One year after Michael Brown's shooting in Ferguson, Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett Price joined Jim and Margery to discuss the progress made, and the hurdles yet to be cleared.
Hundreds of people gathered across Ferguson last night to commemorate the anniversary of Michael Brown's shooting, and to grieve an entire year of high profile police deaths. The night escalated, resulting in another black man shot, and in critical condition.
This shooting, in the context of other arrests this month (such as Sandra Bland's), is "untimely," according to Emmett Price, and serves to detract from the movement and progress the city of Ferguson has made. Progress which would oteher wise be effective. "They have demilitarized the police force, they have decriminalized the poor," but this shooting, Irene Monroe explains has taken "all the oxygen away from the anniversary."
The sheer number of unarmed black deaths by police officers (341), in the year since Michael Brown's killing is staggering, and Price can identify some proactive changes in policy, particularly in Ferguson. But he's not sure "change is occurring in a way that is progressive and positive." Ultimately, "these killings are increasing." And that, according to Monroe, is just a fact.
Monroe points to Boston, and police commissioner, Bill Evans, whose commitment to community policing has become what she calls "a blue print of what has to take place across the country." Monroe notes that "Boston has always been a step ahead," but that doesn't mean it won't take work to move forward.
