http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/13/1370610/-Ferguson-Councilwoman-I-m-not-sure-what-more-they-want
With all of the big changes at the top of Ferguson government, namely the resignations of Police Chief Jackson and City Manager John Shaw, Tihen said she wonders what would satisfy the protesters.
“I’m not sure what more they want,” she said. “I would like to ask them come to us, tell us what we can do to continue to heal the community.
Tihen's words are infuriating, since the community has been coming to her, and the world, for over six months now saying what they want. How could she claim to not understand?
It might help to know Tihen's background. It's this background that highlights the need for much more extensive reform in Ferguson. She is not just part of the problem - people like her are the problem, and it's hard to see anything getting better unless they not only out of the picture, but held accountable for the long list of criminal acts that happened under their watch, and often with their knowledge and approval.
As the story above mentions, Kim Tihen was a Ferguson Police Department officer before she was elected to the City Council in 2012. What they fail to mention is that she was one of the officers involved in the 2009 beating of Henry Davis, the man who was charged with destruction of property for bleeding on the uniforms of the officers who beat him.
Mother Jones lays out her role in the assault clearly:
One officer, Kim Tihen, allegedly "struck [Davis] in his head with a closed fist and hit [him] in the head with handcuffs." Davis suffered a concussion and severe facial lacerations, while an officer was left with a broken nose. Afterwards, prosecutors charged Davis with four counts of destruction of property - because his blood had dirtied the officers' uniforms
The Daily Beast extensively quotes her deposition in the civil suit filed against her and the city by Davis. It's worth reading. Tihen openly admits beating Davis repeatedly, and she was the one who complained about Davis bleeding on her uniform after she beat him. Her testimony contradicted the other officers involved in the beating, but she never was charged, and a federal judge eventually dismissed Davis's suit because "Davis’ injuries were insufficiently serious to constitute a violation of his rights."
You might ask, "How could a person like Tihen be elected to the Ferguson City Council, in a city where 2/3 of the population is black and the police are widely reviled?" For one, her election was held in April of 2012, not in November with the general election. Turnout was only 10%, and she only needed 270 votes to win her seat. Tihen's opponent in the race, John Knowles, had just resigned from his post as president of the Ferguson-Florissant school board after a widely-reported scandal. The race was for an open seat, which was vacated by Fran Grecco, a former lawyer who had been disbarred for accepting fees and failing to perform work for her clients while sitting on the Council. Apparently the bar for City Council in Ferguson is pretty damn low.
after reading this it looks to me that the citizens should have been making citizen arrest of the officials and cops they are coming more crimes and more felonious crimes than anybody they are getting paid to protect and serve. as to what more they want, how about everybody complicit i these criminal acts against constitutional rights of all those they have been living off and supporting the city with and dismissing IMO the murder of Michael Brown. it seems that the most reprehensible bodies they can find were actually not to police the city but impose a slave like existence for those they lorded over, is anyone with position there with out a checkered past???
Now, while I think it goes without saying, I'll answer Tihen's question, since even though her City Council page says she's focused on "increased communication between city officials and residents," she obviously still does not get it.
What more do they want? Justice.
not just us!
