The other side of the Ferguson community

Enough for now of the negative, the bad news coming out of Ferguson, Missouri.

There is also good news in the random acts of kindness:   residents of this community who try to stop those intent on inciting violence, who offer food and shelter to out-of-town news media persons, church volunteers who help organize assistance, volunteers who guard stores against looting.

Because there has been so much written about the disparity between the largely black citizenry and the white power structure and authority in Ferguson, I had fallen into thinking of it in terms of urban poverty and slums.   Not so.  I regret the stereotypical assumptions.  Ferguson, by many measures, is middle class.

Here are some facts that I didn't know until published in the Atlanta Journal Constitution today:

Median household income:   $37,517
Home ownership:  59.9%
College graduates:  22.8%
High school graduates:   88.5%  (slightly higher than state average)

And yet, even so, race seems to be a factor, despite the denial of Ferguson's (white ) mayor, who said that there is no racial divide in Ferguson.    How else to explain the wide divide between government power and the majority-black citizens.

The good news seems to be that the people of Ferguson may be in a better position to make good use of the spotlight that this tragedy will expose of the great power differential between blacks and whites.

Ralph

PS:   Perhaps even more relevant, however is one stat that the AJC did not include.   For St. Louis County, which includes Ferguson, the unemployment rate for African-American men between ages 16 and 24 is 47%, compared to 16% for white men in that age range.   This disparity is one of the highest in the country.