The report was issued on Monday by the Ferguson Commission, a diverse 16-member volunteer group charged with looking at Ferguson and beyond, post-Michael Brown’s death.
I’ve started my way back through it a second time, and I have to tell you, the report takes a deep dive into race and makes, by its own count, 189 calls to action. This is one of the most important documents on race that I’ve read in the recent past, and it includes lines such as:
…make no mistake: this is about race.
and
The law says all citizens are equal. But the data says not everyone is treated that way.
I find this incredibly moving and am including it in the reading I’ve assigned for a class I’m teaching at Central Connecticut State University. You owe it to yourself to read it, as well.
This report comes in addition to the earlier report on the Ferguson police department, from the Department of Justice.
Dating Jesus 
That’s going to take some time. Thanks for the links.
“”What we are pointing out is that the data suggests, time and again, that our institutions and existing systems are not equal…’
…and…
“We have not moved beyond race.”
Was there ever any doubt?
Although I haven’t done much but peruse at this point…like the 30 year difference in life expectancy among local zip codes…it appears the conditions in St. Louis/Ferguson, being particularly egregious in some instances, are not at all unique to that area.
I’m hoping you task your students with not only reading the report but tracking response…in particular the backlash that will follow.
Yeah. Some of it is, to me, “I knew that already,” but there’s so much new, and it’s data-driven and man, this is an incredible piece of work.
The detailed way in which the data is analyzed and presented is certainly head and shoulders above anything I expected. It is an important verification of the failures of past reformism. Considering those failures, and the scope of the reforms called for in the report, to effect the change the commission calls for will require a monumental effort. There’s going to be a great deal of resistance. The type of resistance to change that has been so successful in the past. The type of resistance that brought us to where we are right now.
And it’s going to require capital commitment…money…in significant amounts. And when it comes to spending money on the betterment of non-white populations…well…we’re back to the resistance issue again. Not such a great record there.