Flashback to Ferguson: Have We Really Changed?

A lot can change in a year. We change drastically not only as individuals but a society as a whole. Change is good, necessary even, but it’s certainly not easy.

It has been over a year since the events transpired in Ferguson, Missouri following the murder of unarmed teen Michael Brown. Although incidents between police officers and minorities are prevalent and well documented; the events during and after the afternoon of Aug. 9, 2014 were a turning point in our country on the issues of systematic racism, police brutality and what justice really means in America. As we have had time to process these incidents and formulate our own opinions it’s now time to examine if we as a people, a campus and as a country have actually made a much needed change.

The protests that stemmed from Ferguson made headlines on an international scale. News outlets all over the world showed solidarity with protesters while American media outlets held on-air debates about the core issues brought up by people protesting on the ground. Even here in State College, minority organizations staged various protests including a series of “die-ins” in which students laid down in popular on-campus areas for 45 minutes in order to mirror the 4.5 hours Mike Brown laid in his own blood as well as to spark conversation and change.

The protests sparked a mix of emotions ranging from curiosity to outrage. Student protesters faced insults, racial slurs and even physical assaults.

Elizabeth Olanrewaju, president of the Penn State chapter of the National Congress of Negro Women, detailed how she felt about this sensitive time for our university, “As a person of color I was proud to participate in the Black Lives Matter protests that happened on campus. It was great to see and feel the support from other communities not just the African American population. Even with the backlash and disgusting name calling from other students on campus it was still great to be a part of something bigger than me.”

Olanrewaju also went on to say that she doesn’t see a change for race relations in this country coming anytime soon. “I only see it getting worse if we don’t do something about it. The Black Lives Matter protest is a cry for us to be treated equally and if it keeps being disregarded I do not see a good outcome,” Olanrewaju says.

If reactions to last year’s protests were any indication, then Olanrewaju may be correct. For his participation in the protests, President Barron was even asked to resign for showing solidarity with his minority students. As the world was working through these immense issues of racism in America, so was our little college town.

One of the biggest was that of “covert racism” where racist comments and actions were perpetuated through social media or anonymous comments. The popular anonymous posting app Yik Yak was one of the biggest forums for this; a look at the app today and mention of Ferguson leads to comments such as “#Chimpout2k15” and “chimps gonna chimp” referring to the stereotype of Black people being animals or monkeys. It’s sad to say that these attitudes still prevail in State College today.

But what do we do about all this? We have protested, argued, created committees and last spring semester a whole class was dedicated to an in depth analysis of Ferguson and its influences. Paul Taylor, head of the Department of African American Studies, taught the class on Ferguson using interdisciplinary methods to examine the incident from various academic teachings including psychology criminology and history. Taylor is extremely vocal about racial incidents such as Ferguson and from his Op-Ed piece in Penn Live examines why we won’t change anytime soon.

Taylor says,“We wait for an incident to flare up, we beat it down, and we wait for the next one…We don’t want to know how our approaches to policing and our ideas about crime and criminals turn certain of our communities into tinderboxes awaiting the match. If we wanted to know, we would keep good records about apparent bias in police-involved killings, and we would empower civilian review boards. We would, above all, let go of our astonishment, so that we can anticipate the next shooting — because there will be one — and try to prevent it. ”

The events of Ferguson, Missouri aren’t groundbreaking, new or surprising; but they are important. Important to every person who is born with a fear of police. Important to every person who has to fear that their loved one may leave home and never come back due to a “misunderstanding” with a police officer. Important for anyone who dares to say that our justice system is severely flawed. Now is not the time for arguments and debate; now is the time to listen. The first step to making the change our country so desperately needs is to listen to those directly affected by these events and then do something about it. It’s time for us to be honest with ourselves and examine how one’s everyday opinions or thoughts just may contribute to the systematic prejudice we have here today.

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy