Ferguson brings out worst in society

I never have understood how stealing a big-screen TV and destroying your neighborhood brings about social justice. Of course, the folks doing the looting and destruction all too often aren't out for social justice; they're just out for trouble.

Such is the case at Ferguson, Mo., where for nearly two weeks people have honored the unfortunate death of a teenager with confrontation after escalating confrontation. I'm not going to get into the incident that set off events in Ferguson because there's been more than enough speculation and differing "facts" spread around to only aggravate the situation and drive a wedge between people. I will note, however, that if unarmed Michael Brown was shot six times in an encounter with Officer Darren Wilson, it's an understatement to call it overkill.

It's laughable to consider this a post-racial era considering how many issues in this country are race driven. Although many individuals can get past race and see one another as fellow human beings, as a society that seems to be the only way people view one another, even today.

I think there are people, of all races, who want life that way. They see only the worst in others because that's all they look for, or all they expect. If someone is black wearing sagging pants, flashing hand signs and listening to hip-hop and rap, well, obviously they're thugs. If someone is white in a police uniform then they must be racist.

Those are the images, the stereotypes some people continually push, and the more they push, the further apart society grows. For some, I think it's a matter of maintaining their prominence, their status, their celebrity. They call for unity while trying to keep everyone agitated and apart. Continuing strife feeds the egos of some folks who never met a camera they didn't like.

Still, incidents such as this bring out the worst in society. On one hand is a community up in arms because they contend the reason Michael Brown is dead is because he was black, gunned down by a white cop for no reason other than being black. On the other are people who argue Michael Brown was a thug who attacked a police officer who acted in self-defense. Both sides took to the street, and all reason went out the window.

Was Ferguson already a powder keg looking for a fuse? Were relations between police and citizens already strained to a breaking point before Michael Brown and Darren Wilson encountered one another? Was life so oppressive in Ferguson, was racial tension so taut such an explosion was unavoidable? Was this inevitable?

Or did people with no interest in justice or equality or anything other than trouble — on both sides — drive a situation out of control? We've seen people looting and destroying property and assaulting officers. On the other side, we've seen police with an abundance of military surplus armored vehicles and equipment getting a chance to demonstrate what they can do with them. Keeping the peace seems to be the farthest thing from all their minds, and the world is left to look on aghast.

Efforts to end, or at least control, violence keep falling short. Maybe the police, and now the National Guard, ought to just maintain perimeters and let the people of Ferguson resolve the situation themselves. It won't bring back Michael Brown, and it won't answer questions that need answering, and it won't change society.

Nothing that has happened in the past two weeks will do anything other than perpetuate hate, distrust and drive people apart.