Have the events of Ferguson and the story of Michael Brown impacted American political opinions today? How can we measure this impact in an accurate and cost-effective manner? How can political information presented in the text be used to prove or disprove your initial answer?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Students should form an initial thesis or opinion with regard to the impact of the Ferguson case, which will most likely be based on their individual frames of reference. However, the textbook provides a great deal of political poll information with regard to the Ferguson case. Figure 7.1 demonstrates the degree to which perceptions of Ferguson are racially divided along black and white filters of perception. Figure 7.4 analyzes partisan divisions with regard to Ferguson and demonstrates the presence of political polarization at a national level. The figure in the Practicing Political Science feature shows that the majority of respondents believe the nation needs to give blacks equal rights. Firsthand accounts and aggregate political information are used throughout the chapter to discuss and analyze the phenomenon described as a “racial gap” in answering and interpreting political polls. These can be used to show that the problem of analyzing a major event such as Ferguson is the disaggregation of data into individual opinions, perceptions, and filters. What is clear today is that Ferguson changed the way events such as Michael Brown’s death are reported, recorded, interpreted, and presented on an individual and group basis. The use of cell phone cameras and police body cameras has exponentially increased the amount of raw data that must be interpreted by individuals in analyzing events which pertain to officer involved shootings. In addition, the Black Lives Matter movement has increasingly grown throughout the country, with a great deal of personal and national debate. A countermovement now is Blue Lives Matter, which says that police must be protected as they go about their daily duties. The fact that we are still talking about this today can be used as evidence of the impact Ferguson and the death of Michael Brown have had on our national attitudes toward racism.