The Michael Brown Decision: Sad, Mad, and Who's Bad?

This morning I searched The New York Times for clarification/commiseration about the Michael Brown case in St. Louis and the grand jury's decision announced last night that the policeman who killed Brown would be indicted for nothing.                               

The Times didn't seem to have an opinion, perhaps because the decision was announced so late, so at 7:45, I called my friend Elisabeth, who comes from St. Louis and who has been obsessed with this case for months (and rightfully so).  She said she felt very sad, and that she, too, had searched The Times for reaction.  Both of us long for an in-depth New Yorker piece with solid information and analysis.  Both of us felt sad, outraged, and just shy of hopeless about race in America.

In the meantime, I'll give you my reaction, because it helps me to write it down:

Here's what I think:

1. We've got a lot of work to do, we Americans.  Ideally, we'd drop everything and have every reputable therapist and sociologist leading groups of people of all races talking, talking, talking.  And some groups of Caucasians only, so we can air our racist assumptions, however subtle and shameful.

2. Gun control is part of the issue.

3. Caucasians know very little about how African Americans experience life in our society.  Very little.  I think this because of my work at the Berkeley Food Pantry, where about half of the clients are African American.  I have polite, but way-less-than-authentic interchanges with many of them.  The chasm between races is wide and deep.

4. There are people of goodwill out there who want to make it better.