<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"FERGUSON, Missouri \u2014 Parked in a driveway just steps away from an armored police truck was a truck that served a very different purpose on Tuesday night \u2014 a stage for five carefree children to perform their song, \u201CHands Up, Don\u2019t Shoot.\u201D\nEight-year-old Meosha was on drums made from a bucket. Shakira, 7, and Aaliyah, 6, were backup dancers, holding up their hands and waving a sign scribbled with the name of their song. A showman by nature, 10-year-old Satravion provided lead vocals while Cory, 2, supplied a sporadic backup melody. \nSee also: Ferguson Protester: 'You Don't Want to Be Here After Sundown'\nAnd because every great band has to have an equally great name, these kids had no trouble picking theirs. \nThey call themselves Mike Brown and the Trayvon Martins. \n\nA lesson learned on the front lines\nMany of the protesters who line Florissant Avenue in Ferguson night after night bring along their kids \u2014 and sometimes they get caught in the crossfire. On Sunday evening, one witness said she saw an 8-year-old girl nearly choke after police tossed tear gas into the crowd. \nSo, why would a mom or dad risk all this to bring a 4-year-old here? The answer, for every parent with whom I spoke, was the same: The kids of St. Louis need to see this. \n\nA young girl stands with her father and cousin on Tuesday in Ferguson. Image:  Amanda Wills,  MashableRacial tension isn\u2019t exclusive to Ferguson; it weaves its way across St. Louis. In fact, many parents walking with their children by their sides aren\u2019t even from Ferguson; they come from all over the area to participate. For them, it\u2019s about more than Michael Brown. \nThe roots stretch deep into a long history of predominately black neighborhoods battling small, daily wars with white authorities. Residents have told me repeatedly that racial profiling has gotten out of control. To them, it seems as though officers are looking for excuses to arrest young black men. The image of these men slammed against police cars while cops cuff them is one that the children of Ferguson \u2014 and other parts of St. Louis County \u2014 are growing up with, rearing a violent nature that perpetuates in a never-ending cycle. \nMany parents marching in Ferguson are young, some in their early 20s. They've lived these scenes over and over \u2014 and they are doing everything they can to change it for their kids. \nTierra Gates, who walked alongside her three children \u2014 ages 3, 4 and 7 \u2014 on Tuesday, said she wanted them to see the unrest firsthand in order to better understand why it was happening and that it was OK to be angry \u2014 and even more acceptable to talk about it. \n\u201CI don\u2019t keep anything from my kids,\u201D Gates said as her middle child curiously pressed every button and turned each knob on my camera.\n\"We do everything as a family,\" she added, looking down at her youngest child clinging to her leg. \nHowever, Gates says she is aware of the danger that rolls in through Ferguson after the sun goes down. Unlike a lot of parents here, that's when Gates packs up her family and heads home.\n\nTierra Gates' children, ages 3, 4 and 7, on Tuesday in Ferguson. Image:  Amanda Wills,  MashableBut some parents want to expose their children to all of Ferguson\u2019s unrest \u2014 even the darker sides. \nEbony Starks, 25, had her three children with her on Tuesday evening. They marched slowly, hand in hand, with groups of protesters who slowly started to increase in numbers \u2014 markers of a heightened energy that often comes just before violence sets in at night in Ferguson.\n\nEbony Starks' son on Tuesday in Ferguson. Image:  Amanda Wills,  MashableStarks said her children \u2014 ages 5, 8 and 11 \u2014 were here on Sunday evening when cops threw tear gas into the crowd. \n\u201CIt really was scary,\u201D she said. \u201CThe [police] didn\u2019t care if kids were around or not. They just threw it. My babies were all here with me.\u201D\nStill, Starks and her kids returned on Tuesday because she said police brutality is something her family routinely encounters, and it's important to face it head on. Starks said a police officer slapped her in the face in front of her children in February after she didn\u2019t follow his orders during a domestic disturbance call. \n\u201CThe police showed them firsthand why not to trust the police,\u201D Starks said. \n'I don\u2019t ever want to see these kids out here ever again'\nWhile the kids march alongside their parents, they are often overlooked, sometimes even caught on the front lines. That\u2019s one reason some protesters vehemently opposed having children on Florissant Avenue after dark. \n\nCory, 2, sits in the back of a pickup truck near the protest area in Ferguson on Tuesday. Image:  Amanda Wills,  MashableA family of four \u2014 mom, dad and two kids under the age of 8 \u2014 walked the sidelines of the protest for hours on Monday and Tuesday evening. The father, a young man in his early 20s, carried his son on his shoulders, instructing him to keep on his face mask. His daughter held a drawing of hands.\n\nCrystal Williams, 51, who grew up in the area, pulled the family away from the crowd on Tuesday night and pleaded with the parents to leave their children at home.\n\u201CYou call me if you ever need a babysitter,\"  Williams told the young parents. \"These kids should be gone by 5 o'clock.\u201D\n\nA mother and her two children, all of whom have marched in Ferguson until late in the evening. Image:  Amanda Wills,  Mashable\u201CI don\u2019t ever want to see these kids out here ever again,\u201D she added. \u201CMost of us don\u2019t care about dying, but you\u2019ve got babies.\u201D \nWilliams left Ferguson over a decade ago. A police officer had pointed a gun to her 11-year-old son\u2019s head after he stole a Snickers bar, she said. But she said she had returned to her hometown to help parents keep their children safe by offering them up to three hours of child care free of charge.\nWilliams agreed it\u2019s important that kids of a certain age in Ferguson see what\u2019s happening to their community. But it should be in measured doses, she said, and during times of day when peaceful protests are indeed peaceful.\n\u201CI don\u2019t think any child under the age of 13 should be out here,\u201D she said. \u201CAnd no child under the age of 17 should be out here after 10 o\u2019clock.\u201D\nThe teens with nothing to lose\nBut therein lies one of the biggest issues in Ferguson. Much of the violence we\u2019ve been seeing here happens at night, when the mood between police and protesters drastically changes in a matter of minutes. However, it\u2019s also the time of day when the older protesters return home, and teenagers take their place. \n\nSome men in this group of teenagers, ages 17 to 19, say they knew Michael Brown well. At 16, 17, 18 years old, they feel invincible, and are, in turn, quicker to react violently to aggressive police tactics, like driving armored trucks up and down the street. While the police may be trying to intimidate protesters, the tactic often revs them up. \n\n\u201CA lot of the youth are outraged and very angry. They are very hurt, and the reason is because there is a disconnect,\u201D said Pastor Chris Harris, one of several clergymen who come to Ferguson at night in an effort encourage peaceful protest. \n\nThis group of young men say they've been protesting in Ferguson until late in the evening when they are forced to leave. Image:  Amanda Wills,  MashableThis is the age group that Brown\u2019s death impacted the most. Some of the teens running up and down Florissant Avenue at night say they knew Brown well. It's easy for them to see themselves in his shoes. For some of these young men, his death is scarily close to home in every way. They try to mask the fear of it with aggression and anger, partly because that's all they really know.\n\u201CThere\u2019s no one that is actually connecting with them in regards to allowing them to express their voice,\u201D Harris said. \n\u201CIt\u2019s critical they have a chance to voice their opinion. Otherwise, this will continue to heighten.\u201D"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/08/20/children-of-ferguson/>