The press, enthusiastic for sensationalism, was at fault in writing up the 2014 Ferguson incident as a major racist event (even though it was in fundamental sense). It failed to recognize that this was not simply and simplistically the question of black vs. white but there was the fact, as fundamental, that poverty breeds anger and violence, and it is more often suffered by the black population in predominant black community. The press thus helped the racist awareness and prompted a series of racial demonstrations on racism but unnecessarily incited antagonism between police and black rather than reporting more accurately the problem of the police dealing with the poor.
My opinion in this regard, which I have already said before, arises from my perception that racism discussed persistently as a question of black and white is not really so black-and-white, because the color of the skin is never black or white but varies in a spectrum ranging from dark brown to light brown. The whitest Caucasian, standing against a white wall, or even wearing a white blouse or T-shirt, shows that her or his skin is a pale tan, and the blackest African skin against his or her black hair shows that his or her skin is not pitch black. as it would be revealed standing against a completely black backdrop.
With increased interracial marriage, the line separating black and white, already blurred in reality, may get even more blurred in thinking, and then the identification of racial categories in terms of black and white may eventually get removed from the census and statistical accounting.
One year from the Ferguson incident, the press now seems be directing its attention more to the need of improving the behavior of the police force in the community it serves.
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