Many Americans appear to agree that what happened to Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri was a tragedy.
While all the details may not yet be known concerning that fateful encounter between a Ferguson police officer and Black teenager Michael Brown, the culmination came when the officer fired his weapon multiple times and killed the youth.
Days of protest followed, mostly peaceful but also including some looting and counter-violence of a “few bad actors” against the police. Ron Johnson, a Black man himself and head of the Highway Patrol, came and walked with the protestors.
Understanding what the community was feeling, he seemed to be part of a successful effort to calm the angry crowds but the latest news (as of Aug. 17) indicate that after peaceful protests, flare-ups are continuing even as a midnight curfew is being implemented.
And so it goes: from a legal and forensics approach, much more can and will be said about the case; the latest news is the autopsy report which will no doubt add fuel to the fire and tensions and become itself controversial.
What can be done?
The protestors, the good people of Ferguson, should come up with a specific list of demands. Otherwise, the people will have nothing to focus their energy on achieving. Here are a few suggestions:
- The hiring of more Black police officers: a minimum number to be established.
- Respect the parents’ wishes: peaceful protest only; no looting; honor Michael Brown’s memory by peaceful and dignified marches and demonstrations.
- A fund to be set up in his name to create a scholarship for others.
- Develop community policing with more officers on foot and bicycles so they can interact with the citizens of Ferguson and get to know them as individuals.
- A Citizens Review Board to investigate allegations of police misconduct.
- The Mayor creates a Commission on Diversity and Tolerance.
- The city convenes inter-racial meetings with respected business and religious leaders of the community to discuss proposals for making their city better.
- A legal fund for the parents who may wish to file a wrongful death civil suit if no legal action is taken against the police officer or proves inadequate in scope.
- A Memorial planned to honor and remember what happened: a statue, a park, a room or building that tells the story of this tragedy for future generations to see.
- Convening meetings of concerned citizens so that the community can explore ways to have a greater say in the participatory democracy of Ferguson in areas such as education, jobs, and housing.
These are just a few suggestions; surely there are others, best understood by the people of Ferguson themselves.
Such goals help bring positive sunlight to the dark night of tragedy surrounding us; it is not easy, but it is possible and desirable to try.
The shooting, however, is also a double tragedy. If we pull back from the specific incident and the protests that followed, it is worth noting that the nature of our society played an important role in what unfolded, as always.
Oftentimes in the heat of the moment we look only at the latest episode and forget to consider education, employment, and housing. Some may say: what does that have to do with Michael Brown’s death?
Immediately, in the short term, perhaps nothing—but if we wish to prevent the deaths of more Michael Browns in the future, these fundamental underlying social issues must be addressed, too.
Oftentimes, America’s minorities feel left out of the progress everyone else is supposed to be making.
When their opportunities for education are weaker, then fewer Blacks will be able to use the Education Ladder to climb up and earn substantial salaries in successful careers that will make life easier for themselves and their families.
When the doors to employment are not to be relied upon, the unemployment rate remains much higher among minorities than the national average, especially among Black, Brown, and Red: African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans.
When housing is inadequate and inferior, there are fewer opportunities for children to develop a strong sense of having a safe secure home from which to engage the world around them.
No jobs can lead to eviction and neglected rundown housing; unemployed youth will “hang out” and be tempted to engage in illicit dealings to make a quick dollar.
The cycle of poverty, discrimination, and unemployment continues; the jails fill up, not the colleges.
We can go beyond the vicissitudes of everyday life for America’s minorities and the inequalities they face. There are on-going inequities that are often institutionalized or part of a de facto reality (that is, they are practiced whether or not sanctioned by law).
Such unjust social policies and practices further restrict the rights of minorities to transform their lives; prejudice and discrimination prevent meaningful progress from being made for all too many individuals and communities: all because of the color of their skin tone!
In truth, such incidents as the Ferguson shooting frequently reflect the long history of brutality, exploitation, and racism that Black people have endured for generations.
Even if we start with post-Civil War history (and put in abeyance for the moment our awareness of the 250 years of Slavery that preceded it) we see a century and a half of agonizingly slow progress for Black people.
True, many Black individuals have succeeded; many have become educated and entered careers as professionals; there is a Black middle class. There have been Black persons highly honored in nearly every field.
Yet even these success stories of gifted Black Americans also reveal—by glaring contrast–the lack of success for millions of others . . . including Blacks in places like Ferguson, Missouri.
Given the legacy, the ongoing social inequality, and the confusion and suspicion inherited by both sides from this dismal historical story, we see that such tragedies as Michael Brown’s untimely death in Ferguson will only become preventable when these much larger issues are solved.
The underlying causes of racial and social inequality must be addressed and not just their tragic aftermath!
Even today, the death of Michael Brown shows us that we must deal with the many misunderstandings that are recycled generation after generation around the sensitive issue of race and race relations.
Thus we see the shooting of Michael Brown as a Double Tragedy: certainly, on one level it appears to be an unnecessary fatal encounter between a police officer and a Black youth.
Yet, on another level, it is also a tragic example of what centuries of oppression can produce . . . and what the long history of racism has done to undermine the faith of people in America as a land of justice and equality.
The long shadow of past racial oppression is cast out farther and farther upon the land.
Unless we all come together to find positive ways to proceed we might as well resign ourselves to living in a country where such tragic episodes will repeat themselves time and time again.
He is neither “first” nor “last” but “another”.
Aye, and that’s the real tragedy of the shooting of Michael Brown.
