Tavis Smiley: Justice for Michael Brown still possible

The grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri has spoken, although many fellow citizens have little regard or respect for what they've said.

This failure to indict in the shooting death of an unarmed Michael Brown does not mean there was no crime, it simply reflects the grand jury's inability to know certain facts beyond a shadow of doubt. In that, the grand jury joins the Justice Department's own investigators who also appear to have failed to find a civil rights violation in the killing.

In truth, I always thought that the chances of an indictment in this case were slim to none, and slim is out of town.

It always seemed to me that this jury would indict only if they could clearly see that officer Wilson acted with malice. Only then would he have been prosecuted and punished. If, however, the forensic evidence suggested that Brown could have provoked and attacked the officer, then there would be no indictment.

While this case reeks of social injustice, the facts were always a bit more stubborn, and to some degree, in doubt. Which is not to say that black folk and other concerned citizens were not right to protest the way this case was mishandled from the very start.

Indeed, if there is any justice to come from this unnecessary and untimely death, it will only be because people of conscience and goodwill refuse to let Michael Brown die in vain.

How do we ensure that?

By recognizing that while there are many facts that we may never know about what really happened that Saturday afternoon in Ferguson, there are other facts not at all in doubt that we need to confront.

Let's be clear: the black citizens in Ferguson, Missouri, have been living under a predatory government — a dragnet of harassment and arrests that basically criminalizes the entire black community. The government there has preyed on the poorest citizens by turning minor matters into crimes and fines into debts that spin out of control, landing people in jail for the crime of poverty.

In a city that's67% black with only one black city council member and only three African American police officers out of 53, that's no accident. Governments can be predatory just like check-cashing outlets that take advantage of the poor, insurance companies and banks that redline neighborhoods or businesses that charge higher prices in certain communities.

There is nothing we can do to bring back Michael Brown. But we can tamp down the tension and get to work reversing the conditions of racism and poverty that create Ferguson-style powder kegs all across America, just waiting to be lit when fellow citizens are killed under suspicious circumstances by law enforcement.

Some say it's too late. I say the time is always ripe to do what's right.

Tavis Smiley is host and managing editor of Tavis Smiley on PBS , and author of the book Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Final Year .

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