Sheldon Richman on the Ferguson Distraction

Ironically, the shooting death of unarmed black
18-year-old Michael Brown by white Ferguson, MO, police officer
Darren Wilson is a distraction from the racist police brutality
that ravages America. Whether or not Wilson shot Brown
unjustifiably, and whether or not Brown provoked the shooting by
grabbing for Wilson’s gun, the police — and the government
officials who employ and arm them — are a big problem in this
country. (The Eric Garner chokehold killing has none of
the ambiguity of the Brown case.) Unfortunately, it takes a
shooting such as the one in Ferguson to spotlight the problem. And
that, writes Sheldon Richman, presents its own problem. The claim
that the police are routinely dangerous to innocent people — mostly
blacks and Hispanics — appears to stand or fall with the headline
case of the week. But that can’t be the correct way to judge the
bigger issue.

View this article.