Opinion: Dr. Odis Johnson's Statement on Michael Brown Shooting, Institutional Violence

The shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed teen in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, is a tragedy that has triggered responses of outrage from black communities across the nation. While the events that precipitated his death may be unique, and the feelings of loss felt by Michael’s family and immediate community no less extraordinary, they extend from more fundamental and accepted realities. Among these realities is the higher social cost paid by those who are black and male in the United States, and it includes an exposure to institutional violence that no other social group has to bear. For example, there has been a marked decline in the crime rates of our major cities, and victimization and violence rates have been in decline among school age males for decades. Yet, black males have become an ever growing population among the incarcerated, and their rates of disproportionate minority contact with juvenile and criminal justice systems through school referrals show no improvement, even in our most progressive state school systems such as Maryland’s.

In Michael Brown’s community, racial profiling by police continues unchecked nearly 15 years after it was banned by the late Gov. Mel Carnahan in legislation that also required the public release of racial statistics on police practices. They show that while Michael Brown’s community is approximately 65 percent black, the proportion of its drivers pulled over by police is over 85 percent—as it was 14 years ago. The courts are necessary partners in the perpetuation of institutional violence, as clearly seen in the acquittal of Zimmerman for murdering Trayvon Martin, and Dunn for murdering Jordan Davis.

Courts are supposed to be places where justice takes place, but too frequently they serve as venues where inhumane acts are passively legitimized and closure is placed out of reach for the survivors. Events of this type join in solidarity black communities across the nation, only for a lack of social justice to turn their linked fate into a reoccurring collective trauma. While we await full disclosure of the details surrounding Michael Brown’s death, we should try to avoid the next tragedy and begin now to improve our institutional functions that appear at odds with data about males of color.

Associate Professor Odis Johnson, Jr., Ph.D., is the interim chair of the Department of African American Studies and is a Faculty Associate with the Maryland Population Research Center.

The views expressed in this piece are the opinions of the faculty member are not intended to represent the views or opinions of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences or the University of Maryland.

Published on Wed, Aug 13, 2014 - 4:00PM