Eric Holder Is AWOL in Ferguson

Nearly three months since a grand jury began to hear evidence in the police shooting death of a black teenager, deliberations, which will determine if there will be calm or chaos in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, are expected to begin any time now.

The death of 18 year old Michael Brown, on August 9^th, was followed by several days of civil unrest by hundreds of angered residents of the predominantly black community of Ferguson.  The incident gained national attention which included President Obama addressing the nation in the matter and a one day visit to the town of Ferguson by our nation’s top cop, US Attorney General Eric Holder.

Eric Holder’s short visit to Ferguson included cursory visits to an area school, community college, and with a small number of community members who gathered in a local restaurant.  Holder also spent time discussing the tenuous relationship between the community and local police with members of Ferguson’s law enforcement, community and religious leaders.  What Eric Holder’s visit to Ferguson did not include was face to face dialog with was the hundreds of community member hell bent in burning the town down if a police officer Daren Wilson is not indicted for the shooting death of Michael Brown.

Since Eric Holders departure, tension between community members and law enforcement in Ferguson remains high.  Nightly protests continue and are often punctuated with acts of civil disobedience and violence.  Local law enforcement, which is often the target of the protestor’s anger, has had little success in defusing the situation.

For some time now, what has been needed in the town of Ferguson is for a strong black figurehead to come in and open a dialog with the protestors, a voice of reason to help explain to the community the judicial process that is taking place with the grand jury and the importance of accepting the outcome of that process, a person such as Eric Holder.

Yet, after vowing to help the community through its healing process, Holder has been unable to carve out a single day in his schedule to visit the people of Ferguson.  Just one day would have likely prevented much of the violence that has transpired in the streets of Ferguson over the past three months.  Just one day might make the difference between peaceful protest and a city going up in flames if in fact the grand jury finds no grounds on which to charge Officer Wilson.

The racial tensions that have risen out of the police officers shooting of a black youth in Ferguson MO, has provided America’s first black US Attorney General and even the first black President of the United States with not just a unique but also a historic opportunity to have made a difference, but the opportunity seems to have been squandered away.