FERGUSON, MO, AUGUST 21 (RIA Novosti) – The unarmed teen whose death at the hands of police provoked riots in Ferguson could have been “any young black male” in the United States, campaigner Eugene Puryear told RIA Novosti.
“At the root of Ferguson are the social, racial and economic injustices that exist nationwide. They know that Ferguson could be anywhere and Michael Brown could be any young black male,” said Puryear, an organizer at the Answer Coalition.
“There is almost complete impunity for the perpetrators of most of these crimes. The political marginalization and racialized poverty that exist in Ferguson are replicated in communities across the country,” the campaigner said.
Puryear announced protests in Washington on Saturday and cited a study by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement that found one African-American person is killed by law enforcers or vigilantes every 28 hours in the United States.
“The murder of Michael Brown and the situation in Ferguson can and should be a turning point, where we finally come to terms with the root causes of these issues and address social deprivation and oppression and the police brutality that comes with it,” Puryear said.
Ferguson, a predominantly African-American suburb of St. Louis of some 21,000 residents, has been rocked by protests since the police killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American teenager, as he walked with a friend on a residential street on the afternoon of August 9.
Protests eased on Wednesday night thanks to the effects of rain and a visit by America’s top lawman, Attorney General Eric Holder, who promised a thorough federal probe to complement local investigations.
Missouri National Guard troops were deployed to staunch the violence. Law enforcers have been criticized for bringing military tactics to civilian protests, toting assault rifles and using tear gas, rubber bullets and other heavy-handed measures.
