For many people it seems like the only time they pay attention to government is when it dramatically fails.
In the happenings of day-to-day life, people can often overlook the government and the institutions it has put into place can be taken for granted. However on Aug. 9, in the small St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, the flaws in a local police force caused many people to pay attention.
The shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American teenager, by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, sparked an outrage that has been recently fueled by a grand jury decision not to indict Wilson.
Thousands have rallied across the nation to demonstrate their frustration and anger with the unacceptable amount of racial profiling and mistreatment of minorities that goes on in this country’s criminal justice system.
The racial tension has been high in Ferguson, where 63 percent of the population is African-American. However, despite that percentage, 86 percent of police stops and 93 percent of arrests are African-Americans, while under 10 percent of the Ferguson police force is African-American.
To make matters even worse, a St. Louis County police lieutenant was fired as recently as 2013 for encouraging racial profiling by saying such phrases as “let’s have a black day,” and “let’s make the jail cells more colorful.”
Wilson himself was part of a police force in Jennings, Mo. that was dissolved because the tensions between officers and the local African-American community were so high.
All of this would have gone unnoticed by pretty much anyone outside of the St. Louis area had it not been for Wilson’s actions. Now, instead of being a local problem, thousands across the country are finding their voices to protest against the treatment of minorities.
The protests have moved from the streets to sports fields, universities and malls. Last Sunday, five players for the St. Louis Rams held their hands up as a gesture of solidarity with the community of Ferguson, only to be met with harsh criticism from the St. Louis community.
The players will not receive an official reprimand from the team or the NFL, but the St. Louis police department demanded a “very public apology,” upset that the five Rams players “chose to ignore the mountains of evidence released from the St. Louis County Grand Jury.
Wide Receiver Kenny Britt emphasized the gesture was to show support for the community in a symbolic way, since none of the players could physically go to Ferguson and show their support that way.
In the wake of the grand jury decision, protestors have turned to such slogans as “Black Lives Matter” and “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot.” It is heart-breaking that people feel the need to rally in order for these messages to be heard. For one race to believe that other races don’t believe their lives matter is beyond tragic.
After centuries of unspeakable crimes, mistreatment and racial tension, the Emancipation Proclamation was supposed to be a step toward equality. Over 150 years later, if people still can’t look past race, I find it hard to believe we have progressed.
Every single life matters, and every single person is an individual worthy of being treated for who he or she is as a person, not judged for the demographic to which he or she belongs. Quick judgment based on exterior rather than interior is nothing short of intolerable.
Instead of immediately labeling someone as white or black or Hispanic, I can only imagine how much more peaceful our world would be if people were instead just labeled as human beings.
For someone to dream that people “will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” shouldn’t be profound, it should be the norm.
Racial profiling could be solved so easily if only people would stop looking at something so base as skin color before deciding what kind of person someone is.
As long as people turn to violence as a solution and look at other races with distrust and fear, Wilson will serve as a symbol for an enduring problem. Through all of this, I can only hope people will find the capacity for forgiveness and peace and look toward a future of reconciliation.
The beauty of life is that every single one matters, and every person should be entitled to being treated as a human being, not as a race.