There is no doubt that we have seen the worse of many people in this Ferguson case.
Both the city police, the county police, the county judiciary had done what they have supposed not to do. On the other hand, the politicians in the county have been clueless just like the people (who have generally from outside Ferguson) who think that destroying the city is a good way to further their cause. When someone is destroying every business in a place like Ferguson, how would this bring a better life to the people there?
But the problem is not only in Ferguson. In a place like Chicago, there is an enormous amount of violence. Teens get injured or killed almost every day in Chicago. The vast majority of the victims are African Americans and yet you see little coverage in the national media on this. Sadly, could we say that cases like that only have media coverage when they are between people who have different skin colour? Because it’s agreeable that this is a real problem, but it’s also good for sensationalism and to have good ratings.
And yet, people from aboard should refrain to judge too much the situation in the US. In the UK, in France, and even in Sweden, there are cases like the one in Ferguson. There were riots in the last few years in all those places because of similar events like in Ferguson. One can think of the violent riots in France in 2005 who started because a young man was killed by a policeman in France.
What could be done?
In the short term, to put a video camera on policemen would be a good option.
In the more long term, however, I find that ending the war on drugs could be the only good way that minorities in the US have a better life. Less Americans should be detained, and especially considering that African Americans are over-represented in jails all over America. A great number of those offences are related to drugs. This would be a good starting point.
Agora 