Teddy Burrage

FERGUSON, MO – On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown, 18, was shot and killed by a police officer in his hometown of Ferguson, Missouri. The black teenager was unarmed and taken down by a white officer. The incident sparked outrage throughout the local community and nation, much as the Trayvon Martin tragedy did back in 2012. Lead by Attorney General Eric Holder, the Department of Justice is currently investigating the incident, including the entire Ferguson Police Department. Though the details of the case have yet to be sorted out, the social upheavals in Ferguson continue to raise many questions about race, class, and power.

A Brief History

The United States has a long history of white supremacy starting with the North Atlantic slave trade which spanned from the 16^th to the 19^th century. Slavery as a practice was abolished when Abraham Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 which stated that all slaves were to be set free. While this was a major step in the battle for equality, it did not change the social status of blacks in any meaningful way. Often subject to similar working conditions as slavery, black people had no realistic channels for financial and social success after the emancipation. Their lack of opportunity and lowered social status were exacerbated by segregation. Moreover, the newly freed slaves were subject to heinous and inhumane harassment. Men and women were often lynched (hanged) for minor “offences” such as looking at a white person the wrong way or standing up for themselves. These crimes against humanity were often dismissed by law enforcement and tried in unfair, biased litigation.

In 1870, the 15^th Amendment gave black men the right to vote, yet another critical step in the fight for equality. But it was yet another step that came with much resistance and no meaningful change in the way that black people were treated socially and economically. Poll taxes were imposed and large efforts to keep black people from the ballot box became commonplace.

This began a movement lead by people such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. Their work resulted in the end of segregation, and the restrictive voting laws that disenfranchised the black community. The history books in high schools around the country claim that the Civil Rights Movement ushered in full equality for black people in America, ending a gruesome and embarrassing time for our country. But when you look at statistics, you’ll get a different story.

Power and Poverty

Poverty in the United States is a growing problem, and who it affects reveals some shocking facts about racial disparities in class. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 13 percent of white Americans live in poverty, as opposed to 35 percent of blacks. And while 6.4 percent of white Americans are unemployed, the rate doubles for those with black skin (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). It is very possible that these variations in wealth and employment don’t indicate the cause of racism, but rather the effect.

One could argue that the wealth and class disparities between blacks and whites are rooted in 200 years of slavery and segregation. It’s possible that blacks’ long history of 2^nd class citizenship affect our current power structure. According to a study conducted by N2Growth, a leading corporate consulting firm, 94% of Fortune 100 CEOs are white, whereas their black counterparts only make up 4%. This imbalance is fairly consistent within national, state, and local government. Take Ferguson, Missouri for example: of six city council members, only one is black; this is within a community where blacks outnumber whites nearly 3 to 1.

Moreover, nearly 50 percent, or 1 million of the 2.3 million people currently incarcerated in the United States are black; this is despite blacks only making up about 13 percent of the entire population of the US.

So what we can take away from these staggering statistics is that blacks are limited in opportunity, much more than caucasians. By virtue, if you are born black in the United States, you have a lesser chance at financial and social success, and are more likely to be put in jail. When we see riots on TV with citizens not following the prescribed law, it would be reasonable to assume that it’s because the law has failed them. To see an unarmed eighteen year old gunned down by an officer who belongs to a department, which has a history of harassing an already disadvantaged community, this should make everyone angry.

I couldn’t imagine living somewhere like Ferguson where the citizens have little faith or trust in the police that are supposed to protect them from harm. The unfair way the law is applied in this country is a crime in and of itself. The racism that was once displayed on storefront signs and through the burning of a crosses made it easy to see. But today, racism hides in the shadows of a supposedly “colorblind” society.