“Hands up, don't shoot”. Ferguson has turned the gesture into a defiant symbol. Photo: Vox.com
Several
dozen protesters gathered Wednesday outside the St Louis County
prosecutor's office, calling for Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson
to stand trial for the death of Michael Brown. Inside, a 12-member grand
jury began hearing evidence in the case.
Nearby, US Attorney General Eric Holder, on a day trip from Washington, mingled with Ferguson community leaders and residents.
“Hands up, don't shoot”. Ferguson has turned the gesture into a defiant symbol. Photo: Vox.com
But
so deep is the lack of trust among African-Americans in their nation's
criminal justice system that many dread the idea that Wilson, 28, a
police officer for six years, might get off scot-free.
"I
honestly believe this is the beginning of a cover-up," said Jerryl
Christmas, a well-known African-American lawyer, amid growing calls for
McCulloch -- whom critics say has a track record over two decades in
office of not going after police wrongdoing -- to be pulled off the
case.
Nationally, "although black men made up only 27.8 percent
of all persons arrested from 2003-2009, they made up 31.8 percent of all
persons who died in the course of arrest, and the majority of these
deaths were homicides," the American Civil Liberties Union has reported.
"It's
hard for a community to have confidence in a system that only
prosecutes them," said Christmas, a one-time prosecutor and a leader of
Wednesday's orderly protest.
“Hands up, don't shoot”. Ferguson has turned the gesture into a defiant symbol. Photo: Vox.com
"As
African-Americans, we have to tell our kids, when they get to a certain
age, our male children, how to deal with the police" -- a conversation
not heard in white American families, he said.
Christmas
pinned part of the blame on a significant lack of African-Americans in
key positions throughout the criminal justice system.
According
to a Justice Department report, blacks as well as Hispanics are three
times more likely to be searched during a traffic stop than whites, and
four times as likely to experience the use of force in encounters with
police.
Statistics also indicate that one in three
African-American males can expect to spend some time in prison, while
black high school students are far more likely to be arrested than white
classmates, the liberal Center for American Progress think tank has
noted.
Jess Luby, who came down from Minnesota with fellow
activists, said she was 23 years old when she was pulled over late one
night for alleged careless driving.
She said she spent two years
fighting the charges, which were finally dropped last month. "They try
to suck you into the system," she told AFP, "and that's why people don't
want to fight it."
