The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay
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Sept 2015 back issue
by Mark Kauzlarich
Structural inequality and institutional racism have prevailed in Ferguson, Missouri for decades. In St. Louis County,
blacks face three times the poverty and almost three times the unemployment rates of whites. Sixty-seven percent of
the city’s population is black, however 93 percent of all arrests in Ferguson in 2013 were of black people. These
practices by a chiefly white police force and justice system help raise 25 percent of Ferguson’s revenue, compounding
economic issues within the community.
With the death of Michael Brown Jr. at the hands of a white police officer, Ferguson has become an adjective
describing racism in the wake of police-involved deaths around the country. But few people have truly seen Ferguson
and the effects of issues faced there. Even in Ferguson, many people don’t know the lives lived there by their
neighbors across the town.
Tee Jay Banks surveys the street while hanging out with friends in the Bermuda neighborhood of Ferguson. Banks,
stopped attending college because of high costs but was hoping to save up money to return to school.
Meech greets a friend while hanging out in the Bermuda neighborhood of Ferguson. Their group calls themselves
Fatty Gang, named after their friend, 20 year-old Antwon "Fatty" Smith, who was shot to death in February, 2015.
Redd waits for a friend in his Cadillac Escalade before going to the liquor store to buy more Hennessey. Redd and his
friends hang out on the street outside of a parent's home, under their watchful eye.
Kids play basketball on the corner of Halpin Drive and Lagonda Avenue where a young man named Demetrius "Trap"
Stegall was killed in 2009. Trap was involved in a robbery and after a large group argument earlier that day, an
associate of the person who was robbed returned to the corner and opened fire.
Families attend area Catholic school first grade softball games at fields behind the Blessed Theresa of Calcutta
Catholic Church in Ferguson.
Grace Williams, a high school freshman from Ferguson goes to kiss Patrick Clinton, a sophomore, while at
Forestwood Park. The two had been flirting for a few weeks but hadn't quite figured out if they were officially dating.
An historic house in the Old Ferguson West neighborhood of Ferguson.
An abandoned house on Dupree Avenue has been a point of contention for neighbors as it's used by local youth as a
hang out to drink, do drugs, and play with their guns.
Richard, right, clears an overgrown yard of a rental house in the Bermuda neighborhood of Ferguson. Code
enforcement officers are a common sight in the neighborhood and ticket people for long lawns and many discretionary
violations like "disturbing the peace." Code enforcement accounted for $2.46 million dollars of the city's budget in 2013.
Courtney Smith, left, boxes his cousin Michael Hancock outside Hancock's stepfather's home. Eric Dillon, Hancock's
stepfather and Smith's uncle says he was one of the few kids he grew up with that stayed out of jail and uses his
experiences to be a strong influence on his son, step-son, and nephew.
Tee Jay Banks at a friend's mother's condo.
Rosalyn Carter recalls her troubled life when she lived in
the dangerous St. Louis suburb of Kinloch. She and her
husband moved into Section 8 housing in Ferguson but
circumstances have not been easy for her family, due in
part to the repeated arrests of her husband for minor
traffic violations.
Thomas White listens to a hymn after reading scripture at the Christ Love Divine Missionary Baptist Church in
Ferguson. Most of the twenty parishioners or ministers at worship at the small church on this particular Sunday were
from outside of Ferguson.
Latonya Williams and her son Carlos Williams attend
worship at the Christ Love Divine Missionary Baptist
Church.
Aaron and Cal at the Carter home, where Rosalyn Carter
invites some neighbors to spend time instead of getting
into trouble on the street.
Members of Fatty Gang compare guns and hang out on a street while waiting for the start of the Floyd Mayweather/
Manny Pacquiao fight later that evening. All the guns shown here are legally owned and one of the group members
works professionally in security.
Friends hang out at the condo of Carlette Williams (right) at the Brentwood Townhomes in Ferguson, Mo. William's
sons' friends are the sons of many of her former drinking and smoking buddies from when she was that age.
Raymon "Trip" Williams plays with his 18-month-old daughter Rayne at his grandmother's house in Ferguson. He and
his "baby-momma" have been getting along more recently allowing Trip to see Rayne more than the six times a month
mandated by their custody agreement.
Ant and the rest of the Fatty Gang, many of whom are a part of the neighborhood gang Rush Mob, hang out on Halpin
Drive, just down the street from where their friend Demetrius "Trap" Stegall was shot and killed in 2009. They call this
area Trapville, in memory of their friend.
“My Wii and my model cars. That’s what keeps me off the streets,” says Earl Carter in the basement of his home in
Ferguson, MO. Formerly addicted to crack, Carter was honorably discharged from the Air Force but has been arrested
over 20 times for traffic violations and is currently suing the city over their de facto debtors prisons.
