If an African-American police officer were to shoot and kill a white suspect, would the American grand jury system follow a similar approach? More importantly, would it have freed the officer ( >Editorial , and “ >Contours of prejudice ,” Nov.28)? When the minorities in the U.S. have a trust deficit in the system, the exoneration of Daren Wilson by a white-dominated grand jury only rubs salt into their wounds. Though the country has come a long way in addressing issues of racism, and has even elected a black President, employing African-American police officers in an area populated by them would improve things. Finally, the root cause for most crimes in any society starts with poverty and inequality.
Varad Seshadri,
Sunnyvale, California
For a change, the U.S. State Department has to look closer home while preparing its next global human rights report. When confronted with these harsh truths, even liberal commentators go on the defensive and say that blacks suffer from a cultural predilection towards backwardness and lawlessness. It is often forgotten that America’s Dystopian free market paradise has wrecked families and forced many to live on marginal wage labour. At the same time, the black community has to move out of its cocoons of victimhood. It has to work hard to change society’s stereotypical attitudes. Repairing the family system so that youth are not trapped in crime and a focus on pursuing education and careers could be the first point.
V.N. Mukundarajan,
Thiruvananthapuram
