Shades of injustice

Two police officers in different cities were acquitted by American juries. Although the cases were distinct, the officers were white and the people who had died while the officers were trying to arrest them were black. Protests erupted on the streets of many towns as a result of these two incidents. The killing of an unarmed teen in Ferguson, Missouri, had resulted in riots, the acquittal of the police officer who shot him dead caused more unrest, including looting. In New York, people were largely peaceful after a police officer was acquitted of killing a Staten Island resident while arresting him. Yet they expressed their anger by gathering in large numbers and disrupting traffic. 

The perception that the police and justice systems don't treat everyone fairly is widespread, something that even President Barack Obama admitted recently. He maintained that it was not a black problem, but an American one. His position is hard to argue with, but admitting to the perception of everyone not being treated equally under the law is one thing, taking concrete steps is another.

The demand for accountability and change in the manner that the US is policed is growing, as is the sentiment against the profiling of black men and women. One proposal is that the police wear body cameras. The answer, however, does not lie only with technology, it has much to do with changing mindsets. More stress must be laid on community policing, and on improving the standard operating procedures for policemen. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination had pulled up the US after the Ferguson killing and pointed out that minorities, particularly African Americans, are victims of disparities. Indeed, the use of excessive force by the police and other law enforcement agencies has been evident in a number of cases, and the recent incidents have put the state of race relations in the spotlight, once again. The champion of human rights finds itself in an uncomfortable domestic situation, which needs to be addressed, "fairly".