Thoughts about the police killings in US

Secondly, it is also apparent that much work remains to be done in attracting a higher calibre of police officer and ensuring adequate training that would improve arrest procedures and community acceptance and respect for authority, especially from minority groups.

A third factor is the reality that black youths are more likely to be arrested and taken into custody, though the evidence is not clear about why this is so. It must also be mentioned that police deaths in the United States are also up by almost 50 percent. Thus, perhaps both minorities and police are victims of a wider breakdown of civil society, law and order in the United States.

Also troubling is the attendant violence that accompanied protests in cities across the United States. In the case of Ferguson many protestors came from outside the community and used these events for their own agenda. It was especially tragic that much of the property damage occurred to minority run businesses, thus further hurting the very community that such protestors claimed to be helping.

These realities point to what President Obama described as not solely a "black problem," but "an American problem." To the extent it is a "black problem," this shows that issues of race and discrimination are far from resolved. As Nobel Prize author William Faulkner noted, "The past is never dead. It isn't even past."

Internally, these incidents also point to a decline in respect and authority shown by many in today's society. It also reflects a violent U.S. society and a decline in the American family.

Finally, from a foreign policy standpoint, these killings by police tend to weaken U.S. authority and undermine the U.S. position as a nation of tolerance and equity and leading defender of human rights. It also suggests that the "melting pot" notion of integration has not always worked well. The international image and "moral authority" of the U.S., which has often lectured other nations about human rights, is also weakened.

Looking to the future, some good may yet come out of these incidents. Hopefully, the system of criminal justice will be improved, police training enhanced and the deeper societal issues of inequality and family breakdown addressed. Hopefully, too, U.S. citizens will unite behind the principles so eloquently expressed in their Constitution by protesting against and resisting all forms of tyranny and abuse of authority no matter where or to whom they occur.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/eugeneclark.htm

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