Connecticut joined the dozens of other states across the country in protesting the news that Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson will not go to trial in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown.
Students at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain demonstrated Tuesday. Some protesters spoke with U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy when he arrived on campus and argued that the Congress should have done more.
Murphy countered by saying that the issue lies with neighborhoods, not Washington, and added that community policing is a possible solution.
“I think it’s bigger than Ferguson. Ferguson is just the space that’s in the media right now,” said Don Sawyer, a professor of sociology at Quinnipiac University.
Sawyer said the outrage surrounding the death of Brown was a tipping point for communities of color in the U.S. that have mainly white police officers patrolling the streets.
“People talk about the issue of the predominantly white police force and the predominantly black neighborhood and the fact that they don’t match up, right?" Sawyer said. "And part of that is the relationship that people have with the police. If people have relationships with the police that are in their community and from their community, the reactions would be different, I believe.”
Scot Esdaile, president of the NAACP’s Connecticut chapter in New Haven, condemned the violence that overtook Ferguson, where people looted stores and burned buildings Tuesday night.
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“We’re not surprised about the actual decision,” Esdaile said. “But, I extremely, extremely encourage people to protest. I think we need to protest in civil disobedience.”
Esdaile added that what’s been seen on television doesn’t help any community recover.
“I think that the anger that we feel, the disappointment that we feel we need to do in a constructive way. We don’t need to destroy our communities but we do need to be out in the streets letting America know and the world know that we’re not OK with this decision,” he said.
