1hundredsixty8

The events in Missouri the past few months should make us all feel ashamed we live in a country where the killing of unarmed citizens by police officers is acceptable. We should be ashamed that the reaction of some people to these events is to riot, to burn and loot, forsaking the pursuit of redress through lawful means because it seems futile, especially if you are black.

We should be ashamed to live in a society where the system of justice is seen as rigged in the favor of the well-connected. Robert McCulloch, the prosecutor in the case of Michael Brown’s killing by police officer Darren Wilson, managed to accomplish something that is rare in American criminal justice: Bring a case before a grand jury and not obtain an indictment. While it is true it is statistically difficult to obtain the conviction of a police officer for using lethal force in the line of duty, it would have seemed prudent that Officer Wilson face a jury trial in open court, if only in some part to show that justice might be impartial. McCulloch’s insensitive approach- a charitable characterization- achieved quite the opposite.

We should be ashamed if we think Michael Brown’s killing was a singular incident in a mostly black community. Friday, an unarmed black man was shot and killed by a NYC police officer in a Brooklyn housing project. The NYPD described the shooting as an “accident”.  In Cleveland the next day, a 12-year old black youth with a toy gun was shot and killed by police when he failed to respond to verbal instructions. And, back in August, in another incident involving a toy rifle, a young black man was shot and killed in an Ohio Walmart by police officers responding to a call from other shoppers who saw 22-year old John Crawford walking around with the gun, a toy which he evidently intended to purchase.

We should be ashamed about these incidents because there was never a compelling reason for someone to die. We should be doubly ashamed because we have allowed fear to dictate our behavior, especially a fear of young black men. We should be ashamed because we employ police officers who seem to be fully invested in this fear. (In his grand jury testimony, Officer Wilson, who is 6-foot-4, admitted to being terrified by Michael Brown, also 6-foot-4.*)

We should be ashamed if permit the repugnant nature of the riots to excuse us from confronting the ugly consequences of living in a society that defines itself along racial lines.  

Shame can be a motivator for change, the kind of change that improves as many of our lives as possible. And we should be ashamed if we do not use this motivation to our advantage.

*Addendum, 8 December: In his grand jury testimony, Officer Wilson described Brown as "looking like a demon". That prompted me to wonder what exactly a demon looked like, and if the Officer had ever seen one before. I am fairly certain that, even in Missouri, there is no legal defenition of "demon".