Long-time north St. Louis County resident Geralda Ray believes that the focus of the protests in the suburb of Ferguson should stay centered on the death of 18-year-old Mike Brown.
But as she held her sign near the spot Brown was killed last week, Ray thought about the Missouri town of Kinloch: a place she had once called home.
Like most residents of Kinloch, Ray had been forced to relocate after a buyout program bought up most of the land to expand the adjacent airport. Many of those from Kinloch were forced to move to other nearby municipalities such as Florissant, Berkeley and Ferguson, where historic laws had long forbidden black citizens from owning land.
Many ended up in the Canfield Green apartment complex, where Mike Brown lived and died.
So when protests erupted over Brown’s death, some former residents of Kinloch were more than ready to carry its memory with them in the streets.
“I used to live in Kinloch,” Ray said. “You should see my old apartment. There’s nothing left.”
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