Close
Current temperature in Boston - 62 °
BECOME A MEMBER
Get access to a personalized news feed, our newsletter and exclusive discounts on everything from shows to local restaurants, All for free.
Already a member? Sign in.
The Bay State Banner
BACK TO TOP
The Bay State Banner
POST AN AD SIGN IN

Trending Articles

Wellness expo brings community support to Roxbury residents

Sarah-Ann Shaw, Boston's reporting legend, 90

Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey honors first African American Master Distiller’s legacy

READ PRINT EDITION

Ferguson’s moment to lead the movement for healthier living and learning communities

John Jackson

Ferguson’s moment to lead the movement for healthier living and learning communities

As protests and media coverage in Ferguson, Missouri have simmered down since the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer, the question remains: Will the tragic death of Michael Brown spark a movement?

There’s no question that police behavior and practices, everything from use of force to brutality to racial profiling, will undergo significant review in coming months.

But the shooting of Michael Brown raises broader questions about the systems in which too many people of color in Ferguson — and across the nation — confront on a daily basis. These ecosystems — at best unhealthy and at worst racist and fatal — do not fairly extend opportunity to all of its people.

If we are painfully honest, Brown’s death triggered a predictable response that unveiled a significant amount of racial tension, frustration and hostility. But Ferguson needs more than just protestors. Like too many other American cities, Ferguson needs components that will make it a healthy living and learning community for all of its citizens.

In others words, Ferguson needs more than a moment but a movement. A movement goes beyond a single incident and identifies the systematic problems and develops systematic solutions. Admittedly, building and sustaining a long-term movement is difficult work and requires reviewing the systematic data, asking systematic questions and presenting systematic proposals — all with the goal of helping each resident, not just a few.

Whether Darren Wilson, the white police officer who shot Brown, is charged or not charged does not in of itself change the highly punitive and oppressive power structure imbedded in Ferguson that leaves the majority of its residents feeling disempowered, disengaged and isolated. That is an ecosystem ripe for massive systematic failures and human capital waste.

Even before Brown was shot, it was clear that the system in Ferguson could not pass a healthy living test for all of its citizens. Poverty afflicts nearly one in four Ferguson residents. In the city of about 21,000, 67 percent are black but the local government is virtually all white, including the mayor, the school board and the police department. In the 2013 local elections, only 11.7 percent of registered voters cast ballots; that number was six percent for eligible black voters.

Though overlooked in all the debate on police behavior, public education is a vital component in empowering communities over the long haul. For too long efforts to improve academic achievement across the nation have used the same basic strategy: strict standards and more testing. This approach, especially in low-income areas like Ferguson, is not responsive to local needs. It ignores the powerful evidence linking the need for socio-emotional supports to academic success.

Nearly two-thirds of children in the United States are exposed to violent crime and abuse each year. Students in high violence and low-income areas face special challenges and need more supports to stay on track academically, socially and emotionally. These supports include diverse learning models, tutors, mentors, extended learning time and summer school.

These are necessary “right now” issues because being able to access education, health, government and law enforcement systems in a positive way are all necessary components of healthy living and learning communities. The key point is that there will be audits and oversight to review the facts and local, state and national leaders must also bear the responsibility for improving the overall ecosystem.

In Ferguson, the graduation rate for all students was 69.8 percent in 2010-2011, the most recent school year in which statistics were available. For blacks that number was 67.6 percent. Michael Brown was one of them. Just eight days before his tragic death, he had completed an alternative education program from Normandy High. He was enrolled as a freshman at Vatterott College, a technical school where he wanted to learn about heating and cooling systems. He told some of his friends that one day he wanted to start his own business.

He didn’t get that chance. During Brown’s funeral service, the question was asked whether the tumultuous days after his death were part of a fit or a movement. “A fit is when you get mad and run out for a couple of nights,” the speaker explained. “But a movement means we’ve got to be here for the long haul, and turn …our demonstrations into legislation.”

A good first step toward a movement could be as simple as changing the dates of local elections. As it is now, city elections are held in April in odd-number years. But state and federal elections are held in November in even numbered years. Without the attraction of state and federal candidates, local turnout is low.

With that small step, the system in Ferguson can be changed — and a movement given life.

It’s up to the people in Ferguson — with the help of national leadership — to determine whether they will have a short-term fit or a long-term movement. It’s up to advocates across the nation to turn other American “Ferguson-like” ecosystems to more healthy living and learning climates.

John Jackson is CEO and President of the Schott Foundation for Public Education.