The Ferguson Commission Report

Props to the people who invested time and effort in creating this report. They seem to have grasped the essential barrier to the Commission's efforts.

Though some may be feeling “Ferguson fatigue,” we
believe that Ferguson can, and should, represent a
collective awakening to the issues that many in our region
knew and understood, but for many others were invisible.
Now they are not.
This new, shared sense of understanding calls us to a
shared sense of responsibility, and also brings a shared
sense of opportunity. What would a more just, a more
unified, a more equitable St. Louis be capable of ? We
must use the energy and the urgency inspired by Ferguson
to find out.

But at the same time - and on the same page - they forecast the likely fate of the report.

In her 2010 book “Flak-Catchers: One Hundred Years
of Riot Commission Politics in America,” author Lindsey
Lupo examines five commissions that were appointed in
response to race riots between 1919 and 1992. She argues
that historically, these commissions are appointed to calm
the public, and give the impression that the government
is doing something—that they “give the appearance of
action but are little more than a tool to maintain the
status quo,” and that, “social and racial issues in the cities
are not actually addressed by the commission”

I hope I'm wrong.