Reactions to Ferguson Decision Across the U.S. Show Complex Racial Split
By Tim Jones and Margaret Newkirk Nov 26, 2014 12:01 AM ET
Just as President Barack Obama, the nation’s first black chief executive, urged people in a televised broadcast not to throw bottles or smash windows, they did exactly that.
“There are ways of channeling your concerns constructively,” Obama counseled Monday night while protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, began torching police cars, burning down buildings and looting businesses after a St. Louis County prosecutor announced there would be no grand jury indictment of a police officer who killed an unarmed black teenager.
Six years into the Obama presidency, the historic symbolism of a black leader in the White House has collided with the systemic reality of continuing racial divisions aggravated by the economy and violent interactions between the judicial system and young black men.
“It’s a rebellion against a system that is killing our young people and then has no repercussions, nor transparency in their investigations,” said Elizabeth Vega, 48, a St. Louis artist who has been demonstrating in Ferguson since 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot Aug. 9.
Yet the divide is complex and not as clear-cut as it used to be. Two decades ago, the acquittal of former football star O.J. Simpson on murder charges provoked sharp disagreements between blacks and whites, and served as a touchstone on how the two races can view things through distinctly different eyes.
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-26/ferguson-reaction-across-u-s-shows-complex-racial-split.html
