• Listen to this segment with Erin Aubrey Kaplan

• Listen to the entire program with Sonali Kolhatkar

The Grand Jury that has convened to decide whether or not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, could announce their decision any time within the next 2 or 3 weeks. Officer Wilson shot 18 year old Michael Brown multiple times in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson this summer sparking the most pronounced anti-police brutality protests in years. Now, officials fear that a decision to not indict Wilson could spark more protests, and possibly riots.

Ferguson police, who came under fire for a draconian and militarized response to the protests, are apparently readying themselves for more of the same. The department, which is dominated by whites in an area that is largely black, has spent more than $100,000 on new police equipment. Officers are being trained in crowd control tactics. Adding fuel to the news are reports of higher than usual gun sales in the area.

When George Zimmerman was acquitted a year ago in Florida for the fatal shooting of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin, the riots that everyone feared didn’t transpire. Could Ferguson be different? Could it be more like the 1992 rebellion in Los Angeles that unleashed a wave of public outrage over the acquittal of LAPD officers involved in the brutal beating of Rodney King?

GUEST: Erin Aubry Kaplan, a Los Angeles based journalist and writer. She has written for the LA Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, Ms. Magazine, and Make/shift. Her book is called “Black Talk, Blue Thoughts, and Walking the Color Line: Dispatches From a Black Journalista.