My Rooney thoughts for November 30, 2014

The lessons of Ferguson are many, both for white folks and black folks.  Actually, there are many lessons for all Americans if they just will listen and understand.  For me, the most apparent lesson is there is still a divided American, black people who are oppressed (or perceive being oppressed) and white people who don’t understand that they are the oppressors. 

One of the white behaviors that contributes to black people feeling oppressed is the fact a majority of police departments across American don’t reflect the racial makeup of the communities they have sworn to protect (In Ferguson 67% of the population is black while only 3% of its police force is black).  It’s not something which can be done overnight but, come on, it’s almost fifty years since LBJ signed the Equal Rights Amendment.  It shouldn’t be a mystery a police department can be restructured peacefully over time; good God, the Los Angeles police department did it. 

I’m sorry to see the attorney for the Brown family try to depict Michael Brown, Jr. as an innocent, upstanding citizen.  He was not.  Within a few minutes of his death, he had shoplifted and threatened the store owner with bodily harm.  If actions speak louder than words then Michael Brown Jr. was socially deviant in his behavior.  What Officer Darren Wilson described of Brown’s behavior in the last moments of his life comport with socially deviant behavior models.  It’s not for me to decide if shooting Michael Brown Jr was just, but it just seems for black protesters to go into their own community and burn down businesses of both hardworking black owners and white owners for a person who stole cigars and threatened a person half his size is ludicrous. Protesters both white and of color, pick your martyrs carefully.  You have a good cause in of it.

Another thing, our schools. It has been talked about over the many years since the equal rights bill was signed; yet, I see few signs of it happening.  We as a society need to make sure schools in the communities of color receive better tools with which to educate the children. An educate population is a population that will lead to a stronger, better America. 

I have personally seen what a better educated person of color can do.  In my work some of the leading workers are persons of color.  They are smart, motivated, and very effective doing their jobs.  I proudly stand with them.  Each of them will tell you that a person of color has a better chance of success with a better education.  We are in this thing together; let’s offer each other a hand up for the right reason.