What can Africa learn from the Ferguson Protests.

Nilofer Merchant, a contributor to the hbr.org, offers an interesting perspective, on the recent riots in Ferguson, Missouri, US, in which a black teenager was reportedly shot by a white police officer. While showing that that race relations in the US are still a delicate issue, Merchant views the Chief of Police of Ferguson, Missouri, not as a cop, but as a failed leader.
“To start, Chief Thomas Jackson no longer has jurisdiction over his city’s security; the Governor of Missouri has asked his state Highway Patrol captain Ronald S. Johnson to take over. This comes after a national outcry against the police response to protests in the aftermath of the shooting on Saturday of 18-year-old
Michael Brown.” Says Merchant.
He failed, and his boss just replaced him. Not surprising. And frankly, to many people, a very small step of many that need to be taken to move forward.
We could view this situation through many other lenses. The venerable veterans of the Civil Rights movement will remind us that all of this has happened before, 50 years ago.
Many would argue as the Economist did back in March of this year: “America’s police have become too militarized.” Others will argue, with far too many facts to support the argument, that America is not for Black people.
The thing I kept thinking about today was how when the Police Chief was asked why his police force was nearly 100% white, he said that his department was “always trying to improve diversity in its ranks.” He claimed, “It is a constant struggle to hire and retain personnel.”
“Race relations are our top priority,” Jackson said. Yet, the fact is that only three of 53 police officers are black in a town that is predominantly African American.” Still, to the outside world, one could ask whether despite having the First African American President, is the civil rights era really over?