Ferguson, MO Fallout

I was sitting in a local deli eating lunch with my children when I got my first taste of the Ferguson, Missouri police brutality fiasco. A muted TV above our heads showed CNN's Wolf Blitzer standing in front of night-vision video of a rioting crowd, under the attack of what looked like grenades. I first assumed it was footage of a recent civilian uprising in some far-off land. And then the caption finally clarified: it was a place I'd never heard of, here in America. In the Mid-West. Ferguson, Missouri, just outside of St. Louis. "A predominantly African-American neighborhood."

I hadn't heard about the shooting of Michael Brown. In these last days of summer, I've been wrapped up with my kids, taking long breaks from the grim news of the day. And suddenly I'm watching unidentifiable armed forces attacking American civilians, and I can't imagine why. It's terrifying. The civilians, all of whom appear to be black, are fighting back. It's unclear whether they're fighting the police or the National Guard. But it's not footage from 1965. It's obviously happening right now.

I told my girls, "I don't know what's going on. It looks like people are rioting somewhere. And they're being attacked. Don't watch, OK? Don't look at the TV. We'll go home, and we'll find out what's going on." But I continued watching, and the closed caption eventually provided the back story. 

Days of media discourse followed, about the shooting, the reaction of the local community, the actions of the local police force, and state and federal reactions. Again, it's one in a long list of cases of American young black men being killed by armed, trained police officers. It keeps happening, all over this huge country. If Michael Brown's neighbors hadn't rioted, and the police hadn't reacted with force, would news of the shooting have reached New York? Would we have ever heard of Ferguson, Missouri?

My children understand that racism exists, but they don't feel threatened by it. They feel safe in our diverse community. They know adults and children of every color, and they don't fear people according to skin color. What luxury!!

While many of us believe we're living the promise of racial equality, I'm convinced that we are the true minority. In an attempt to get some clarity about the unseen fallout of the shooting of Michael Brown, I came across two powerful bits of journalism:

1. Mother Jones printed comments left by participants in the fundraising campaign to finance the legal defense of the offending police officer. Please note, I don't disclaim the officer's right to a fair trial or a defense fund; it's the sentiment voiced by his supporters that is so deeply troubling.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/darren-wilson-donors-racist-ferguson#disqus_thread

2. The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof contributed an opinion piece last week that enumerated some mighty strong statistics, supporting the point that American race relations deserve more attention.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-after-ferguson-race-deserves-more-attention-not-less.html?_r=0

The problem is inequality. Sustained by racism, unchecked.