Ferguson, Missouri, again and again

I am one among many people who are feeling sadness and anger over recent and ongoing events in Ferguson, Missouri. It is all too easy to get caught up in the countless details that are discussed endlessly on TV news, on the radio and in various social media postings. And these details do matter, but they often keep us distracted from the bigger picture. 

The bigger picture that I'm talking about is the violence that is an inevitable result of systemic racism in our country. As a white man living in a relatively affluent suburb, this violence almost never reaches me--except through second-hand news reports. But, for young black men, this violence and the threat of violence are part of their everyday lives. 

For the parents of young black men, the reality is that they are far likely to lose a son than the parents of white sons. These parents fear for the lives of their sons each and every day. Because we as a nation have not dealt with the evil of racism, these young men continue to face harassment, violence, imprisonment and often death in alarmingly large numbers. And they simply are not receiving equal protection under the law. 

Whatever your personal opinion may be about Michael Brown, he did not deserve to die. Had he been a white teenager in a similar situation, his chances of being shot and killed would have been almost zero. 

When all the smoke has cleared in Ferguson, my hope and my prayer is that we will not hunker down in our homes, afraid and overwhelmed. My hope and my prayer is that we will see this tragic situation for what it is: the horrible price that is being paid over and over again for our failure as a nation to address racism. My hope and my prayer is that we will work together, across lines of race and class, to dismantle systems of racism and oppression and build in their place systems of solidarity and mutual support. 

Until we engage in this hard work, we will not be truly free. In the words of Bernice Johnson Reagon (from "Ella's Song):  

"Until the killing of Black men, Black mothers’ sons / Is as important as the killing of White men, White mothers’ sons . . . We who believe in freedom cannot rest." 

Another Young Black Man Has Been Killed

I’ve been discouraged by many of the conversations that have taken place in mainstream and social media regarding the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. So much of the discussion has concerned itself with the minutiae of the situation:

What occurred before the shooting? How far was Michael Brown from the police officer when he was shot? What is the exact law concerning when police may fire their weapons at unarmed citizens? Was Michael Brown a suspect in the robbery/shoplifting incident, and does it even matter?

I’ve seen Facebook threads with scores of comments arguing various sides and fine points having to do with each of these questions and many more. I’m sure that, in a legal sense, they are important questions. But they tend to distract us from the larger issue: our young black men are being killed at an alarming rate.

For every high-profile incident like the shooting of Michael Brown, there are dozens of other such incidents that draw little or no attention from the media. The killing of young black men is an everyday occurrence in our country. The blood they shed is the price being paid for systemic racism. Our denial of and indifference to this ongoing travesty is what allows this system to continue.

For me, the hard truth of the matter is that, if Michael Brown had been white, he very likely would not have been shot.

When people with guns (whether it’s self-appointed neighborhood patrollers like George Zimmerman or police officers like Darren Wilson) see a young black man, they are much likelier to pull the trigger (often repeatedly) than they are when they see a young white man in a similar situation.

Obsessing over the particular details of one incident keeps us spinning our wheels rather than working for justice on a larger scale. Whatever the outcome of the case in Ferguson, we have a bigger problem that needs to be addressed.

Our country has not yet squarely faced the problem of systemic racism. For those of us who are white, it may seem a largely invisible problem. But for people of color, it is an all-too-real and all-too-deadly reality.

Another young black man has been killed. Will we respond by watching canned news reports and arguing over legal technicalities until our brains are numb, or will we start to work to address the evil of systemic racism?