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- Archive 2019
- 2015 Elections: 11 new BME MP’s make history
- 70th Anniversary of the Partition of India
- Black Church Manifesto Questionnaire
- Brett Bailey: Exhibit B
- Briefing Paper: Ethnic Minorities in Politics and Public Life
- Civil Rights Leader Ratna Lachman dies
- ELLE Magazine: Young, Gifted, and Black
- External Jobs
- FeaturedVideo
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- Gary Younge Book Sale
- George Osborne's budget increases racial disadvantage
- Goldsmiths Students' Union External Trustee
- International Commissioners condemn the appalling murder of Tyre Nichols
- Iqbal Wahhab OBE empowers Togo prisoners
- Job Vacancy: Head of Campaigns and Communications
- Media and Public Relations Officer for Jean Lambert MEP (full-time)
- Number 10 statement - race disparity unit
- Pathway to Success 2022
- Please donate £10 or more
- Rashan Charles had no Illegal Drugs
- Serena Williams: Black women should demand equal pay
- Thank you for your donation
- The Colour of Power 2021
- The Power of Poetry
- The UK election voter registration countdown begins now
- Volunteering roles at Community Alliance Lewisham (CAL)
Ferguson, Missouri: Still no justice
Last night, the St. Louis County grand jury charged with examining evidence surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown released their decision. They brought no criminal charges against Darren Wilson, the white police officer who shot and killed the unarmed Black teen.
The announcement sparked a wave of protests across the United States. In New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Chicago, activists marched and gathered outside police stations. In Ferguson, the site of the original shooting, protests quickly turned into riots. Police cars and buildings went up in flames, and 29 people were arrested. The National Guard was deployed; it had been on standby since last week, when shop owners boarded up their windows and schools closed as the community braced for a verdict.
Unfortunately, the image of the National Guard vs. the Black community is not a new one in America. Protesters have been clashing with police, who have used military-grade riot gear, since the shooting earlier this summer. The physical arming for conflict in the lead-up to this decision shows how those in power view the protesters: as dangerous agents to be contained, not as people with legitimate concerns about justice.
Across the United States authorities continue to show contempt and disregard for Black lives similar to that displayed in the case of Michael Brown. This past weekend, a 12-year-old African-American boy was shot dead in Cleveland, Ohio as he brandished a toy gun in a park. In Kentucky, the Independent reports that a fire chief refused to help a Black family of four involved in a car crash, saying “We ain’t taking no n*****s here.”
President Obama addressing the nation said:
The fact is, in too many parts of this country, a deep distrust exists between law enforcement and communities of color. Some of this is the result of the legacy of racial discrimination in this country.”
In this climate of constant injustice, rooted in racism and manifesting itself daily in police violence, it is perhaps not surprising that the anger in Ferguson boiled over into riots.
Now Americans Black and white are charged with turning this tragedy into change. In the statement released by Michael Brown’s family, they urged nonviolence, saying:
While we understand that many others share our pain, we ask that you channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change. We need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen.”
President Obama called for police to work “with the community, not against the community” in the aftermath of the decision.
We can only hope that they will listen. But here hope is thin on ground. It’s not just the militarisation of State police forces, it’s also a bankrupt economic system that locks out millions of poor people-Black, Hispanic, Native American and white- from ever getting a foothold in the ‘American dream’.
The US police must stop viewing the Black community as adversaries. But in even more than that, the US as a whole must see Black and minority communities as an asset worth investing in, and not as a plague that needs to be stamped out or locked up and quarantined.
Lets hope that Ferguson stops buring soon and begins a very needed healing process.
Ruth Hirsch