Why the Ferguson unrest is not surprising
Given the US is so unwilling to own up to its racial history, the question over the Ferguson unrest is not, "How could this happen?" but, "Why did it take so long?" writes Ruby Hamad.
22 August 2014
When George Zimmerman was acquitted of the murder of Trayvon Martin in July last year, the response of much of the American populace - not limited to the black portion of the population - was swift.
The protests across the country were large and angry but overwhelmingly peaceful.
I was in New York during that city's rally, and speaking to some locals there was clearly a burning desire for a more just society but, from the black community at least, also a sense of resignation that seemed to say, "This is America. This will always be America".
Since Trayvon's death, there have been countless innocent black men and women killed both by police and gun-wielding vigilantes (many of whom have literally gotten away with murder). Indeed, a black man is killed by police or vigilantes every 28 hours.
Some of these victims include:
Eric Garner, a diabetic man choked to death by a policeman on the streets of New York.
Renisha McBride, a college student who was shot in the face after knocking on a stranger's door for help when her car broke down. Her killer is awaiting sentencing.
Jordan Davis, a teenager shot by a white, middle-aged stranger who was furious that Davis and his friends were playing loud music in a public parking lot.
And, of course, there is Michael Brown, the 18-year-old shot six times by a white policeman in Ferguson, Missouri.
I've never been to Ferguson, so I couldn't explain what it is about that particular city that made it ripe for the greatest outpouring of anger at the loss of yet another one of their young men since the Rodney King riots in the early 1990s.
According to this article by Jamelle Bouie, however, every black person in Ferguson has a story about the police. One of these is 25-year-old Cary Ball Jnr who was shot and killed with 25 rounds just last year.
Police officers are rarely indicted for shooting unarmed black men. Add to this the fact that Ferguson is among the most racially segregated cities in America (it has just one black council member and three black police officers on a force of 53), and the outcome of Brown's shooting now seems inevitable.
Perceived to be much more dangerous than they actually are, the myth of the Dangerous Black Man is partly driven by the overrepresentation of black men in prison. While black people form 13.2 per cent of the general population, they are 37 per cent of the prison population, but it's not necessarily because they commit more crimes. Black people are far more likely to be charged than white people for the same offences, and more likely to be incarcerated when convicted.
Most offenders are in prison for non-violent offences, including drug-related crimes. Even though blacks sell and use drugs at the same rate as whites, they are three to five times more likely to be arrested.
All of which adds up to make black people feel like the justice system is not only stacked against them, but actively out to get them. Which is understandable given cases such that of Marisa Alexander, a black woman sentenced to 20 years in jail for firing a warning shot at her husband, a known domestic abuser. On appeal the prosecution signalled their intent to seek an increase to 60 years.
In the last year alone, two working black mothers have been arrested and charged for what essentially amounts to being poor. Homeless monther Shanesha Taylor left her children in the car while she went for a job interview, while Debra Harrell was arrested for allowing her daughter to play alone in a local park, while she worked at McDonald's.
Without condoning this behaviour, surely we can agree this is less an indication of criminality and more a sign of a system that discriminates against people in poverty (who, of course, are disproportionately black).
While these mothers are being prosecuted, privileged white men get away with far worse crimes. Last year 16-year-old Ethan Couch made sensational news when a judge decided he suffered from "affluenza" and therefore was ill-suited to spend any time in prison.
Couch had killed four people in a car crash after he'd been drinking and speeding.
There is a terrible irony to president Barack Obama's pleas for calm from Martha's Vineyard, the centre of white elitism. Even before Ferguson, black people have long since given up on his ability or even willingness to address these grievances.
Race remains a touchy subject for white people, even more so than here in Australia. The insistence that simply believing in racial equality is enough, that racism today amounts to nothing more than saying bad words that hurt people's feelings, all while denying the discrimination against minorities, leads many to now view racism against whites as being as big a problem than that against blacks.
Already tense race relations are not helped by things such as SketchFactor, an app developed by white New Yorkers to help people avoid "bad" parts of town. "Sketchy" of course, has long being used to describe black neighbourhoods.
In a city already reeling from the negative effects of gentrification, with blacks and other minorities driven out of areas they have long populated, this app has certainly not gone down well.
America simply hasn't come to terms with its history. The only thing that surprises me about Ferguson is that people are surprised about Ferguson. The criminalisation of the black body - both male and female - has coupled with overzealous policing to create a perfect storm.
Black people may arouse fear in white Americans but it is their safety and lives that are in danger. In a country this unwilling to own up to its own racial history, the question is not, "How could this happen?" but, "Why did it take so long?"
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
There's a reason why a lot of people would choose to not live in a black neighborhood and it isn't because they're KKK members.
You're joking right? That isn't black culture...I've lived in "black" neighborhoods where the things you mention don't exist. You're describing poor neighborhoods which aren't limited to just the black population.
