Ferguson Part Two

Back in August, I had a night very similar to last night. I stayed up way too late watching video feeds from a country that I do not recognize as my own.

Personally, I wasn’t expecting an indictment. Were you?

It’s not the riots that I find troubling. Riots happen. We had one in Albany over something called Kegs & Eggs. There was one recently surrounding an annual pumpkin festival. Riots are destructive. Riots are upsetting. Cars can be replaced. Buildings can be rebuilt. And buildings don’t feel pain. Property is far, far less important than people.

Mostly what gets to me is watching an overmilitarized police force launching wave after wave of teargas canisters into a crowd of mostly peaceful protesters. And if this can happen in Ferguson when the eyes of the world are watching, do we as Americans still have the right to free speech and freedom of assembly?

I mean, we still have it on paper. Speaking of basic human rights, Americans with darker skin tones don’t even seem to have the right to drive around in a car. It’s a travesty.

On the lack of an indictment, I think I’ll hand the blog over to Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri:

The grand jury’s decision does not negate the fact that Michael Brown’s tragic death is part of an alarming national trend of officers using excessive force against people of color, often during routine encounters. Yet in most cases, the officers and police departments are not held accountable. While many officers carry out their jobs with respect for the communities they serve, we must confront the profound disconnect and disrespect that many communities of color experience with their local law enforcement.

The ACLU will continue to fight for racial justice. We must end the prevailing policing paradigm where police departments are more like occupying forces, imposing their will to control communities. This ‘us vs. them’ policing antagonizes communities by casting a blanket of suspicion over entire neighborhoods, often under the guise of preventing crime.

To build trust, we need a democratic system of policing where our communities have an equal say in the way their neighborhoods are policed. Collaboration, transparency, and communication between police and communities around the shared goals of equality, fairness, and public safety is the path forward.

Feeling helpless? Just want to do something? Well, how about signing this petition to the DOJ to stop racial profiling. Or this one to the DOJ and Homeland Security to stop sending excess military equipment to local police departments.

Are these the same as being in the streets, elbow to elbow with those under siege by an over-armed and under-caring police force? No. But it’s something.

There is nothing funny about the situation on the ground in Ferguson. And I know burning down buildings is wrong. I don’t endorse the practice. But if anything good has come out of this whole affair, perhaps it is that we now have one less Little Caesar’s in the world.

Man, that place is terrible.

I shouldn’t make jokes. Not when American cities are burning. Not when unarmed citizens are gunned down in the streets (even if they are suspected of a crime). Not when an encounter with U.S. police can go from zero to death in ninety seconds. Not when our government is gassing its citizens who are protesting a lack of justice. Not when our laws make indicting police officers who cross a moral line almost impossible. Because these are truly terrible things. And right now these things demand our attention.