St. Louis Pros And Cons

Introduction In the fall of 2014, Ferguson Missouri, a suburb 10 miles north of downtown St. Louis, became the sight of a full-blown riot, after the police killing of Michael Brown. Once the global media caught wind of the killing, the news spread like wildfire throughout America, as well as foreign nations. The purpose of this paper is to show how decades of corrupt politics, segregation, and deceptive real estate practices helped fuel the tension and fire of, not only Ferguson residents, but also residents of neighboring municipalities. Ferguson Missouri was once a busy, prosperous and thriving city, often touted as once of the best cities in America in which to raise a family. Businesses and families once sought out the community to
Research shows how elected officials at the local and state level not only allowed, but promoted segregation, deceptive real estate practices, which only fueled further decline into already poor St. Louis neighborhoods. St. Louis city mayor Francis Slay expressed in a radio interview with local reporter Don Marsh, how truly segregated most of the St. Louis remains today, even after the passing of desegregation and the Civil Rights Amendment of 1964. Mayor Slay stated that his city continues to be one of the most segregated in America (Rosenbaum, 2015). Though the city and surrounding municipalities are working to include diversity in community programs, there is still a long way to go before the racial divide in St. Louis decreases. Segregation continues today, within St. Louis and it affects the school system, housing, and businesses within Ferguson and surrounding communities are evident of decades of elected officials not enforcing desegregation laws as well as supporting unlawful real estate practices from the 1960’s
As more money is collected from the residents whether under ethical circumstances or not, that money goes to the city bankroll, and its elected officials have allowed these practices to continue. When cities are run by corrupt politicians lining their pockets at the expense of citizens’, it is no wonder that those very same citizens are the ones to act out in protest, or even riot as a last resort, as they did in the fall of 2014. They were simply fed up from being forced to live with corrupt politics and the results of decades of unethical and unfair practices by local and state government. Many residents resorted to violent acts, such as looting, and the burning of businesses. Most of the world could only sit back and watch on television news, as the Ferguson riots happened. Government leaders at the local, state, and national level have so many tools at their beckon call, to ensure communities like Ferguson do not get to a point where its citizens feel they have no other recourse other than to act out. There are many methods of conflict resolution that could be put into place to avoid similar conflicts. The riots of Ferguson took decades to come to realization, but cleaning up the political mess, with the city’s infrastructure hanging in the balance, may take decades, or even longer to