Ferguson riots highlight race divide on perceptions of US justice system

The rule of law and equality before the law are fundamental to a fair and democratic society. Yet, despite economic, educational and social advancement and even the election of a black president, African-American citizens of the greatest Western democracy do not trust the police or its justice system or believe they are equals before the law. That is clear from the swift explosion of anger across the US after news that a grand jury had cleared a white police officer in the street shooting of an unarmed black teenager.

Feelings of distrust may have been emotionally charged by prejudgment in this case. A shooting of an unarmed offender never looks good. But they are also founded in a smouldering perception that white racism still pervades the justice system. This ignited a riot in Ferguson, Missouri, where the shooting occurred, and protests in cities across America.

People took to the streets despite appeals for calm from officials including President Barack Obama, who also said - more than half a century after the landmark achievements of the American civil rights movement - that the nation still had work to do on race relations.

Polls by the Pew Research Centre in Washington show mistrust pervades black attitudes towards the police and the courts far more than towards other institutions. Despite workplace, social and educational integration, whites and blacks still have contrasting experiences with law enforcement and justice. For example, at the end of last year 3 per cent of black males were imprisoned compared with 0.5 per cent of whites, and one in 15 African-American children had a parent in jail, compared with one in 111 white children.

While riots cannot be condoned, their root cause is frustration. Black majority Ferguson, with its largely white police force and council, is a textbook example of a white dominated system that has failed to respond to demographic change. But the work that remains to be done on race relations not only falls to whites. Black opinion leaders need to work on negative attitudes towards authority and the wider society that do not advance their people's cause.

Some hope is to be found in another Pew finding, that blacks under 40 are less likely to believe that racism is an obstacle to advancement. Yet they have been predominant among the rioters and protesters, underlining the need to urgently address the perception that racism still perverts justice.