What Can Fresno Learn From Ferguson?

BY MIGUEL BIBANCO YOUTH REPORTER

On August 9, 18-year-old Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American, was shot and killed by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, in Ferguson, Missouri -- a tragically premature end to a young life.

In the weeks and months that followed, thousands of young people, families, and others protested in the streets of Ferguson to express their anger and frustration over police brutality in the black community and a lack of police accountability. Their protests, well documented on mainstream news and social media channels, gave rise to a national conversation about police misconduct and the relationship between police departments and communities of color. Why, many of us asked, should we have to fear those that are supposed to protect us?

Then, on the evening of November 24, a grand jury decided not to indict Officer Wilson, freeing him from the prospect of a criminal trial and predictably sparking even more fervent protests on the streets of Ferguson and around the nation, the end of which we have yet to see.

While the specific events in Ferguson are unique, the larger dynamics at play are certainly relevant in communities across the United States, including Fresno.

That being the case, we at The Know Youth Media felt that opening up a dialogue about policecommunity relations in our own backyard would be the best way to respond and make sense of the events we were all watching unfold across the country. So we organized a TV roundtable discussion, focused on the question: What can Fresno learn from the Ferguson tragedy?

We were joined on the program by Brittany Ferrell of Millennial Activists United in Missouri, who provided first-hand knowledge of what was happening in Ferguson.

To help bring the issue home, we invited Rebecca Rangel of Central California Criminal Justice Committee, and Bryson White of Faith In Community. Both gave us a perspective on current community-police relations in Fresno. We also interviewed young people in Fresno, asking them about their personal experiences with the police. The Fresno Police Department declined an invitation to participate in the program.

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