National Guard Arrives in Ferguson
The request for the arrival of the National Guard to Ferguson, Missouri is a savvy (albeit counter-intuitive) move by the Missouri governor to reduce unrest. Because the US government did not directly request — “federalize” — the National Guard, their deployment to Ferguson is not legally defined as deployment.
Because the black community has expressed their fury and frustration at the “disrespect” directed at them by the Ferguson police for many years, law enforcement’s continued presence, particularly in military gear and equipment, would only escalate the crisis. The National Guard is a de facto UN peacekeeping force (or should we now say “US peacekeeping force”), a neutral crowd-control mechanism whose presence placates the community to a certain degree, and relieves the pressure on local law enforcement. Additionally, the National Guard’s occupying presence is temporary, versus a permanent presence by local police. This maneuver also buys time, though not much, for review and negotiation.
The New York Times recently ran two articles* that describe the differences between the now ritzy & glitzy north side and the industrial “authentic” south side of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, enabling cross-cultural time travel between the 20th and 21st centuries, in the same nabe. 
