There Will Be Another Brown in the US

The late civil rights leader Martin Luther King gave the famous “I Have a Dream” speech 51 years ago. Today, 51 years later, the murder of black teenager Michael Brown shows that United States society is still split.

White policeman Wilson killed 18-year-old black teenager Brown in August this year, but the grand jury decided last week not to prosecute him. This decision will be the talk of the town in the U.S.

Wilson, who accepted an ABC interview, said on television that he did not execute Brown and was just doing his duty, and had a “clean conscience.” The real question is, did he open fire in self-defense or was it murder?

He can get away scot-free, just like in the murder case of black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012. This is because state law is more lenient, stipulating that as long as a police officer determines that the suspect will attempt to use a lethal weapon with the intent of endangering the lives of other people, that officer can then open fire in self-defense or to protect others. This is why Wilson can use a self-defense argument to defend his actions.

This clearly creates legal issues for the executive powers of the police, and also shows that fatal shootings of blacks by the police has become the norm in American society. According to data from the FBI, approximately two black individuals are shot dead by white police officers every week in the U.S. After Brown was killed, there were also several consecutive cases where unarmed black men were shot dead by the police.

As we all know, racial discrimination still exists in American society, and is the thorn in the flesh of the protection of human rights in the U.S. This means the civil, political, economic, societal and cultural rights of ethnic minorities are not guaranteed equally.

When racial factors permeate the law enforcement system, whites are generally protected while blacks and other racial minorities are given harsher treatment. According to data provided by the New York Police Department, in the first half of 2013, New York City police stopped and searched 150,000 people. Of those, 55.8 percent were black and 29.6 percent were Latino.

In other words, Obama’s rise to power does not mean that the United States has entered a post-racial society. Although the opportunities for African-Americans in fields such as education and employment are increasingly equal to those of whites and the proportion of its middle class is also increasing, underlying racial problems are getting more serious and complex with each passing day.

The Brown incident is not an isolated case, but reflects the racial prejudices held by American law enforcement officers and the improper provisions of those regulations regarding the use of force — among other deep-rooted problems within American society. So, will this tragedy repeat itself? Based on the current trend, it is very likely that it will.