Apartheid in Ferguson, Missouri

According to the 2010 census information on the web site of the city of Ferguson, Missouri, the overwhelming majority of the city is African American. However, as has been pointed out in the past, the overwhelming majority of its police force is white and its mayor is also white. This is very similar to what obtained in apartheid South Africa where the overwhelming majority of its population is black but the government was a white minority government. Even though apartheid means "separate development," as its initiators euphemistically called the racist system, the very idea has, over time, come to be associated with white minority rule. And white minority rule is what is going on in Ferguson. The Michael Brown murder should be understood within this context because it is this context that led to his death in the first place. People should be outraged by the murder and the apartheid regime that characterizes the city. The long term vision should be to change this system because it is a system that is inherently unjust. This apartheid flies in the face of democracy and human dignity, both important ideas to the social construct called America.