THANKS to a number of leaks, it was no surprise when Robert McCulloch announced that a grand jury did not indict Darren Wilson, the white police officer who shot Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, last August in Ferguson, Missouri. The decision by a jury of nine whites and three blacks was no less upsetting for many Americans. Hundreds of people waited outside the court house to hear the lengthy decision in person. Some responded with tears, others with protests. An evening that began in sombre anticipation has turned violent.
At least one police car has been torched, and several buildings, including a Walgreens, have been either looted or set on fire. Some protesters threw bottles, and there were reports of gun shots. Police in riot gear and gas masks have responded with gas or smoke to control the crowds. Airspace in the St Louis area appears to be restricted. Protesters have taken to the streets in other cities around the country, including Los Angeles and New York.
Mr Brown’s parents were “profoundly disappointed” with the decision, but have asked that protests be peaceful. “Answering violence with violence is not the appropriate reaction,” they said in a released statement. President Barack Obama echoed this request, even as he noted that anger is an “understandable reaction”. He asked that police respond responsibly: “they need to work with the community, not against the community,” he said, adding that officers should “distinguish the few people who want to engage in violence from the vast majority of people who want to protest peacefully.”
The president has instructed Eric Holder, the attorney general, to work with police, as there is otherwise “too much distrust” between police and some citizens. Ferguson is not alone in this distrust. As Mr Obama said in his short statement, the law too often seems to be “applied in a discriminatory fashion” around the country. Systemic racism is still a problem, and so-called “justifiable homicides” are on the rise. Two decades ago there were 1.92 justified homicides for every 10,000 violent crimes; in 2011 that number went up to 3.35.
Officers in Ferguson are also not alone in shooting unarmed black men. A probationary New York police officer shot and killed an unarmed black man in Brooklyn on November 20th. In Cleveland over the weekend a police officer shot and killed a black 12-year-old boy who made the mistake of reaching for a fake pistol. And as the grand jury trial reaffirms, it is very difficult to indict a police officer for killing someone.
