Ferguson: A Case of Structural Racism

By Dr. Gabriela Lemus, NewsTaco

The red heat of the media spotlight is slowly moving away from the terrible proceedings of the last two weeks that took place in Ferguson, MO.  Michael Brown’s body has barely been laid to rest, but the spirit of the town is in turmoil.

The people of Ferguson are unhappy.  They have many unanswered questions.  Though they have been heard, they do not feel they have been listened to. Nothing has changed despite the dramatic visibility of the situation.

Despite completely blowing the turn of events out of proportion and the violation of civil rights of both protesters and the media, the police chief and his deputies still hold their jobs.  Governor Jay Nixon recently reported that it’s very possible that the officer who shot Michael Brown will not be charged. Ferguson’s residents don’t know what is going on and have concerns about lack of transparency.

Two-thirds or 67 percent of Ferguson’s residents are black. Yet, the Mayor is white as are five of the six city council members.  Only 3 of the 53 police officers on the local force are black.  A white City Hall produced a white police force.  Disproportionate representation.

This critically important narrative is being lost.   Voter turnout was only 12 percent in Ferguson’s last municipal election. Efforts to increase political participation in Ferguson are being met with hostility.  The head of the Missouri GOP, Matt Wills has been quoted as saying that the voter registration drives in Ferguson are “disgusting” and “inappropriate.”  What an interesting reaction to an effort to restore dignity and enfranchisement by a community devastated by a disaster.

But Wills’ GOP is also behind the effort to make voting more difficult for the residents of the state.  They have proposed an amendment to the state constitution that would require photo ID at the polls – which would adversely impact the elderly, students, minorities and those with low income.  They have another proposal that would bring early voting to Missouri but disallow it on Sundays – when popular “Souls to the Polls” voter-mobilization takes place in black churches across the country.

Sadly, Michael Brown’s death was not unique.  It is part of a larger trend in Missouri which had the highest black homicide rate in 2010 and second highest in 2011 according to the Violence Policy Center.

And, residents in Ferguson have additional reasons to be distrustful.  The structural racism built into the handling of law enforcement issues in general and jurisprudence goes far deeper than meets the eye.

There is a system of bench warrants in the city of St. Louis that is largely a cash-cow for the municipalities in the area.  The Arch City Defenders, a non-profit organization representing pro-bono defendants published a White Paper on Municipal Courts  http://www.archcitydefenders.org/whitepaper.pdf describing the pernicious effects of the courts system in St. Louis and its environs.

“Clients reported being jailed for the inability to pay fines, losing jobs and housing as result of the incarceration, being refused access to the Courts if they were with their children or other family members, and being mistreated by the bailiffs, prosecutors, clerks and judges in the courts. Such practices are a serious cause for concern: not only do they violate the clear mandates of the United States Constitution, but they also destroy the public’s confidence in the justice system and its component parts, impose heavy burdens financially and otherwise on the most burdened subset of the population, and cost the municipalities exorbitant amounts of money and human capital to deal with the inefficiencies of these courts.”

The situation is quite shocking.  Local advocates estimate that out of 310,000 residents in the city, 290,000 have bench warrants.

At some point, the federal government will have to make some decisions and examine the confluence of these seemingly disparate issues: the shooting, voting rights and local jurisprudence.  Attorney General Holder promised the people of Ferguson that he would lead a “fair and thorough investigation.” The people of Ferguson are waiting.

Dr. Gabriela D. Lemus is the Executive Director & President of Progressive Congress. She tweets @progcongress.