Uneventful

It was a little over two months ago that people outside our area first heard of Ferguson, Missouri, when Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson. Even after the issue dropped off the front page of the national consciousness, there have been occasional unrest and protests in this area. The most recent were the past weekend, when people from out of town joined locals for a series of demonstrations called FergusonOctober.

The event culminated yesterday in “Moral Monday”.  There were incidents reported all over the metropolitan area. Braving wind and rain, the protesters gathered at government buildings, political events, malls, stores, and sporting events.  Not all of them were demonstrating against  police brutality and racism; the multi-issue gatherings were composed several social and civil rights groups wanting to have their message heard.

Last time there were widespread protests (the first Monday after Michael Brown was killed), I was working at the mall Customer Service desk and got a call from the mall office letting me know they had extra security in place.  Even though this mall isn't anywhere close to Ferguson, with the protesters announcing area-wide occurrences I expected the same thing yesterday during my morning and early afternoon desk shift, but I didn't notice more than the usual number of officers. The mall was busy, but it was more as a result of the Columbus Day holiday and San Francisco fans in town for the Monday Night football game. My time passed by without incident.

About 8:00 in the evening I got a text from the mall telling me that possible protesters were headed there, followed a couple of minutes later by an automated phone call relaying the same information. Both said that the police and Security office were monitoring the situation, and would provide updates as needed. There were no updates, so I'm guessing nothing happened.