“Maybe it’s time to stop playing and get to the root causes of anger of black youth and how we can systematically address them,” Jamala Rogers told St. Louis Public Radio just over a week after Ferguson came undone in response to the death of Michael Brown Jr.
She reprinted the commentary within her book “Ferguson is America: Roots of Rebellion” – which she will sign and discuss on Monday, September 28 at Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid Ave.
In the book, the author, activist and veteran St. Louis American columnist explores the “why” as much as the “what” as she lends her perspective to the global phenomenon of “Ferguson.” Her latest book is a compilation of writings pre- and post-Ferguson that speak to issues she’s been crying out on behalf of the black community for years.
Rogers starts back in 1857 with the Dred Scott case to illustrate the origins of the unbalanced relationship between blacks and the justice system and carries through to the 21st century with the death of Brown and the non-indictment of the cop who killed him.
Long before August 9, 2014, Rogers has been on the frontlines of social justice. A founding member of the Organization for Black Struggle, she has led the community through crises in policing, education, healthcare, basic human rights and livable wages, to name a few.
Through “Ferguson is America,” she illustrates how these systemic issues boiled over in Ferguson, Baltimore, Cleveland and New York City over the past year based on her work as an activist for more than 45 years, providing historical data and case studies.
“Black minds matter,” Rogers writes of woes within the public school system, where black students are often the majority. She takes readers on a history lesson of the disenfranchisement of educational systems that serve blacks from Kinloch in the 1930s through desegregation and the 2003 takeover of the St. Louis Public Schools by Marsal and Alverez.
Her truth pills are not easy to swallow.
“Whenever America attempts to have a conversation about race or poverty, it either starts out with victim-blaming or ends up with it,” Rogers writes. “This is so illogical that it sometimes borders on the absurd. The conversation cannot start with whites denying the reality of policing because it differs from theirs. The lack of cooperation with police is motivated by hatred of police tactics and behavior. ‘Why should I help the police when they are causing just as much harm as the criminals?’”
Doses of her truth are delivered to both sides.
“In the months since Mike Brown’s murder, I’ve watched the fire of youthful indignation slowly being doused with smothering sands of police infiltration, ego, money and fame,” Rogers writes. “Being young, black and charismatic doesn’t always translate into young black and committed to the long-term struggle for human rights and justice.”
As a matron of the social justice in the post-civil rights era in St. Louis and beyond, Rogers has earned the right to deliver tough love.
She endearingly speaks of giving counsel to the likes of Tef Poe and others thrust into the forefront of the Ferguson unrest – and relying on them to carry the torch. “I firmly believe that if you want to be relevant to the social justice movement,” Rogers writes, “you must be relevant to the young people.”
Jamala Rogers will sign and discuss “Ferguson is America: Roots of Rebellion” 7 p.m. Monday, September 28 at Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid Ave. For more information, call 314-367-6731 or visit www.left-bank.com.
