many here are happy to dream. david mercer, al jazeera, nicaragua. >> if you want to keep up-to-date with all of the news we are following, you know where to go. aljazeera.com. see the front page there with our lead story, the situation in iraq iraq. >> i am lease a fletcher. you are in the stream. what a difference a day makes from tear gas tanks and rubber bullets to highway patrol cars, a changing of the guard. from st. louis police to the highway patrol. we speak with georgia representative hank johnson to hear about a bill he plans to propose that would limit a pentagon program that provides local police with tanks and arrivals. >> as racial tensions have

reached a boiling point, what's next for a suburb remember seg greg gated neighbors and police mistrust reside. >> a revolution faster than you can hold down the refresh bar, a riot on twitter. hear from those in ferguson who helped lead the stream of information in the death of unarmed black teen, michael brown. ♪ my kobe host and digital producer waj is bringing live feedback. as far as this stuff unfolds on line? >> you mentioned a fast and mad on twikker. ha ferguson story out and near realti realtime. here is the hash tag, ferguson, online community global community talking about the press conference right now and someone from the press conference, catherine johnson, is now trending.

check out my page. it happened that quick. speaking about the trending hash tag, this started a global solidarity movement. we have the hash tag, don't shoot. young boy holding a don't shoot sign. another one, if they gun me down, what picture would they use? a picture on the right. a gentlemen said they would left. >> that's been retweeted .21 >>. >> and the woman who started it on the show. >> yeah. >> how did we get here? what has led to the racial tensions in ferguson? we are glad though have tashara jones. she is the treasurer for the city of st. louis and one of the people who started the hash tag don't shoot: it is considered one of the leading public publications and cj conrod is a ferguson native. he watched this unfold practically from his doorstep for the last six days. thank you for being here.

cj, wanting and i were talking about it. highway patrol captain ron johnson. the captain talked about walking to the quick trip this morning, ground zero. it was the first thing he did, first order of business, hugs and shandshakes, he said. he declared his task to be ensuring the safety and the health of citizens. he said that the people of ferguson must have their voice and they must have their right to gather maintained. so no question on anyone's mind that he was there solely as part of the people. how is his message changed? >> it's a night and day difference. the calm now. there was so much tension and frustration prior to this and right now, i mean it's -- there really aren't words for it. it's just completely different. there is a whole another love in the air. he should have been here three days before, quite honestly. >> it doesn't seem like he did much other than show up and say,

i hear you and we are going to keep you safe is it that simple? i don't know what reason that didn't happen before. as i was down there at quick trip, as you call it ground zero, i saw him walking through the crowds listening to what some said. outraged. he allowed them to express their outrage and was not threatened by it. he did not call in armed police officers for it. i think just those people seeing that he cared was enough to quell the protests. >> so things are moving in the right direction. tashara, you started the hash tag "don't shoot." we love social media. it's great. it can be fickle and fast. people move so quickly. now, you've got people's attention for a second. what do you do with it before they are on to the next trending hash tag?

>> we started don't shoot, a group of young concerned citizens and myself to get their attention and then, also, to see what we can do next. so there are a list of demands on our website don't shoot mo.com that are evolving as this situation evolves. just today, we met just before this show and we realized that our number 1 concern going forward for this to be a fair and transparent investigation and for justis to be served is that a special prosecutor needs to be assigned by the missouri attorney general. we are talking about social media. here is a tweet: my 7-year-old wrote this. all of her words. i only helped with the spelling and format. she used the hash tag mike brown ferguson. dear police it was not nice to shoot mike brown and i did not like twhu threw the pregnant lady on the ground. stop hurting people. sincere will he alan h. 7. do you think the world would

have known, would have cared about what's happening in ferguson, what happened with mike brown's unarmed -- the shooting of an unarmed teenager without social media? >> no way. definitely not this fast. it was mind blowing to see it had gotten across the nation overnight and internationally by the next morning, but there was -- there is no way this could have happened without social media because the local media wasn't covering it to the same extent they are now on saturday or sunday. the narm media wasn't covering it. it was after we kept speaking hosting articles over and over and, you know, grassroots reporters came in. >> that's when it was like, oh, this is something we need to pay attention to. >> itshmael asked: would the world have known and he asked: can the world pay attention? >> my question to you: how do you sustain this in how do you make people pay attention to the

point where you actually see change? >> the first step in this, people making sure their voice is heard and people making sure that that mess alexander is positive. i don't believe that the media coverage would have been the same without the violence, which is unfortunate. but now that the media is watching, the protesters ors have to remain peaceful. they have to have a positive message like tashara has the website, the list of demands. i think people need to come together, have a mention that's on the same page to be resolute with it. and the leaders will be forced to listen. >> you work in local government. daughter sense racial tensions in your environment there? >> yes. there are sometentions there and they are more covert rather than overt when you get to local government. andives experienced

it and in slight ways but this position allows me the power to speak truth to power. so, i just move past it racism is one of those things that's always going to exist. the way we have to deal with it is to make sure we call it out as we see it and we have those uncomfortable conversations with our peers about how what they said made me feel. it's simple psychology. when you said this, i felt like this. and until we have those conversations and make sure that, you know, our peers see where we are coming from, i think -- i think we will still have that issue. >> lisa, you and shara talking about existing racial tensions. the conference at ferguson reflects deep and existing problems not only ferguson but also in america. we asked our community action what are those problems? how can it be fix did? mistaken said the question should be how do we fix systemic racism and dismantle white

supremacy? that would be the good question. gary says income inrequest equality, stacked deck, coolest 1% focused politicians and one more, vern says systemic profiling, mistrust of the justus stem, lack of community outreach. pick one. cj, what are the deep and existing problems that in the nation that are reflected by what's happening in ferguson right now? >> i think all of that was said is valid quite honestly it's got a en to the point where racism isn't as overt anymore. it's all under and there is no way to pinpoint or point out thins until it becomes a physical or verbal or violent thing, it seems as though. but it's deep-seated. and i don't know how we could change it without totaly changing the system, quite honestly because it's what this

country was developed on. >> cj makes a good point when he talks about changing the system because we look at ferguson, the make-up of ferguson. ferguson is two-thirds african-american but they have little to know representation on the school board or the county counsel or the mayor's office and we have to make sure that, you know going forward, we encourage people to participate in the process and we make that easy to participate in the pros. our secretary of state tried to get early voting on the ballot this year quo to make it easy for people to participate in the civic process. >> issue male, disproportionate representation is an issue. these kind ofration tensions don't happen overnight. i am thinking of some of the more nuanced things like a lot of these lower socioeconomic areas. they don't have good community parks, good public transportation to places where there are jobs. what are some of the things that are fundamentally embedded in the system that keep these tensions just percolating right

under the surface? one of those, the key is education. we see in a lot of our sor sorry i don't economic districts, we have struggling schools. they don't get the funding that they need. they don't get the proper resources. >> that's a big issue. we also see a lack of businesses in these areas. so, i think until we get the community, until we get them to a higher socioeconomic, until we provide them with more opportunities, that tension is going to exist. also here in st. louis county i believe there are 91 municipalities and there is an issue with officers who don't necessarily represent the community. they look at the community members specifically young black males as a threat and in the piece that i wrote, you know, i was pulled over. i am estimating more than 50 times. i know it was more than 50 times

between the ages of 18 and 25. >> 5-0? absolutely. >> would you whvp there were a handful of times where i did deserve to be pulled over. most of those times, the officers would say, well, what are you doing? where are you going? or they would tell me, you know, hey, your license plate light is out. when i got out and checked it, it was on and shining brightly. so any time you have that type of situation where you feel that you are being picked on or you are being preyed upon by the people who are supposed to be protecting your liberties, they then you are going to have this built up tension. >> that's what caused a lot of the reaction sunday night, the looting and things like that. >> all right. >> people were fed up. >> a little later in the show we will talk more about that and change. no shortage of criticism directed at criticism police for

everything for how they have handled peaceful protests to looting. a former police chief who says st. louis officers were overly aggressive. what should have happened and what can america's police force learn from this? issues. you should, too. use the hash tag, ajamstream.

♪

♪ . >> we are back. ferguson missouri has become a flash points bringing to the surface some of america's most hot-button issues. one of which is the military like appearance adopted by an increasing number of law enforcement agencies. a little i know sight in that area. chuck served as an officer with the police department for 2 fine years and as police chief for three. he is widely considered an expert in the field. chuck, a lot has been made of the type of gear police used, the vehicles, the weapons they displaced and we can get into all of that in a minute. opinions aside about whether communities should get surplus military gear. talk about what the appearance of that kind of fire power does. tensions? >> there is no question about it does escalate tensions. >>. equipment shouldn't be brought

out until it is absolutely necessary that you need that force. >> equipment does nothing but fuel the fire and incite people. and you create a warfare. environment when you do that. >> chuck, is there a case to be made for local police to have that sort of equipment on hand and have better discernment? >> some has value. ballistic material, helmets, ballistic vests, there is rescue exhibit that you can get from the military to help with dive teams and fire departments and so forth to help rescue people. so there is value in some of the equipment. but we can -- i think it becomes -- has become over kill. >> i want to bring in georgia state representative hank johnson joining us live on the phone. representative johnson,

appreciate you being with us. he is drafting some legislation. he is going to propose to restrict the defense department flam already exists that provides military surplus equipment everything from machine guns to m wraps to local enforcement or law enforcement in general around the u.s. for free. representative johnson, why are you proposing this legislation to restrict this dod clause? thank you for having me. this kind of militarization of police forces across america is did he believe different from the kind of life that americans are used to leading. it's a step away from a form of government towards a government. >> we don't need to have that type of kind of -- we don't need our citizens to feel that they are under the coercive

influence of a militarily equipped police department when there is no actual domestic need for a show of force like that and so, i am concerned about it from that angle and i am also concerned about what happens when a small municipality finally, gets the bill for an overhaul of ansyn on an m-wrap or a need for some new tires on one of those tactical -- tactical armored vehicles, something breaks down and then they decide to just declare the property surplus and sell it at surplus city equipment. then, anybody that wants to buy it can come in and, you know, spends 25 or $50 to take it off of the hands of the agency. >> uh-huh. >> representative johnson action

our social community was asking how can we inform law en phosments. baki asked said they should be retrained on how to deal with people. leader says quit trying to be likely army. realized they are citizens like the ref of us. joe said it wouldn't solve everything. not having a 95% white police are force in a an overwhelmingly black community couldn't hurt. you are a law enforcement officer. how can we regain trust. >> this is going to be a long, long road, not somethings going to happen overnight. there has been so much damage that occurred between the community and the police. the police have a long way to fight back so to speak, the gain, the trust of that community. they have lost it. they lost it a long time ago. there is no trust between the two groups for sure. there is going to need to be a change. my honest opinion is there is going to need to be a change at

the top of that police department and that city because the city leaders have allowed that to happen. >> chuck, hang on. i want you to continue that thought but i want you to here and you may have already heard it. it was from captain ron johnson of the measure e highway patrol. he was talking about trust when he got thrown a question from the audience. world. you said you have a barber shop. every barber isn't good. there are some bad barbers. okay? but that's -- i mean, that's the way of the world. i tell you what. when you go home and see your kids tonight, when i got home, my daughter sent me this. she said, daddy, were you scared? and i said, jurt just a little bit. she said, daddy, you want you to remember when jesus asked peter to walk with him on the water. and she said, when peter got scared, jesus picked him up and said have the faith. and i am telling you today, we need to be just like peter because i know we are scared and he is going to pick this community up. >> chuck, he is

talking about having faith to rebuild or maybe build trust in that community but it seals like when we talk about mistrust, we are talking about communities not trusting police. isn't the other side of this a fundamental lack of trust on the part of police when it comes to the community? >> there is no doubt about it. it goes both ways and the police show that clearly when they refuse to release information. they don't talk to the community. they don't talk to the family. remember that somebody lost one of their family members. you have to go and talk to those people and explain to them what's going on, open up your investigation, be more transparent and the police are not doing that because they don't trust the community. they show when the protests started and came out with such a use of force with canine dogs and rivals and so forth that they show they don't have any trust. it's a we and them relationship. >> the police need to look like

the communities that they serve, you know, ferguson has 55 officers and only five are african-american or minority. >> that's a stark contrast to the make-up of the community and another one of our demands for ferguson is to hire at least 10 african-american or my onty police officers by january 2015. >> still ahead, what has to happen next so the death of a young man is not any vain and so a community can learn and grow from a strategy? stay with us. ♪ . @j

♪. >> sometimes, well, like what are you doing here feeling. they would ask you, in truth, questions like who brought this car? is this your car? how do you pay for it? all because you didn't use your blinker to get over. >> welcome back am clearly a lot of mistrust in the community of ferguson and elsewhere for that matter. so, cj, you have lived there your whole life. chuck makes a great point that these issues have existed for a

very long time. even if tashara group demands are met with seem completely reasonable, even out the complex of the police force just because those things are forced to be made to happen doesn't necessarily mean it's going to fix anything. how do you fix this? >> right. >> in a place where there has been no trust for a very, very long time? >> you need -- >> i think the biggest. >> retraining by these, you need the retraining the police officers. they need to know when the use of force is required and when there is an opportunities for you to not have to use force and diffuse the situation by taking a tep back. when you get police officers hawho have equipment that they are not trained to understand when to deploy, it causes problems like this. >> cj -- >> i think it goes deeper than that quite honestly because but

the pre-existing trust wasn't there, quite honestly. it's like chuck was saying. it's an us and them situation. thing don't have a vested breast in this community. thing drive at that through and when we look suspicious that's when they dre come forward. >> community pleasing. needed. it's been a lot of police departments voice that they got community policing but they don't practice it. it's a philosophy. it's not a slogan on the side of the police car. a great point is why doesn't that please department have a better representation of its community? why isn't anybody in the leadership that city saying, why aren't we hearing people from our own community? and en if you don't set a quota, so many african americans, so many whites but why aren't we

hearing people from our out communi tu which if you were, you would have heck of a lot more african-americans on there. >> are we trying to avoid that? stepping away from the community in that's one of the first questions that city leader should be asking the police chief is what is going on here? chuck, talking about leadership, president obama made statements about ferguson. we asked our community: what did you think about his statements? collin said, thought it should have been a speech to reinvigorate rather than middle of the road statement, indian warrior prin sys says who cares what that mouthpiece has to say. he only fuels the fire anyway. kevin alexander gray, former guest obama will stand with law enforcement. most politicians do. speaking about

ferguson. >> issue male, if i could i think one of the most disheartening things for us in the community was that there was no community leaders actually stepping up. antonio, he is in the city out here all the time people who are in this community who are being quiet. >> twenty second, cy. >> that bothers me. the local government is not saying anything. the state government isn't saying anything. it's scary. >> on that note, we are out of time. i want to thank our guests today, representative hank johnson and chuck drago. until next time, waj and i will see you

good afternoon. snoring for joining us. i am morgan radford live in new york. here are the stories we are following jut for you. a failed curfew in ferguson after protest orders defy the governor's order to stay off of the street. airstrikes in iraqi iraq. researchers try to solve a cosmic mystery. check it out.