Ferguson, a year later: no longer a movement

Anger is everywhere these days.

You can find it in our political discourse.

You read it in the paper, watch it on the news. You see it in the streets.

This month marked the anniversary of the Michael Brown shooting death in Ferguson, Missouri, the event that sparked a national movement.

The anniversary brought back memories of the tear gas and the looting and the burning down of businesses.

For so many of us, these actions were seen as an illogical response. What do burning businesses and looting stores have to do with a cop-related shooting?

Later, of course, we learned that the "Stand Up, Don't Shoot" narrative was a false one. Brown had stolen items from a shop and had attacked an officer, and there was a struggle for the gun during the altercation. The altercation ended, and as the officer tried to arrest him, Brown, a large man, "just started to bum rush him," a witness stated. "He just started coming at him full speed." The officer began shooting, after warning Brown to stop. Brown died as a result of his decision to attack a police officer. He was not shot in cold blood with his hands raised, as a so-called witness originally stated.

Many opposed to the movement are holding up that false narrative as evidence that everything else is overblown.

For those trying to honestly find meaning in all of this, and not snap to our preconceived positions, there are elements of truth and societal concern.

The "protests" that began last year were lit under false pretenses, but they fueled our nation to look at some uncomfortable truths.

Michael Brown may not have been the martyr he was portrayed to be, but we began to look more closely at racial profiling. Law-abiding black people are being stopped, questioned and harassed for no good reason. It happens. Racism still exists, and it exists in law enforcement and many other areas in society. Social media has exposed far more racism than many of us probably believed existed.

Racial profiling is unfair. It's immoral and inconsistent with our country's foundational principles. We need to look at actions and not skin color.

It's a good thing that our country is having this conversation.

It's also very important that we understand that there are overwhelmingly more good cops than bad ones. As our nation began passionately debating police methods, we also began to see many stories emerge, touching ones, of police officers showing compassion and doing their part to help heal the racial wounds of our time.

We saw white cops hugging black children; a black cop was captured helping an elderly white KKK supporter up the stairs to a white supremacist rally (a repugnant rally, but an act of human dignity and caring on the black officer's part); we saw videos of young black men who were pulled over for traffic violations talk about how they were professionally treated by white officers. These types of moments, over time, will help us see people as people and not white people versus black people.

But primarily the Michael Brown shooting remains an us vs. them debate, which is unfortunate.

In addition to race issues, our nation began looking at police response, and questioning when and why police should retaliate with violence and firearms. We were presented with many instances over the past year, some of which were captured on video, where law enforcement overstepped, and people died as a result. It's not just racial profiling that can be a problem in our police ranks; so, too, can machismo.

A few of these instances were more worthy of the "Black Lives Matter" movement than the one in Ferguson. But were these really race issues? Or were they testosterone issues? Just poor judgment? It is hard to tell for outsiders looking in.

So think about what has happened over the past year. Our country is having a conversation about race. It is examining and making changes within police departments on how to respond and handle incidents. Studies have been completed, highlighting changes that are needed. Commissions have been formed. Laws have been changed, targeting unfair traffic fine systems that send a disproportionate number of black people to jail for being unable to pay traffic tickets. Departments are recruiting more black police officers. More black men and women are seeking careers in law enforcement.

Change is happening, for the good.

Which brings us back to Ferguson.

The anniversary has ignited more protests.

A few of the headlines, from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

• 2 Ferguson activists charged with attacking driver
• Peace disrupted in Ferguson as man shot, vehicle window shattered, at Family Dollar store
• Man shot by police in Ferguson after he fired at officers, police say
• Post-Dispatch reporter recovering after attack while covering Ferguson.
• Ferguson protesters block rush-hour traffic on I-70.

We think it's way past time for the movement to take a different direction.

Over the past year, violence and disruption have been at the heart of the movement. It can be argued, though we don't agree with it, that the flames and the destruction were necessary to ignite the uprising that would capture the nation's attention. Activists captured our attention a year ago.

Unfortunately, we also have learned that not all of the protests were driven by righteous anger, but political money entered the equation as well. The movement, which has some merits as mentioned above, has lost its credibility.

Even those who would like to understand and be empathetic to legitimate causes can no longer find any reason to support protests that include violence, or even shutting down interstates. According to Post-Dispatch coverage, many are still angry that officer Darren Wilson was not charged. There doesn't seem to be a message or an end goal. Brown, who was unarmed, was shot by Wilson after an intense physical altercation.

At this point, it's just anger. And anger never solves anything.

It's time for those truly interested in social change to find more constructive to get their points across.