Running Head: CIVIL UNREST IN FERGUSON

A Literature Review: The Ferguson Riots

By: Jerrod Brooks
The University of Texas at El Paso

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Abstract
The events that transpired in Ferguson, Missouri were deplorable by both parties. The
citizens that lived in that community had complained that the police officers that work in the
neighborhood are racially biased and the cops report that the African Americans in the
community arent law abiding citizens. The tension between the two parties has gone on since
the civil rights movement and hasnt changed since. The tension has gone on for so long that it
took the murder of someone in the community to make society question the justice system in
Ferguson. Each side blames the other and the each side thinks that they are the ones who are
right, but in all truth no one knows for sure who is right. The trial of the Ferguson police officer
didnt settle the dust only stirred more up, when Darren Wilson was found not guilty in a court of
his peers the community of Ferguson said that the jury was just as biased as the police force. The
purpose of this literature review is to get a very clear picture of what is going on in Ferguson,
Missouri and how its being dealt with.

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Introduction
On August 9,2014 Michael Brown, an unarmed African American teen is shot by
a police officer in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. The aftermath of the shooting caused
uproar in the community, forcing the police force of Ferguson to double the number of
police officers on the streets of Ferguson. Many protesters demanded the name of the
officer who had shot Michael Brown but the police force would not release the name, this
caused the citizens of Ferguson to become angry, began rioting and looting nearby stores
in retaliation of this decision. When the police chief finally released the name of the
officer, Darren Wilson, he had police officers set up around his house for Wilsons
protection. The African Americans of the community start to talk about the bigotry that
they faced every day before Michael Browns death, which brought up another
investigation to open up to get to the bottom of the big question, what is happening in
Ferguson, Missouri.
In this literature review I will be answering the following questions:
1. Did the jurys racial make-up for the Ferguson case contribute to its outcome?
2. Would the outcome and fallout of the case change if the victim had been another race?
3. If the officer had been convicted of murder would riots still be a problem in Ferguson?

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Did the jurys racial make-up for the Ferguson case contribute to its outcome?

The main debate in the Ferguson case is that the racial make-up of the jury contributed to
Officer Wilson being found not guilty and factored into the continuation of Fergusons civil
unrest. The jurys racial make-up was seventy-five percent white and twenty-five black, when
there is a case within a community should there be jurors from that community? In an article
from The Huffington Post it mentions the cases jury make-up The grand jury is composed of
12 people "selected at random from a fair cross-section of the citizens," according to Missouri
law. The jury is 75 percent white: six white men, three white women, two black women and one
black man. St. Louis County overall is 70 percent white, but about two-thirds of Ferguson's
residents are black. Brown was black. The officer is white.(Bondioli, 2014) This statement
shows that the justice system is biased. The jury make-up does not include anyone from
Ferguson but uses people from the same community, the justice system is not perfect but it is
supposedly not biased in justice.
Consent from nine jurors is enough to file a charge in Missouri. The jury could also
choose not to file any charges. (Bondioli, 2014) Take a look at the jury, the officer, and the
police force involved in the case, they are majority white dealing with the problems of the mostly
black community of Ferguson, Missouri. The people who are taken onto the jury were mostly
white, in fact nine were white, three were black, and only nine votes from the jury are needed to
convict or give a not guilty verdict. The nine of the majority have the greatest chance of getting
their verdict across and that seems like the justice system should pay attention to things like that.

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Would the outcome and fallout of the case change if the victim had been another race?

If Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Michael Brown were white, Harvard research shows
that they might have fared better without the "fears of criminality" and "the criminal face"
associated with being black. (Goodman, 2014) The Huffington post writes about the social
stigmas associated with being black in todays society, in todays society black people are seen as
criminals which contributed heavily to the way that Michael brown was perceived by media,
people, and the police. In todays society whites have more privilege over any other race in
America and the statistics back it up, "Prison sentences of black men were nearly 20% longer
than those of white men for similar crimes in recent years (Goodman, 2014) As stated a
white man has a shorter sentence compared to black men in todays society which is not right by
any means, if every man is created equal then why does the United States justice system not
address this problem?
In cases with no blacks in the jury pool, blacks were convicted 81 percent of the time,
and whites were convicted 66 percent of the time... In non-Stand Your Ground states, whites are
250 percent more likely to be found justified in killing a black person than a white person who
kills another white person; in Stand Your Ground states that number jumps to 354 percent."
(Goodman, 2014) Justice cannot be found in the world if the justice system is racially biased and
only sees the color of the defendant and automatically deems them guilty. The three white
defendants of the most controversial cases in America have been found not guilty; left the
victims of their fatal encounters criminalized, and had mostly white juries. The unfairness of the
justice system shows that race played a role in the decision.

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If the officer had been convicted of murder would riots still be a problem in Ferguson?

In the news before the case an article stated that the community of Ferguson was more
likely to cause a riot if Darren Wilson was found not guilty, if that was the case then vice versa
there would be no riots caused by the people of Ferguson. If the people of Ferguson said they
would riot if justice was not served in the Michael Brown case then if the verdict of the case
were the other way around that they wouldnt riot. Over the course of the night, a total of five
officers were assailed by rocks, bottles and a metal rod, but no injuries were reported, the
spokesman said. (Stewart, 2014) many of the protesters were peaceful but others were violent
because of the unfair decision making of the jury, the jury of the case was really racially biased
and had no chance of being decided not guilty.
If hes not indicted, Ferguson will never be same," Williams said. "At the end of the
day, the amount of times Wilson shot Mike Brown was excessive. So, if no charges come down,
thats saying its okay for police to kill our kids." (Stewart, 2014) Many of the protesters feel like
the polices protection of Darren Wilson is appalling and making him to seem like a saint who
acted in self defense to justify the act was adding insult to injury. As stated in the quote above he
had shot Michael Brown a multitude of times that most likely killed him within the first two
shots, if more than two shots are fired then that would look like he was firing at Brown out of
anger. The main reason for the riots in Ferguson was years of oppression by the Ferguson police
departments officers abuse of power and only targeting minorities in the community and
writing them tickets, the shooting of Michael Brown opened up all the hatred accumulated over
those years. If Darren Wilson had been indicted the Ferguson community would have been
contempt.

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Conclusion

The community of Ferguson had been oppressed for so long that when a major
injustice had made all of the hidden feelings had boiled over and made the protesters go berserk.
So many of the factors of the case in Ferguson had to do with race from the jury down to the
color of the victim, if all these factor had been changed then the outcome of the all the events
that had transpired would be changed. The officers treatment of the community was horrible and
still continues to be a problem today, if the community was composed mostly of whites do you
think the problems of Ferguson would exist today? If any of the factors were changed what
problems or solutions would come of it? We will never know until we see each other for a person
not the color of each others skin color.

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Works Cited

Bondioli, S. (2014, November 24). What You Need To Know About The Ferguson Grand Jury.
Retrieved March 25, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/24/fergusongrand-jury_n_6214686.html
Goodman, H. (2014, August 13). If Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown Were
White, Would the Tea Party Declare Tyranny? Retrieved March 25, 2015, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/if-trayvon-martin-eric-ga_b_5674633.html
Stewart, M. (2014, October 23). Ferguson Protester: Things Will 'Never Be The Same' If Darren
Wilson Isn't Indicted. Retrieved March 27, 2015, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/23/ferguson-protesters-darrenwilson_n_6036584.html