Many have heard of the Ferguson case since the shooting occurred in August, but over the past few months and even more recently this case has been appearing in the news because of the time of the grand jury decision. The jury’s decision to not indict Darren Wilson, a Caucasian policeman who had shot the African American Michael Brown, caused a chain of protests in both Ferguson, Missouri and other cities. There are definitely cases in the past which have displayed the same issue over the U.S. legal system not treating African Americans fairly, but that’s not what really concerns me about the case.

What really concerns me is the violence that ensues after this case. Whether Wilson is decided as guilty or not guilty by the jury’s decision, a man has still died, and there shouldn’t be more violence to cause even more deaths and injuries. Both the protestors and the police department are resorting to violent actions as this situation escalates. Even in foreign country news the flipped over police cars among a sea of people and the buildings that are set on fire are seen. In return we can have heard on the news how the police have responded back with tear gas fired and hundreds of arrests.

Shops and buildings in the town had to have their windows boarded up because of the fear of what would be thrown and who would do what during these protests. This fear and the anger of the protesters spread to Boston, Dallas, New York, and Los Angeles.

In America, we allow protests. We allow people to speak up against the system if they deem it doing unjust actions or not making the right decisions. We pride ourselves in that fact, that we’re the “land of the free”. But do we pride ourselves in the violent footage being shown worldwide? Do we want our children to look back in the past and think, “Wow, what an amazing country I live in, there’s so much violence in these protests.” No, we don’t. In fact I think some parents would be shielding their children’s’ eyes to prevent them from seeing all the rocks being thrown, the fires being set off, and the gunfire being brought out. But most of all, to shield them from the tension and anger that fuels these violent acts.

I’ve never been good with telling the facts apart from the words spurted out by biased reporters and their slanted stories, but I have seen the replays of the footage from these riots, and the violence is clear. Where there’s violence, more people get hurt over trying to support justice (in their view) of someone else’s death. Is violence equivalent to justice?