News films of the riots that are everywhere taking place report the presence of among demonstrators of white people bent on causing violence and damage. I’ve read that some think these are white supremacists at work, and I find that easy to believe, for the riots present the black community in a very unfavorable light. In any case, demonstrations seem to get out of hand easily and descend into vandalism, attacks on law enforcement, and looting. What is a naive middle-class elder from St. Louis to make of this?

In the days of Ferguson, it seemed to me that media coverage of the riots might as well have conspired to present the black community there as lawless, destructive, divided against itself, and ignorant. White supremacists could not have contrived to present  blacks more prejudicially light than the images of black “youths” hurling things against a backdrop of buildings in flame, scenes of frantic looting, and reports of mobs bent on destruction in an atmosphere that looked more like a vandals’ block party than a demonstration. And I had to wonder why the black community is, apparently, so often complicit in events and activities that make them look so bad. Why did we not hear stern denunciations of this behavior from black leaders and see the black community collaborate to bring its destructive and criminal elements under control? Anyway, Ferguson came, and Ferguson went, and nothing at all of lasting value was accomplished by it. And now the nation is playing re-runs of Ferguson. 

The sufferings of the black community have been unrelenting and grievous. The white community must accept responsibility for these and collaborate with a sense of urgency for their remediation. But the black community must collaborate too. We hear demands for more investment in black schools, but more money would not make a difference if black parents remain indifferent or unsupportive of education. There are demands for more jobs for blacks, and this would help, but it is becoming ever more difficult to introduce uneducated, unskilled people, white or black, into today’s workforce. The police are often ineffective at dealing with black crime and often enough exacerbate it by their bigotry and brutality. We need better police, no doubt. But would better police help if the black community remains tolerant of criminal behavior and refuses to cooperate with law enforcement to contain it? The disproportionate number of deaths in the black community due to corona virus is compelling evidence of society’s failure to deliver health care to the black community. Public health has not been effective in reaching out to the black population, but I have to ask where is the black leadership that would enculturate their community to contemporary ideals of health and summon it to greater participation in available health care.

I think we may have reached a crucial juncture. It is not likely that the majority community will be swayed by black violence. Martin Luther King did not succeed through violence but changed white society by his measured reaction to injustice and creative, non-violent response to institutionalized repression. The white community will decide whether it will continue its indifference to oppression and violence against blacks or will make the current troubles the occasion for honest reflection and determination to dismantle and rebuild those institutions that cannot adjust to racial equality.