What Next for America’s Fergusons?: Beyond the Grand Jury Decision - 11.21.14

Our discussions this week are a primer on the legal issues involved in a case that has commanded national and international attention—the killing of Michael Brown, a young black man, by Darren Wilson, a white officer with the Ferguson Police Department in Missouri.

A grand jury that has been reviewing the case for three months imminently is expected to announce whether it has voted criminal charges against Wilson.  But as Leid Stories pointed out, the case has been handled in such a manner that, indictment or no, the officer won’t lose.

Today we discuss the immediate and long-term future. What use will we make of the many truths learned from our analysis of this case? How will they shape our political consciousness—and, more so, our actions? What are to be the next moves for the people of Ferguson and for the Fergusons of America?

Our guest, “the people’s attorney general,” Alton H. Maddox Jr., frames these questions in the context of the continuum of struggle by blacks for equality and justice. Listeners contribute their thoughts.