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Ferguson Protesters Graffiti ‘If We Burn, You Burn With Us’ On St. Louis Arch in Missouri

Posted by: Ciara McIntyre November 24, 2014 in Real World News 11 Comments

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The town of Ferguson, Missouri is tensely waiting to hear the result of the Grand Jury deciding whether or not to indict police officer, Darren Wilson, for shooting and killing an unarmed youth, Michael Brown on August 9th.

Over 150 protesters in favour of indictment have marched through the streets today for two hours. Many are trying to make their voices heard peacefully after outbreaks of violence over the past few months. Graffiti has cropped up in the Shaw neighbourhood of St. Louis, Missouri from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and Suzanne Collins’ novel: “If we burn, you burn with us.”

Prominent protester Deray Mckesson, who has no connection to the mystery graffiti slogan, commented on the writing which has since been painted over:






Mckesson also noted no protests were being held near the monument.

Source: Daily Mail

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About Ciara McIntyre

Ciara works as a Script Supervisor, part-time film reviewer and full-time cinematic nerd.
  • capitolcitizen

    Wow

  • devonwhpfan

    Seriously its like the timing of this movie is fate for all its parallels to whats going on. Or perhaps the truly scary fact is that this stuff is always going on and will continue to for as long as man walks this earth.

  • Quarter Quell Victor Tribute

    What does FIP stand for?

  • Riana-Tiana Menezes

    This is all so surreal.

  • HungerGamesAddict

    Before I saw this article or even heard of the graffiti, I had been watching the Ferguson case on television for 2 hours. I was astonished at the similarities to the franchise that everyone on this site is dedicated to; I thought about this for a very long time before wondering whether JabberJays had posted anything related. Sure enough, here it was. During the “peaceful” protests about the ruling made by the grand jury, the protesters began to “vandalize” a police car, throwing homemade (I honestly don’t know what they were, some variation of a smoke bomb/grenade/sparkler? things) at the police. They are standing up for what they believe is right, whether for good or for bad. There was tension since the beginning of the announcement, but as depicted identically in Panem, that tension was not quelled; it continued to rise until it boiled over. The protesters fought back, as the rebels did.

    Even the riot shields and costumes of the policemen are very peacekeeper like- and almost inhuman- in a sense. The police apparently retaliated with smoke-bombs and tear gas, just as the peacekeepers did on the District 8 rebels in Catching Fire, and as they did during the entirety of Mockingjay Part 1.

    The Hunger Games franchise truly is a parallel to humanity, and it’s changing the world, from Thailand, to Hong Kong, to Missouri. It’s becoming an inspiration for people, are while potentially dangerous, it’s absolutely fascinating.

    Let’s take a look at some images: the first two are from the District 8 riots during Catching Fire, and the final three are photographs of Ferguson riots. The similarities are breathtaking.

  • TeamButtercup

    Someone posted a video of Ferguson protesting with the background of the Hanging Tree song. It sent shivers down my spine.

  • Louise Mossige

    I have mixed feelings. It’s a very aggressive slogan, taken out of context. It could be abused..

    • Satsuma

      Well, I actually think whoever spray-painted that slogan, if they did indeed mean to approve of actual burning and looting as opposed to speaking metaphorically, is actually taking the slogan in the exact context that D13 wanted the rebels to take it in. Now, Katniss personally, maybe not as much. But I can certainly see Coin wanting all the Districts burned to the ground so she could more easily control them later, even if this wasn’t in the interests of the Districts citizens themselves.
      One gripe I do have with Part 1 is that they cut out some of the scenes from the book that foreshadowed the later excesses of the rebels; Movie!Effie’s treatment in D13 is nothing like the treatment the prep team received in the book. Now we could argue Plutarch was treating her well so she’d agree to help Katniss, but the prep team was brought to D13 for the same reason, and unlike the movie, were NOT given any real choice in the matter.

      In general, I think the rebels/D13 are presented much more favorably in Part 1 so far, than they were in the book. D13 is presented as having actually “played dead” for 75 years, cleverly fooling the Capitol, while in the book, D13 actually forged a separate peace with the Capitol and left the other Districts to fend for themselves. And certainly, Coin is presented as a much more sympathetic character.

      It’s also interesting that Darius, the PK who actually protested Thread’s actions in CF, was cut. PKs so far have been presented like the Star Wars Storm-troopers as mindless drones, readily following any order given, no matter how atrocious (and the D7 scene suggests they are as stupid as the Stormtroopers were in SW, too).

      Now, this may all be a set up for Part 2, perhaps the uglier truths about D13 and more nuanced truths about the Capitol side will come out then. But considering the way PKs have been depicted so far, I think the average movie fan would be cheering Gale on in D2 and wanting all PKs dead.