In this post, Jerry Medol, the founder of Anger Alternatives, responds to the additional violence in the St. Louis area as written about in this US News article
The right or wrong of this young mans shooting death is being obscured by the drama the community feels and is bringing in the emotions surfacing after the shooting in Ferguson. This drama in many ways is a reenactment of an established married couple in which the husband has been abusive for a long time and wants to change, and the wife who has been abused all that time is just not willing to listen to the same old line, even if it is true this time.
It remains to be seen if it is true this time, and in the meantime that husband will have to hold his anger and demonstrate his good will while the wife decides how to relate to him. That means the St. Louis police need to move slowly and be transparent at every step and let the community know what they are doing before they do it. Do your job and show respect.
There is no magic or simple answer to an issue that has been so deeply rooted in a historical and traditional distrust. Once this situation has escalated beyond the parties immediately involved it becomes a public issue. The historical distrust in St. Louis that is being enacted goes back to early pre-Civil War days when ruling white authority enforced slavery. To a degree that same authority has continued to act as a control agent in the black community to this day.
Jerry Medol, Director
Anger Alternatives
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