It was predictable. In fact, many people warned that this would happen. When the anarchists and race hustlers descended on Ferguson, violence became inevitable, and retaliation against the police became a certainty. Two police officers were injured after being shot by a sniper during yet another protest. Whether these protests have been mostly peaceful or mostly violent is a matter of some debate. What is not up for debate is that directly following the Justice Department's scathing report condemning the practices of the Ferguson police department, a sniper targeted the police.
The Justice Department's report, while disturbing, was unnecessarily political, just as the entire sad story of Ferguson was made political with the publication of a false, racially charged narrative. In the wake of the Michael Brown shooting there was a rush to justice. As with most prejudged situations, the facts did not support the narrative. Unfortunately, the players were already married to the narrative when the facts finally came out, which only fed the flames of anger in the community. And, as is often the case, anger turned into violence. It then became only a matter of time before the alleged perpetrators of "racism" and "child murder" would be directly targeted by someone or some group that felt morally justified in doing so.
Soon there will be no police in Ferguson. The business that were burned in the hours and days after Darren Wilson was exonerated will never return. The hollowed out buildings will never be rebuilt, and whatever good jobs there were in that community are gone forever. Racial politics, poor judgment, and an underlying distrust of authority will have destroyed the town.
In their defense, it is unlikely that the Justice Department, Eric Holder or the vast majority of the protestors intended for any of this to happen. They simply misjudged the issue and demonstrated a lack of sophistication in their decision making. Launching an investigation into "racism in the Ferguson police department" in response to a false narrative was unproductive and showed real naivete. A more sophisticated leader would have waited until things had returned to normal before pursuing an investigation into the department itself, thus decoupling the federal investigation from the false narrative. A measured federal response would have focused on the police only after the local investigation had been completed. Under no circumstances would a responsible federal investigator piggyback his or her investigation on a racially charged narrative that had been completely debunked.
I spend a great deal of my professional life dealing with federal investigators and federal investigations. I am routinely surprised and impressed with the level of professionalism and relative sophistication of the investigators, particularly in the area of civil rights. Institutional racism, as I've said before, is real, it is insidious, and we should make every effort as a nation to ferret it out. But to be effective, civil rights issues must always be addressed in a measured way, largely free of the emotional reactions these issues naturally provoke. Emotionally charged issues require the application of calm reason if they are to be resolved non-violently. Snap judgments, gut feelings, and emotional decisions made in the heat of the moment are the enemies of progress on any divisive issue. Progress is often slow, and advocates are frequently frustrated by the deliberate pace of justice. But justice ostensibly achieved by a sniper's bullet does equal violence to the cause.
There is little doubt that the Justice Department's report will continue to fuel anger towards the police for weeks to come. There is little doubt that the police will continue to be targeted by individuals and groups that believe they are serving some twisted form of justice on their oppressors. A dark cloud will hover over Ferguson and the police officers that have served that community long after Eric Holder leaves office. When that cloud finally lifts, the story of Ferguson will not be one of hope. Instead it will serve as a stern warning to us all that the politicization of tragedy tends to end in more tragedy.
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