#PantsUPDontLOOT
By Julissa Catalan
Don Alexander, a Tennessee-based IndieGoGo campaigner in support of Darren Wilson, has raised enough funds to post a ‘#PantsUPDontLOOT’ billboard in Florissant—the center of Ferguson, Mo.—where most of the protesting has been taking place.
“PantsUPDontLOOT” is intended to mock “Hands up, don’t shoot,” which is taken from witness claims that Michael Brown, the 18-year-old unarmed teen who was shot and killed by Wilson, had his hands in the air at the time of the shooting.
Alexander wrote: “This crowdfunding campaign is for the purchase of a billboard in the Ferguson, MO area. The billboard will display black text on a white background with the text ‘#PantsUPDontLOOT.’ After some initial confusion we are working with other, undisclosed companies in the area that are willing to create and display this image. The funds collected from this campaign will be used to purchase this billboard for as long as possible. Lamar originally quoted us ~$2500 for 1 month but others have come in under that amount. Whatever funds we will receive will go directly to keeping the billboard campaign up as long as possible. If we come to an agreement with a company and can fund it for 3 months, 5 months, 7 months… we will.”
Alexander’s goal amount was listed at $3,000, but that was surpassed once he started publicizing his mission on multiple social-media outlets as well as St. Louis CopTalk, a message board for police officers and their supporters.
According to Gawker, one commenter posted to CopTalk on Nov. 13: “There is an effort to crowdfund a billboard in the Ferguson area against the rioting and looting with the hashtag #PantsUpDontLoot on it. It is coming down to the wire of getting it up before the Wilson announcement.”
That very day, Alexander announced on his campaign page that the $3,000 had been exceeded, with a total of $3,081 from 29 contributors.
The campaign has 30 days remaining, and as of Nov. 18 has raised $3,345 from 152 different donors.
Oddly, the one other campaign Alexander seems to be following is the Ferguson Defense Fund, a campaign raising legal funds for protesters who get arrested demonstrating on Ferguson streets.
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