Why Police Need Their Own Ferguson Syllabus
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(Twitter/Melissa @ MSNBC)
"When schools opened across the country, how were they going to talk about what happened? My idea was simple, but has resonated across the country: reach out to the educators who use Twitter. Ask them to commit to talking about Ferguson on the first day of classes. Suggest a book, an article, a film, a song, a piece of artwork, or an assignment that speaks to some aspect of Ferguson. Use the hashtag: #FergusonSyllabus."
-Marcia Chatelain, “How To Teach Kids About What’s Happening in Ferguson”
On Aug. 25, The Atlantic published Chatelain’s feature article, described as "a crowdsourced syllabus about race, African American history, civil rights, and policing.” The Georgetown African-American studies professor explains how the riots in Ferguson caused kids to miss school, and that “in a time of crisis” like Ferguson, she was concerned that the aftermath would be challenging for teachers. With the help of scholars from across the nation (and the Twitterverse), Chatelain had created the beginnings of a “#FergusonSyllabus” less than two weeks after the Michael Brown shooting.
READ MORE: Journalists Arrested And Assaulted As Ferguson, Mo. Descends Into Chaos
The first version of the Ferguson Syllabus included classic black literature, ranging from the narrative poems of Langston Hughes to the brutally honest tales of James Baldwin. The suggested readings came from historical letters like Martin Luther’s King’s famous "Letter From Birmingham Jail," but also didn't fail to mention recently written, groundbreaking pieces on black identity formation. For example, "Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America" by MSNCB's Melissa Harris-Perry is even on the syllabus. The underlying premise of the syllabus is to make sure students and children understand how past Civil Rights oriented cases, events and movements heavily influenced the cry for racial equality that became known as “#Ferguson.”
Although reading many of the poems, stories, letters, articles and legal clauses included on the Ferguson Syllabus has given me a better understanding of the diverse elements of black culture and black identity formation, I fear that, like with many other black historical movements, simply adding Ferguson into academic discourse won’t solve the bigger issue at hand. Encouraging students to discuss the complex social hierarchies that existed during slavery, the affects of post-slavery Jim Crow laws and the myth of the American “Post-Racial Society,” may not directly impact the nationwide increase in both police militarization and police brutality.
In Rinku Sen's Al-Jazeera America piece, "For Police accountability, Look Beyond Individual Racial Bias," reform scholar Philip Atiba Goff revealed that:
“An officer who feels a need to demonstrate his masculinity may be more likely to use force in general, but particularly against people who threaten his self-concept as a man. If African-Americans are seen as hypermasculine, then the officer will feel more threatened.”
If university academics really want to impact the minds of Americans with the Ferguson Syllabus, then why not consider making members of the bureaucracy learn more about civil rights? With rising rates in police brutality and police militarization, specifically towards people of color, maybe law and government officals also need their own updated Ferguson Syllabus.
A Ferguson Syllabus geared toward the government would have to start on the local level, to ensure that men of color can one day feel safe “walking while black” or "brown." Laws that were established to guarantee the equal rights to every (white) American (man), still only apply to Americans of certain colors and socioeconomic backgrounds. An entire Ferguson Syllabus could be created just to refresh government officials on how to actually uphold civil rights laws included in the United States Constitution.
READ MORE: Ferguson, Mo. Is Making Us Confront Racism In The Media
Ferguson Police officers's vicious responses to peaceful protests clearly violated the following Civil Rights laws that black leaders fought tirelessly to acquire. And if the Ferguson Syllabus were to spread in both academia and government, then citizens and officers of the law would have to remember how the Michael Brown shooting and the police's reaction to said shooting, went against the following components of the U.S. Constitution:
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.
Amendment XIV
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Amendment XIX
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Amendment XV
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude—
Please note that the Founders created the United States Constitution to "let these truths be self-evident, that all men were created equal." And yet, the dark-skinned men and women who used to count as 3/5th of a person, still fear for their lives and liberties, even as American citizens. The Ferguson Syllabus should remind students of all racial and political identifications that Ferguson is one of many examples of how America is not "a Post-Racial" society. But even with the increased awareness amongst academics and students across the nation, how will we, as citizens, compel the people who are supposed to protect ALL Americans, to actually start protecting the lives and liberties of black Americans?
