What Caused the Ferguson Riots? From 12:01 to 12:03 pm, Saturday, August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri, a tragic event took place. A gunshot was heard and continued on to echo even to this day (December 7, 2014). On that tragic Saturday, a man, by the name of Michael Brown, resisted arrest and was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson. This shot was not echoed by the reverberations of an explosion, but instead, by the sounds of outrage from the community around Ferguson extending through the whole of the United States. Unfortunately, this outrage was quickly masked by violence and riots. This rioting has affected every major city in the United States either directly or indirectly. With this said, the shooting of civilians by police hasn’t been unheard of; however, this shooting ignited an outrage against the law. What was it about this community in Ferguson that acted as gasoline to the spark of the shooting? What caused the Ferguson riots? The Ferguson riots were caused by severe policing owed to racial profiling stemming from a theory used to perceive poverty in Ferguson Missouri. The first thing, before the riots began, that a person would notice upon arrival to Ferguson was the poverty. Poverty within the schools, homes, and the overall community. Much of this poverty has come from many of those with money leaving Ferguson after the less financially stable population increased. With more people leaving with their money, came even worse financial devastation for those living Ferguson. Now, as it stands, “Poverty afflicts 22 percent of residents, twice as many as in 2000” (Anderson, Elijah. What Caused the Ferguson Riot Exists in so Many Other Cities, Too. (Paragraph 2), Washington Post. The Washington Post, 13 Aug. 2014. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. washingtonpost/posteverything/wp/2014/08/13/what-caused-the-ferguson-riot-exists-in-so-many-other-cities-too). With extreme poverty, usually comes a natural devastation and lack of moral amongst the financially scarce population. And usually, but not always, following poverty is crime. This correlation between crime and poverty then lead to a police bias in Ferguson. Police trying to keep the peace began operating with a bias that, they thought, would lower crime. This bias stemmed from a theory linking poverty and crime. This theory was called The Broken Windows Theory. This theory was propagated by a man by the name of James Q. Wilson and it holds that, “where there is urban disarray, there is crime. Wilson argued that cleaning up trash and fixing broken windows — but also quickly policing deviants and miscreants for even small-scale crimes — would lessen crime overall” (Anderson, Elijah. What Caused the Ferguson Riot Exists in so Many Other Cities, Too. (Paragraph 2), Washington Post. The Washington Post, 13 Aug. 2014. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. washingtonpost/posteverything/wp/2014/08/13/what-caused-the-ferguson-riot-exists-in-so-many-other-cities-too). This theory lead to the justification, by law enforcement, to assume that where there was poverty or people that looked poor, there was probably crime present. This assumption lead officers to begin random searches of the civilians in Ferguson. Due to the majority of the financially unstable population being black, officers began racially profiling the citizens of Ferguson that were of African descent. “For example, the New York Police Department’s use of the controversial stop-and-frisk practice is most commonly exercised against young blacks” (Anderson, Elijah. What Caused the Ferguson Riot Exists in so Many Other Cities, Too. (Paragraph 3), Washington Post. The Washington Post, 13 Aug. 2014. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. washingtonpost/posteverything/wp/2014/08/13/what-caused-the-ferguson-riot-exists-in-so-many-other-cities-too). This executed bias against blacks in Ferguson naturally riled up many within the civilian population in Ferguson and lead to a complete disrespect and lack of trust shown towards the law amongst the black population of Ferguson. This stereotype, “resulted in ever greater tension between communities of color and police” (Anderson, Elijah. What Caused the Ferguson Riot Exists in so Many Other Cities, Too. (Paragraph 2), Washington Post. The Washington Post, 13 Aug. 2014. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. washingtonpost/posteverything/wp/2014/08/13/what-caused-the-ferguson-riot-exists-in-so-many-other-cities-too). People of color in Ferguson began associating police officers with degradation and prejudice stemming from, “the racial biases… [that extended] to other forms of aggressive policing” (Anderson, Elijah. What Caused the Ferguson Riot Exists in so Many Other Cities, Too. (Paragraph 3), Washington Post. The Washington Post, 13 Aug. 2014. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. washingtonpost/posteverything/wp/2014/08/13/what-caused-the-ferguson-riot-exists-in-so-many-other-cities-too). This severe oversight by the law and usual aggressive police behavior towards people of color in Ferguson, naturally, sowed the seed of complete and total outrage towards the system. This suppressed anger was the gasoline to the future rioters’ future riots. And the shooting of Mr. Brown was the spark they chose to justify their riots with. The cause of the Ferguson riots is a three part function. Poverty, stereotyping, and severe policing was the function, Michael Brown’s killing was the x-factor, and the riots made up the other side of the equation. Whether or not Brown’s killing is justified was irrelevant to the initiation of the riots. The perception of his killing as being another case of racism and injustice is what was relevant. The Ferguson riots stemmed from severe policing due to racial profiling originating from a theory used to observe poverty in Ferguson Missouri.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 06:36:27 +0000
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