Ferguson, Missouri, was once an obscure St. Louis suburb. Now the town is associated with police brutality, American racial tension and a widely-supported social movement.
Several UT students and Knoxville residents recently traveled to Ferguson to protest the Aug. 9 death of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American man who was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a Caucasian police officer. On Wednesday night in the Alumni Memorial Building, they will share their experiences in Ferguson and discuss the broader political situation underlying the highly-publicized death.
The Tennessee-based Highlander Center selected the participants to travel to Ferguson in order to participate in the area’s social activism. The center works to promote “grassroots movements” in the South to promote widespread social justice and equality.
Ann Jefferson, a lecturer in the history department and a member of the planning committee responsible for the forum, hopes the event will highlight connections between Ferguson’s racial climate and that of Knoxville.
“This is Missouri, we’re in Knoxville — what do these two things have to do with each other?” Jefferson asked.
Jefferson said she sees the death of Michael Brown at the hands of a police officer as a symptom of larger racial issues in the nation, citing the death of African-American teenager Vonderrit Myers last month in St. Louis as evidence to that effect.
“It feels like an epidemic,” Jefferson explained. “How many more young people or young men in this society are gonna die before we all just step back and say ‘Wait a second, what’s going on here?'”
Jefferson ultimately sees the forum as an opportunity for students to discuss the controversial issues surrounding Brown’s death. Having lived during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Jefferson said she views it as the next generation’s responsibility to continue the legacy of improving race relations.
“These shootings are an indication that there is more work that needs to be done (by America’s youth),” Jefferson said.
Josh Inwood, associate professor of geography and Africana studies and moderator for the forum, sees the death of Michael Brown as a “tragic situation,” yet admits the truth behind the incident may never be fully understood.
“I don’t think at this point any of us have a full appreciation of what went on in Ferguson and there’s a good chance probably we never will,” Inwood said.
Citing statistics from the Malcolm X Foundation, Inwood said the fact that a person of color is killed every 36 hours by a law enforcement official fits into a larger, more troubling context of racial violence in America.
“(Racial violence) fits into a broader pattern, and that’s where it becomes more troubling,” Inwood said.
The event will take place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday in Room 27 of the Alumni Memorial Building.
