The tension between police and minorities started at times of the Civil Rights Movement. Specifically, a peaceful march in Selma, Alabama, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was met with police aggression (Cunningham, 2018). This event that happened on March 9, 1965, on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, named after Ku Klux Klan leader, became known as “Bloody Sunday” (Cunningham, 2018). The march was an attempt at a peaceful demonstration against racial discrimination in America. However, the outcome was that the participants were gassed and beaten, which was the first display of police brutality against a nonviolent movement that aimed to win the voting right for black people. The modern riots that involved police-minorities conflict happened in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland, almost fifty years after this historical event. Although these protests had a racial conflict as the foundational reason, three leading causes make these cases different.
The first reason that distinguished Ferguson and Baltimore riots from “Bloody Sunday” was that the latter was a peaceful demonstration that wanted to claim African American rights. Conversely, the former was caused by the police murder of two black men, Michael Brown and Freddie Gray, in 2014 and 2015, respectively (Dewan, 2017). Moreover, the methods applied in fifty-year apart events were opposite because the Edmund Pettus Bridge marchers utilized peaceful ways, promoted by Gandhi in India and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the United States. In contrast, the Ferguson and Baltimore rebels chose a violent approach, enraged by the death of two black men murdered by the police.
The second reason is that the outcomes of these events were different. The aim of Selma to Montgomery marchers, receiving the right to vote for African Americans, was achieved (Cunningham, 2018). The result of Baltimore and Ferguson’s uprises was sorrowful because they demoralized society, turning it against police and increasing the crime rate (Dewan, 2017). Specifically, police officers in Ferguson, experiencing public distrust, could not perform their duties properly, enabling felons to continue the criminal activity on the streets of Ferguson (Dewan, 2017). That situation even gained a specific name known as the “Ferguson Effect,” which was repeated in Baltimore the next year after the tragic death of Mr. Gray, who sustained multiple injuries from police beatings.
The third important distinction between “Bloody Sunday” and the two modern events is the lack of a proper leader in the latter cases. The 1965 march was organized by Dr. Martin Luther King, who ensured that their demonstration under no circumstances would become violent (Cunningham, 2018). In contrast, Baltimore and Ferguson’s protests did not have such a leader; thus, these riots damaged the citizens, federal government, and police (Dewan, 2017). Indeed, unguided demonstrations caused by rage usually have unfavorable outcomes.
In summary, an opposition between minorities and police appears to be a problem that started during the Civil Rights Movement and continues to modern days. However, the “Bloody Sunday” event and the riots in Ferguson and Baltimore seem to be substantially different. For instance, the Selma to Montgomery march, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., was a peaceful demonstration that eventually reached its goal, voting right for African Americans. On the other hand, the two protests that happened fifty years after that event was the reaction to police brutality that transformed into uproars with the dramatic rise in criminal activity. Overall, these three events are similar in their racial context but vary in causes, goals, methods, and outcomes.
Reference
Cunningham, R. M. (2018). The march from Selma to Montgomery and the nonviolent movement in analysis. Psychological Perspectives, 61(3), 331-343.
Dewan, S. (2017). Deconstructing the “Ferguson effect.” The New York Times.