Preventing Ferguson

Michael Brown died 108 days ago. Today, his killer, officer Darren Wilson, was cleared of all charges. I wasn’t privy to the proceedings this week, and can’t comment on the accuracy or justice of the grand jury’s decision.

That said, Michael Brown’s death, and the ensuing statement this evening, highlights what I do know. I know that altercations between armed officers and unarmed civilians should not result in death, not when other means of detainment exist. I know that racial stereotypes regarding violence and criminal intent are still very real. I know that white privilege remains an insidious force in our society. This discrepancy is coded into the way we think about race, running through our political systems, neighborhoods, places of worship, etc. It taints the framework of our culture. Its manifestations can be subtle, as demonstrated by the word thug’s increasingly loaded meaning, or startlingly overt. In the case of Ferguson, white privilege rears its head with each argument that justifies unnecessary lethal force rather than lamenting it.

People will always find stupid reasons to fear each other. This would still be true if today’s verdict lead to a different conclusion. One man’s imprisonment cannot change a culture of judgement. This tragedy is an expected consequence of a damaged system motivated by fear and ignorance, and there’s not a damn thing one arrest can do to change that.

Hatred and fear are closely intertwined, and both are enabled by ignorance. Ignorance turns Michael Brown into a thug, and Darren Wilson into a Klansman. These two men have become convenient martyrs, elected by their respective constituencies to confirm pre-written narratives about black teenagers and white cops. Ignorance is confirmed, both narratives continue, and the cycle of mistrust takes another revolution, leaving dead kids in its’ wake.

We can all prevent Ferguson in our own communities by refusing to participate in this cycle. Instead of picking fights on twitter, we can mourn for and with the Brown family. We can pray for Ferguson, Missouri, a real community struggling through the backlash and notoriety that comes with such a divisive tragedy. Most importantly, we can all look for signs of ignorance in our own perspectives, and keep it from tainting our interactions in the coming weeks.