feature: justice has been denied in ferguson, what next?

Simply put, Michael Brown was denied justice last night – that single right afforded to each citizen of the “United” States (be you black, brown or white). Simply put – a white man killed an unarmed black man, and was given the right to walk free. How loudly Baldwin’s words now ring true, “You were born where you were born and faced the future that you faced because you were black and for no other reason, The limits of your ambition were, thus, expected to be set forever. You were born into a society which spelled out with brutal clarity, and in many ways as possible, that you were a worthless human being.” But what now? Last night has told each and every black person not to be blindsided by the color of a president, each of us reminded that racism and white patriarchy are the true leaders of the American establishment. So, what do we do once our tears have dried and our anger is placated? What do we do once we’ve posted that powerful quote, or Brown’s graduation photo, on our Instagrams, Facebooks and Twitters. What next? Well, writers/activists Patrisse Cullors and Darnell Moore break it down, below, in a powerful piece published by the UK’s Guardian Newspaper last night. Rest in Peace, Michael Brown. Black lives matter, your life and death will not be in vain.

By Alexander Aplerku, AFROPUNK Contributor

It is Day 108 of many more – we are calling for 2015 to be “the year of ungovernability”, and Mike Brown’s family is calling for healing, for silence before protest – but here are several steps that should be part of our collective recovery process, when we are ready:

1. Get out of denial.

There are not just a few bad apples who do terrible things to black people. We live in a country shaped by racism generally and anti-black racism specifically. We are born into a culture that values whiteness and deems blackness valueless. Our laws, economy, education institutions and legal systems are infected by institutionalized racism. It is going to take complete transformation – at all branches of government – to change the fate of this country.

We cannot deny America’s inherent racism any longer. The first step to recovery, they say, is admitting you actually have a problem. The United States has long had a problem practicing the ideals it espouses, especially the “liberty and justice for all” part.

True liberty and justice have never been extended to black people in this country. Can we start anew by acknowledging that much?

2. Go beyond the indictment of one officer.

In St Louis, there is a popular protest chant we use:

Indict, convict, send that killer cop to jail / The whole damn system is guilty as hell.

It’s time to acknowledge that violence is entrenched in our society at every level – that systemic change isn’t limited to a single grand jury, or a single case. When demonstrators here in the Ferguson area say that the system is guilty, we are referring to a system that produces and protects vigilante-style police officers with little to no accountability.

We cannot pin the historical reality of anti-black state violence on Darren Wilson. There are entire police departments that must be disbanded, and the Ferguson Police Department – poisonous as it is – may be one of them. But St Louis and jurisdictions across the United States will need to root out and dismantle disproportionate policing practices in black and working class communities.

3. Divest in police budgets; reinvest in poor black communities.

It’s time to ask ourselves: why does a police department in a predominantly black community of 21,000 people have enough resources to spend more than $175,000 on military-grade weapons to quell three months of protests?

Why is that happening when black people in the US have the highest unemployment rates, the highest incarceration rates, and the highest eviction rates. That is economic disenfranchisement at work, and this country must actively work to curb the impact of poverty that so negatively impacts the well-being of black people.

Ferguson can reinvest that kind of money back into housing, jobs and small businesses – so can the rest of the country.

4. Get local solutions to help curb cop killings.

Communities have been devastated. Generations of people have been traumatized. This is a national terror. And yet anti-black violence by law enforcement persists. 

Now, communities should work to host local and regional tribunals that can hold law enforcement authorities accountable, that can keep the government officials who oversee their work in line. Each tribunal can have its own set of demands, because the terror persists – but it’s still different everywhere.

5. Tear down that blue wall.

The code of silence is an insidious practice inside police departments – the so-called “blue wall” makes it systemically frowned-upon to stand up against abuses of power, even when they’re right in front of a cop’s face. It is a culture that reinforces a lack of accountability – and it needs to end.

Police departments essentially govern themselves, but we need new systems that are democratic, transparent, and focus primarily on problem-solving – not the obstruction of justice itself.

This community will need time to heal, but #FergusonNext starts now. We will not let business proceed as usual. Not one more day. As President Obama said: “We have work to do here.”

Read the entire piece HERE.