2014 has largely become a time of amazing but very scary events. Messages from various parts of the planet shocked and terrified the public. The planetary hegemon was not left without such unpleasant attention. The whole world was surprised by the riots in the United States. It would seem that in this "society of prosperity and democracy" nothing bad can happen. However, the media showed a different picture. What happened and why? Let's figure it out.
Start: Event Series
The scene of events was the city of Ferguson (USA). The riots there began with one, they say, quite an ordinary event. A policeman shot a black teenager. Sounds, you see, very scary. How can it be that the law enforcement officer raises his hand (let alone use a weapon) on the child? However, many sources claim that the child was still something. The teenager was engaged in petty theft. These teenagers are said to have a criminal past. In addition, the law allows the police to use weapons. And statistics (which are “stubborn things”) claim that the case was not out of the ordinary. This happens regularly. But this particular case gave rise to unrest in the United States, caused unrest in society. The family of the deceased expressed condolences, political leaders vying to appeal to the nation, demanding concrete action from President Obama.
Development of events
The whole planet in a few hours learned a lot about the city of Ferguson (USA). Riots and unrest for a long time secured a place for him on the front pages of news portals. The events were watched by many prying eyes around the world. Riots in the US seemed nonsense. This could not be, but anyone was now watching the live broadcast. World turned upside down? For several days, crowds of protesters occupied the avenues and streets of Ferguson. They tried to disperse the police, not particularly ceremonial, by the way. People demanded that the guilty policeman be severely punished. The investigation was delayed. As correspondents from the scene reported, "radical elements" from neighboring states began to flock to the city. The action was joined by residents of Washington. The riots in the United States threatened to go into a nationwide rally (or other peoples tired of the arbitrariness of the hegemon, just wanted that?).
We expand the review of events
The meaning of any social phenomenon cannot be understood without a thorough study of all the circumstances, tendencies and forces available in society. So, the Ferguson incident was not the first, and the last, by the way, too. But the public reacted to it. What happened at that moment on the political field of the country? After spending just one minute, we can find out (or remember) that the US was already in full swing during the election race. Elephants and Donkeys fought for seats in the House of Representatives.
Elections were interim. Nevertheless, in 2014 they became clearly very significant for both parties. Obama's supporters (Democrats) have traditionally relied on a black population. Their opponents decided to knock the soil out from under the opponent’s feet. That may be the explanation of these events that shook the world media for several months.
Provocation or pattern?
Is Ferguson just an arena for an election performance? Then maybe all this is rigged? Let it be a cruel, but isolated event? So, most likely, an interested reader will think. Some experts, in any case, decided to find out. As a result of the polls, it turned out that the attitude of citizens towards the police, as well as law enforcement officers towards those who violate it, is highly dependent on skin color (even if this is not a completely politically correct remark). Here is the data published by Gallup in August 2014. This organization asked citizens questions regarding their attitude to law enforcement agencies. It turned out that 59% of the “whites” are sure of the police. The confidence of black Americans is much lower - only 37%. In addition, there are studies that show that black U.S. citizens are more often imprisoned, they are less likely to be acquitted by the courts, and so on. Consequently, if the Ferguson events were provoked, then the ground for indignation is still real.
U.S. riots in 1992
Do not assume that mass protests of citizens have not happened in the States before. Not at all. In Los Angeles back in 1992 it was already like that. Then four white policemen beat a black man. Rodney King was guilty of exceeding speed. He refused to surrender to the authorities without resistance, for which he was severely beaten. A court verdict against police officers then caused riots in the United States. African Americans were not limited to a simple protest. They burned more than five thousand buildings. Protestants used weapons against the police, stormed the offices of government agencies.
Interestingly, in both cases described there were similar reasons for the onset of unrest. The white law enforcement officer violated the constitutional rights of an African American. And the sections of the population involved in the protests were also similar. It all started with African Americans, they were joined by Hispanics and immigrants.