she is a democratic committee woman, in ferguson township.ell, it is good to see you again, spent some time with you, good to have you on the program. >> hi, tony, thank you for having me, good to see you too. >> so, what's your reaction to the d.o.j.'s decision to open this -- they are calling it a pattern in practice investigation. of the ferguson police department. the community, and i, am thrilled. it's as if they are really starting to see why we have been out here for a month. it's been about 100 degrees. people have stayed out in the rain, we are not crying over a small minor things. currently to my knowledge, the ferguson police department is under -- they are four different federal lawsuits going on. and they are major thinks. a cop has pistol whipped a child, another one was hog tied. there was a mentally ill man that was tazerred. and the everyone that seems to be the most familiar with, the one where the police were involved with a physical altercation, and charged the man with damaging government property because they got blood o

where we're joined by patricia bynes, democratic committeewoman of ferguson township. is now doing weekly workshops on civic engagement with ferguson united, which includes several state representatives and fergusons's only african-american city councilmember, dwyane james. patricia bynes, welcome back to democracy now! we were with you in the streets of ferguson. can you talk about what has taken place over these last few days? the apology from the police chief, the parents responses we just heard, and even the shooting of the officers this weekend, although, it is not considered related to the protests. >> good morning. thursday was a very busy day with the apology and then later on that night, it seemed like the officers instigated a fight. there were several arrests that night. a woman was even knocked unconscious the police and she was carried by her hands and feet to jail. after thursday, it was a pair we were going to have a long weekend and that is what we had. friday on the protest site, it was very silent. not too much activity. i think that is because everyo

joining me now is patricia bynes, a democratic committee woman for ferguson township and thomas hob, executive director and cofounder of art city defenders. his work represents low income residents of st. louis county and court. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you very much, reverend sharpton. >> what is your response to the news today? >>. >> i am elated that the department of justice is stepping into the ferguson police department and going to take a close eye. i'm excited about it. so is the community. this is part of what the outcry is. we have not been marching outside in hundred degree weather and in rain for nothing. there are serious things this is long overdue. >> a lot of people watching ferguson, i spoke at the national bap the 'tis convention. it was a huge ovation when i brought it up in my statement. what's the reaction in st. louis county generally? >> i think the reaction is pretty positive. i believe it's a welcome investigation. if there is a pattern and practice of discrimination it will be found out. it is broader than just ferguson.

joining me now, a democratic congresswoman from ferguson township.u for being here tonight. >> thank you for having me, reverend al. >> committeewoman, what do you want to hear come out of this meeting tonight? >> well, you know, one, i want it to be packed. i want to see a lot of the emotion that i have seen and heard for the past month. i want it funneled into a much more productive environment. and i want the community to feel empowered. this is the first steps that they need to take and start engaging with their local government here in ferguson. so i want to see a packed house. and i want to see a them raise their concerns. often times in our community, we speak amongst ourselves, but we don't necessarily bring the issues to the people who can make a difference and that is the elected officials. and i want them to feel very comfortable in bringing those concerns. and i want them to ask questions. so the conversations that we've had during the protests, you know, on the corners, i want them to bring them to the people that fleed to hear it the mo

township, pennsylvania. >>> the chief of police in ferguson, missouri, apologized today to the family of the young man whose killing by a police officer caused weeks of angry protests in that city. in a recorded video thomas jackson told the parents of michael brown he was "truly sorry for the loss of their son." and sorry it took so many hours to remove his body from the crime scene. he said the investigating officers meant no disrespect. a lawyer for the brown family said the apology comes at a time when trust and confidence in the chief has reached what he called an irreversible low. >>> still ahead for us tonight, farewell to the captain. our exclusive interview with derek jeter, as his home crowd and for that matter all of baseball says good-bye to the future hall-of-famer. >>> and later, take this job and love it. it's not hard if you're a softy for a face like these. >>> shortstop, number 2, derek jeter. number 2. [ cheers and applause ] >> tonight, not far from here there will be an emotional gathering in the bronx, provided the weather cooperates. this will be the last home game for one of the grea

ferguson. one source says the focus of this investigation will be on the police department's practi practices and training procedures. >> well there's more help tonight for laid off casino workers in atlantic city. egg harbor township hosted an information session for those affected by the casino closings today. it followed an earlier ant that drew hundreds to the atlantic city convention center. representatives from several agencies were on hand helping the laid off workers apply for unemployment and other benefits. >> knowing that we're closing these doors and putting people out of work was just devastating for all of us. it's a time to come together and a time to rally. >> rally avenue different sort was held on kennedy plaza this afternoon as atlantic city tries to focus on the future. these are contestants for the miss america pageant inn producing themselves to the public that. pageant will be held in the city sunday september 14th. pageant officials say that they want to be a part of atlantic city's renewal. >>> home depot says it hired a security firm to investigate the possible breach of customers credit and debit cards which many experts say may be the largest data breach ever. the hacking may affect all

those making decisions for the people that live in ferguson, you'll see it is not representative of the 67% of african-americans that live in that townshipmerican, but out of the 53 police officers that actually work that community, only three are african-american. we look at those challenges and other issues addressed in real concerns, we see that democracy is not working and as such the law enforcement entity put in place that, quote, serve and protect, is doing neither. as we saw what happened to michael brown, it is not surprising people finally got to that tipping point. just to give you a tiny bit more foundation about st. louis. st. louis, missouri, is a community that was 55% african-american in the inner city area. but even as such, even in 1968, when dr. king was assassinated, it was one of the few communities across the country that did not rise up in rebellion. peace was maintained. so, how is it that we got to the point that we did behind the murder of michael brown? indeed, we recognize the concerns are the issues are not being addressed. when you have a scenario in which everything is set up as if some kind of occupying fo