Darren Brown, the police officer who shot the unarmed teenager Michael Brown in August in Ferguson, Missouri, has resigned from the police department. There is reason to hope the extremely fluid situation triggered by a grand jury deciding not to indict Brown would calm down after his resignation. However, the shooting is only the tip of the problem of race in the US where the population dynamics is continually shifting from its traditional equilibrium.
Those angered may say Brown’s resignation is four months too late, but in a town in which about 66 per cent of the population is black while 50 of 53 persons in the police department, besides the mayor, the police chief and five of six city council members, are white, there were clear signs that inclusiveness was not achieved. It is hard to judge an issue exacerbated further by the fear of inner city violence. The aftermath was punctuated by great unrest in Ferguson and racially induced anger that swept through 100 other cities, forcing the US to look at the larger issue of race that goes far beyond a white police officer and a black youth.
What the event points to is the way to find peace would be to bring in long-lasting change with an ethnic mix of personnel in law enforcement. There is a lesson in Ferguson about policing for the rest of the world too, and particularly for India with its religious and communal diversity.
