Prophetic tweets predict crisis in protest movement

6th October 2014   ·   0 Comments

By Chris King
Contributing Writer

(Special to the NNPA from the St. Louis American) – Saturday, September 27, was a chaotic day in the Ferguson protest movement, marked by internal conflict and run-ins with citizens — including at least two run-ins with citizens’ cars — at Ferguson Market.

More than 845 miles away in Houston, Texas, Nona Stewart registered the disturbance as she did laundry and got excited about watching a Beyoncé concert on television. She was following many Ferguson protestors on Twitter, where Stewart (@SheSeaux­Sad­it­ty) seems to communicate almost constantly during her waking hours.

A student of protest movements who works in communications for Texas state government, Stewart visited Ferguson from August 22 to 25. She has a friend who lives in Ferguson, Tasha Burton, owner/­operator of Belle Butters. Stewart was a client of Belle Butters even before the two women realized they had mutual friends. It became a sister thing, so when Michael Brown was killed in her friend’s hometown and the community rose in protest, Stewart traveled to Ferguson in support.

Now it was almost a month since she visited and 40 days since Michael Brown was killed by Police Officer Darren Wilson. Stewart is a dream interpreter who is comfortably at home in the prophetic tradition. The Biblical time frame of those 40 days – “for 40 days and 40 nights, Jesus wandered in the wilderness,” she told The American later – started to weigh on her mind.

“I don’t want to creep people out,” she said, “but when God moves me to say it, the thoughts are not my own.”

Speaking from God or from some other prophetic place, she proceeded to tweet advice to a protest movement in crisis.

She warned of danger from Black folks who only appear to work within the movement.

“Every person protesting with you who shares your heightened melanin content is NOT on your team,” she said. “The enemy never comes in a form that will be offensive to you. He always appears as a pleasing/­appealing thing. Y’all’s enemy is out there protesting with you, reporting all of your actions, telling everything that upsets you to your enemy.”

Many protestors did claim over the weekend to have identified paid agitators working with the police, though no named source has come forward.

She warned of danger from white outsiders infiltrating the movement to advance their own violent ends.

“People I love and care about in Ferguson, please know that soon the extremists with melanin deficiency are gonna show up to the party,” she said. “I would like for y’all to prepare mentally for when that time comes. Y’all gotta unite AT LEAST publicly so they can’t dismantle y’all.”

Police intelligence confirmed to The American that there are two different white-led extremist groups currently active in Fergu­son. One communist-identified group introduced Molotov cocktails to protestors early in the movement, and another anarchist-identified group cased the Edward Jones Dome on Sunday, September 28, according to police intelligence.

Stewart warned of protestors having their heightened emotions used against them.

“Emotional and psychological espionage is one of the most tactical forms of warfare. Don’t feed into it,” she said. “You’re going to be incited to anger more emotionally.”

This article originally published in the October 6, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.