Spotlight: One year later, U.S. city of Ferguson still hotbed of racial tension

A state of emergency declared on Monday for the small Missouri town of Ferguson was still in effect for the area, where about 150 people have been arrested during protests to mark the anniversary of the police shooting of the unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.

The state of emergency was declared for the city on Monday following a gunbattle between police and protesters Sunday night, when officers shot and critically wounded a black 18-year-old called Tyrone Harris Jr.

St. Louis County police released surveillance video footage Tuesday afternoon, which shows Harris grabbing a handgun from his waistband after gunshots were fired into the crowd. Authorities said Harris spotted plainclothes officers arriving in a van during the gunfire and fired at them.

Harris was charged with 10 felonies by the county prosecutors, including four counts of first-degree assault on law enforcement. His father, however, said his son was unarmed and innocent, according to U.S. media.

The already tense situation in Ferguson has raised further concern with the presence of an armed militia group, the members of which overtly carry rifles and pistols and are patrolling West Florissant Avenue, the center of several days of protests in the St. Louis suburb.

The group Oath Keepers, an activist group mostly made up of current and former members of the military and law enforcement, previously showed up in Ferguson in November following a grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson, the white officer who had fatally shot Brown.

Surely the ongoing state of emergency in Ferguson brings back unpleasant memories for older Americans who experienced the Watts rebellion, the biggest black uprising in the country since the end of slavery.

Exactly 50 years ago on Aug. 11, a white police officer in Watts, Los Angeles pulled over a 21-year-old black man, Marquette Frye, and arrested him for suspected drunk driving, sparking a six-day riot that resulted in 34 deaths and over 1,000 injuries.

The current situation in Ferguson seems much calmer and more peaceful compared with the chaos in southern Los Angeles five decades ago, but what prompted the unrest, at least partially, is more or less similar: the dissatisfaction and anger over police brutality and racial bias.

That would also explain the turmoil in U.S. cities like Baltimore, North Charleston and beyond.

Fifty years after the Watts tragedy, and 51 years after the enactment of the landmark Civil Rights Act, not much improvement has been made in racial relations, as racial discrimination still exists in police practice, and other aspects of social life.

Whether the Ferguson incidents will help bring about the much-needed improvement in racial relations remains to be seen, but the city will certainly be featured in history books 50 years from now. Endi