Thursday, August 21, 2014

The Sleepy Road Near Our National Conversation On Race : Code Switch : NPR

The Sleepy Road Near Our National Conversation On Race : Code Switch : NPR: On television, it's hard to get a sense of just how small the stretch of West Florissant Avenue — the thoroughfare in Ferguson, Mo., that's drawn international attention after the killing of Michael Brown — really is.

On either side of West Florissant, there are nail salons and barber shops, liquor stores and Chinese food spots, convenience stores and places where you can buy refurbished electronics or pay your utility bills. Because of the unrest, lots of the stores are boarded up, some as precautions against vandalism and looting, others as a result of it. Some are open — and have graffiti on the wooden boarding to indicate as much — while some are temporarily closed, presumably until things calm down. There's the QuikTrip, was burned down after an inaccurate rumor circulated that its owners called the police on Brown not long before he was shot.