The War at Home

It began with the murder of an African-American citizen in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri.  It has since escalated into a violent confrontation between the white-dominated police and protesters in that city.  And Americans watching on TV are wondering if law enforcement is becoming more like an occupying army.

Michael Brown, an 18-year old resident, was gunned down by a white police officer as he was walking to his grandmother's house on a Saturday afternoon.  Brown was unarmed.  Police say he was a suspect in the robbery of a local convenience store.

Ferguson is one of those places near every major city where mostly African-Americans lived after the white population fled farther into the suburbs, but still control the local government and police force.  That has become a sore point to the African-Americans and other minorities who have been harassed by the city's finest, whether it was deserved or not.

The police in Ferguson have made a couple of mistakes that have enraged the "No Justice, No Peace" crowd, first by having delayed releasing the identity of the officer who allegedly shot Brown, and for releasing a video showing Brown shoving a convenience store worker out of the way.  They only made things worse by turning back with tear gas and arresting protesters, journalists and anyone else who happened to get in the way with the kind of force usually seen on the streets of Baghdad and Kabul.

That's no accident.  As another legacy of 9/11 and the wars that resulted from the terrorist attack, the Pentagon has been sending its surplus weapons and armored vehicles to law enforcement all over the country.  This has encouraged the men and women in blue to play soldier against the people they're supposed to protect.

It's not just the equipment that puts people off about the police.  It's the attitude of some (but not all) members of the force that, once you put that uniform and badge on, it gives you carte blanche to harass anyone--black or white--and get away with it because you are The Law.

Granted. the vast majority of police officers do not subscribe to that rogue attitude and resent the ones who give them a bad name.  But we don't know that.  Respect is a two-way street.

After the Ferguson police and Missouri State Patrol have tried and failed to maintain order, Governor Jay Nixon has brought in the state's National Guard and eliminated the curfew that has peeved residents even more.  So after a few days of quasi-military rule, is there really going to be a big difference when the Guard is patrolling the streets?

The people of Ferguson, Missouri and around the country are demanding answers as to why it was necessary to kill an unarmed teenager who was going about his business, even if he was a suspect in a robbery.  What we should also be asking is how can we ever again trust those who take an oath to serve and protect their neighbors, only to abuse the privilege?