Not Only In Ferguson

190

August 18, 2014

Published in Frankfurter Rundschau
(Germany) on 17 August 2014
by Thomas Spang (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Tina Zernak. Edited by Nicholas Eckart.

Ferguson — another place, same story. A young man has to die because to some policeman, his skin color makes him more suspicious than others. Eighteen-year-old Michael Brown shares the fate of the 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford. For young African Americans in the U.S. it is still dangerous to act carelessly, to walk too fast or too slow. In too many cases it ends in death.

Prejudices among the population can only be overcome slowly. Public institutions like the police must be measured according to another standard. Something is completely wrong if, as in Ferguson, mostly white street wardens face a majority of black citizens.

Even more wrong is the reaction to the protests by the upset citizens who demand justice for the student's death. Now dogs and fire engines have been replaced by tanks and snipers, which stepped in towards colored protesters in the lower-class suburb of St. Louis.

So Ferguson is transformed into a tragic symbol of a society that is far from being colorblind, and into a warning of the consequences of a militarized police that approaches citizens and journalists as if they were strangers, rather than protecting their rights.

Für junge Afroamerikaner in den USA ist es immer noch gefährlich, eine unbedachte Bewegung zu machen, zu schnell oder zu langsam zu gehen. Viel zu oft endet das tödlich. Ein Kommentar.

Ferguson – ein anderer Ort, dieselbe Geschichte. Ein junger Mann muss sterben, weil ihn seine Hautfarbe für manche Polizisten verdächtiger macht als andere. Der 18-jährige Michael Brown teilt das Schicksal des 17-jährigen Trayvon Martin, den ein Nachbarschaftswächter in Sanford erschoss. Für junge Afro-Amerikaner in den USA ist es immer noch gefährlich, eine unbedachte Bewegung zu machen, zu schnell oder zu langsam zu gehen. Viel zu oft endet das tödlich.

Vorurteile in der Bevölkerung lassen sich nur langsam überwinden. Staatliche Institutionen wie die Polizei müssen sich an einem anderen Maßstab messen lassen. Es ist etwas grundfalsch, wenn wie in Ferguson überwiegend weiße Ordnungshüter mehrheitlich schwarzen Einwohnern gegenüberstehen.

Noch verkehrter ist die Reaktion auf die Proteste der aufgebrachten Einwohner, die Rechenschaft für den Tod des Studenten fordern. Was früher Hunde und Feuerspritzen waren, sind heute die Stadtpanzer und Scharfschützen, die in dem Armenvorort von St. Louis gegen farbige Demonstranten aufzogen.

Ferguson gerät so zum tragischen Symbol einer Gesellschaft, die weit davon entfernt ist, farbenblind zu sein. Und zu einer Warnung vor den Konsequenzen einer militarisierten Polizei, die Bürgern und Journalisten wie Feinden gegenübertritt, statt deren Rechte zu schützen.

This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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