Stephen Deere, THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
ST. LOUIS (The St. Louis Post-Dispatch) — Early last month, a group of Ferguson protesters learned that two long-standing social justice organizations – Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment and the Organization for Black Struggle – had thousands of dollars in a joint account.
The money, raised through private donations, was supposed to aid protesters by paying for food, travel, gas, meeting spaces and other expenses.
While some of the money appears to have been used for those purposes, about $50,000 was still unspent.
What happened to the money exposed a rift between the numerous protester groups that sprang up after Michael Brown’s Aug. 9 death and veteran activists with long-established organizations. It also became fodder for conservative bloggers who claimed that the unrest that began in Ferguson and has since spread across the nation was fueled mostly by outside money and interests.
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