On the morning of August 24, 2014 at 3:20 AM Napa valley experienced a 6.0 magnitude earthquake that damaged buildings and devasted the local population. That people of Napa had been shaken a great deal by a colossal force of nature.

The place where I live experience the quake, but to a lesser extent with practically no damages. I live in Sonoma County: a beautiful area bordering Napa and rivaling it in the wine industry. When I woke that morning at 3:20 in my top bunk in the room I share with my two brothers I heard my younger brother mumble casually that there was an earthquake. I felt the shaking for sure but it wasn't a terrifying "earth-shaking" experience; it was more like a gentle to moderately wavy rocking motion. I had just woke up and I was pretty dopey, so when I considered if I should get out of bed to a more earthquake recommended position I figured that it was just a little one and it wouldn't really affect me. So I stayed in bed and went back to sleep oblivious of what that tremor had done to my area.

When I woke that morning neighbor Napa was all over the news "Earthquake Causes Building to Crumble" "87 injured. 3 in critical condition" I thought "Wow" isn't it incredible that that people close to me experienced so much pain from it while I barely even felt it, yawning it off in fact. I never realized the magnitude that a seemingly small event to me could have on others.

Coincidentally that same weekend in Missouri there was another earthquake centered in Ferguson that had a nationwide radius. This earthquake didn't last very long; probably less than a minute, but its aftershock was greater than any earthquake this country has ever experienced. In fact I'm inaccurate when I categorize it as an earthquake (it registered a zero on the Richter scale) it's proper category, is murder. This earthquake wasn't caused by fault lines or plates, but by six bullets from the gun of a police officer that brought an unarmed black man to his death.

Colored communities felt this quake in its fullest, other communities felt it in a secondary degree, still other just experienced it as a moderate rolling motion that they probably didn't think anything of.

If someone woke me at 3:20 AM and told me that an unarmed black man was killed by a US police officer I would have felt the shake for sure, but I woulnd't have jumped out of bed trying to solve what just happened and what I should have done. I'd probably think of it as a "little one" at the moment and just yawn, roll over, and go back to sleep. I heard all about the shooting of Michael Brown in the news the following mornings and days but I felt like it didn't happend to me as much as it happened to others especially colored communities. It must have been because I experienced a second hand, far reaching ripple and not the full force as Michael Brown's family and friends had.

If you asked a person who lives in Napa or Sonoma where he or she was August 24, 2014 at 3:20 AM they could easily tell you because it was such a widespread and powerful event. The same is true with Americans if you asked them when they first heard of Michael Brown. The difference in each person's story of how they heard of Michael Brown would reflect how they felt "The Wave." If they just felt a small somewhat disturbing part of the wave or if they felt a tsunami sized ground shaker.

Michael Brown's killing was a huge event. Just remember that even if you don't feel it much, there are people and communities that have to repair, not crumbling buildings but, their trust in their government and police force, and we have to remember that there are still more people that have to mourn the loss of a young man who could shake the ground.