."
tavernier
(12,439 posts)that this man is dedicating his life to bringing a little happiness to others, and here at DU the response is to trash him.
Yup, this place has changed a lot.
AtomicKitten
(46,585 posts)It is heartbreaking seeing (and knowing) there are so many people in need.
It'll take a boatload of Secret Santas to remedy that problem.
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