VIOLENCE IN FERGUSON AFTER GRAND JURY DECISION: PROTESTS IN SAN DIEGO

MJ: Indeed, hope is what is needed here, that all can use the past as a pattern and template to remind society that violence and forgiveness tend to foster more of the same. Otherwise, November 24 may well become known as "Throwback Monday" for its close resemblance to the American Civil Rights era as portrayed in dramas such as "Ghosts of Mississippi". In a time when racial segregation against people of color was the norm, Medgar Evers organized demonstrations, boycotts of companies that practiced discrimination, and led voter-registration drives. When he was murdered by one Byron de la Beckwith, a Euro-American who believed just as strongly that segregation, its most enduring bastion being the Deep South, was an institution that should endure. It took a third trial, a new generation, and a jury makeup that included both black and white jurors, before his conviction over three decades later. Today, sadly, a generation of young people across ethnicities who were not then born, are facing yet another challenge in which legal, institutional, social, and structural hindrances have proven that certain cultural and traditional practices are just as deeply entrenched now, and just as resistant to change. While we must give the police their just dues as being a necessary component of the society that they are sworn to protect and serve, we must continue to challenge and demand the removal of systemic impediments that allow those officers who are guilty of violating that trust to be brought to justice. There will, no doubt, be continuing debate on the events of Ferguson. Among others, Alex S. Vitale, a Brooklyn College Sociologist who focuses on the politics of policing and the policing of politics, in a recent article, states that "There are significant structural barriers to successful police indictment or prosecution." One of the barriers he cites is that the investigations are more likely than not to be conducted through both police detectives and investigators from the prosecutors' office. He further states that, when there is reason to believe the shooting is not justified, prosecutors are more likely to take a more significant role. On the other hand, he cites, they must depend on police cooperation in the gathering of required evidence. Such includes witness statements from both the officer who is implicated and other police officers (if any) at the scene. Sometimes he (or they) may be the only live witnesses regarding what took place. While cooperation between the two entities is an asset during investigations regarding homicides, Vitale states that it can also become an impediment in shooting cases involving police. In most cases, prosecutors rely on the cooperation of police. This, Vitale says, creates a major conflict of interest. In such cases, he states, prosecutors are frequently reluctant to pursue such cases with the necessary zeal. Not surprisingly, he implies, local district attorneys, who are elected, do not wish to appear as hindering police in the carrying out their jobs as enforcers of the law. All this said, what is needed is the addressing of built-in systemic barriers that allow such barriers to exist in the first place, and which leave many who believe they were deprived of justice to express their discontent in sometimes peaceful, and at other times, violent ways. Looting and burning, such as in the town of Ferguson will change nothing except that such acts will devastate communities where people most affected by this tragedy live. Peaceful protests that are organized and that vocalize discontent, on the other hand, force the public to listen to and focus attention on issues in justice systems that need to be addressed, including certain built-in practices within agencies and how they handle their affairs. Until such is done, nothing can or will repair those areas that are fraught with practices that discriminate. Other Fergusons will no doubt erupt until the system itself changes, and other avenues couched within a higher law demand it to change. KB Schaller, Author 100+ Native American Women Who Changed the World Winner, International Book Award, Women's Issues http://KBSchaller.com/