Commentary: Entrenched racial divide, social injustice in U.S. demand introspection

The anniversary of the Ferguson unrest could have been a good opportunity for Americans to reflect on racial divide. Unfortunately, a similar incident took place again.

On the eve of the anniversary of the Ferguson turmoil triggered by the killing of black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer, a 19-year-old black man was shot dead in Texas by a white officer during a burglary call.

The shooting, along with a series of other similar cases in which African-Americans were shot by white officers after the Ferguson incident, revealed once again the long-standing problem of racial divide, a deeply rooted chronic disease of the U.S. society.

The fatal shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Brown by white officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014, immediately sparked fierce clashes in Ferguson, Missouri, and prompted nationwide protests, with an outburst of anger following a grand jury decision not to indict Wilson in November.

Such a nationwide unrest didn't seem to have brought about any change, as more such cases continued to take the spotlight in the following months, including the fatal shooting of a black suspect in North Charleston, and the death of a 25-year-old African-American who suffered a spine injury in police custody in Baltimore, Maryland.

Serving as a plain demonstration of the country's deep-rooted racial divide, these tragic yet outrageous incidents also indicated apparent social injustice, as is shown in a U.S. Justice Department report released early March, which pointed out that systematic racism exists within the Ferguson Police Department, leading to multiple resignations.

A new study released by Women Donors Network in July said 95 percent of the elected prosecutors in the United States are white, while only 4 percent are minority men and 1 percent are minority women.

A new Gallup poll found that only 47 percent of the Americans surveyed regard relations between blacks and whites as at least "somewhat good," declining sharply from 70 percent in 2013.

Five decades after the enactment of the landmark Civil Rights Act, racial divide and social injustice remain entrenched in the U.S. society, casting a shadow over the glamorous American Dream.

Unless the issues are addressed, Uncle Sam would be nothing more than a hypocrite touting itself as a human rights defender, which fails to safeguard human rights on its own soil. Endi