Injecting humanity back into the current civil rights movement in Ferguson.
There is one very important factor that has been overlooked in the uprisings in Ferguson, Missouri: Michael Brown, Kajieme Powell, and Vonderrick Myers were all human beings. These are the cries of the men and women chanting and marching in the streets. The narrative of basic human rights being suffocated under criminal stereotypes and media propaganda courtesy of the St. Louis Police Department. These cries are not only for the lives that have been lost, but for those who still walk among us.
Detractors of the current movement believe that criminality led to the deaths instead of racial profiling and excessive use of force. Unfortunately, the testimonies of black individuals from all walks of life being stopped, harassed, and arrested for nothing or next to nothing outweigh the number of criminals taken down. For example, NYC's Stop and Frisk tactics stated that police could search anyone on the street. Black and Latino people were disproportionately targeted and the unconstitutional method of searching did not only expose the racist profiling on police but was very ineffective.
Criminality is not an excuse to execute anyone. Law enforcement officers are present to enforce the rule, of law, not to take into their own hands. The individuals who stand behind officers like Darren Wilson open a dangerous gambit that allows officers to shoot to kill any persons deemed a potential threat. The result of this justification has already claimed the lives of Powell and Myers. It also downplays the current protesting to "rioting and looting", as those same supporters of law enforcement view protesting about black lives mattering to all people as an annoyance.
For a true account of how white people feel about the modern-day civil rights movement happening in Ferguson, look no further than the internet. A Rams fan attempted to take away a protester's American flag and a protester spiting in a Rams fan's face before being arrested during a demonstration outside the Edward Jones Dome Sunday. The locals, snug safely behind the computer monitor, berate and hurl racial epithets at these protesters clashing with fans. The degrading and discrimination of the protesters by white St. Louisians varies from false sympathy to full-blown racism. All is harmful and ignores the core problem that has plagued the movement since day one: Black people's humanity is directly contingent on their lack of criminality. That criminality is assumed from the outset, no matter how large the group is or how varied it is, until proven otherwise.
The biggest blockade to our human compassion and empathy is fear. These officers often state they fear for their lives to justify the use of deadly force to a pacified public. Yet black people fear the deadly use of force from a trigger-happy officer, who has become the symbolic executioner for black youth. The ingrained fear that the police are not your friend reverberates in the actions of young black people, whether it paralyzes or emboldens them. The police themselves claim to be fearful and meet that supposed fear with force, and they suspect everyone regardless of intent. The fear felt by a high school dropout is the same as a PHD recipient, as there are no indicators to determine whether or not a cop shoot or speak first. Even more frightening than being unjustly arrested, beaten, or killed is the chilling notion that the crime will go unpunished, the victim will be blamed, and the perpetrator is free to repeat the cycle.