The Ferguson Commission, a 16-member panel appointed by Governor Jay Nixon in the aftermath of the Ferguson protests, released its long-awaited report Monday on the social, economic and racial factors that led to last year’s massive unrest.
The 198-page report, titled “Forward Through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equity,” suggests sweeping changes in policing, the courts, health care and other social services to make life more equal for racial minorities, including increasing the minimum wage, expanding Medicaid, implementing stricter rules for police on use of force and consolidating the region’s 60 police forces and 81 municipal courts.
See also: The Commish: An abbreviated guide to the Ferguson Commission
The report is an unflinching look at the long struggle for racial equality in St. Louis, where black motorists were 75 percent more likely to be pulled over by white motorists last year. Though most conversations about Ferguson have been limited to police or court reform, the commission expands its reach to illustrate how racial bias permeates every aspect of public life.
"The data suggests, time and again, that our institutions and existing systems are not equal, and that this has racial repercussions," the report says. "Black people in the region feel those repercussions when it comes to law enforcement, the justice system, housing, health, education, and income.”
See also: Study Exposes Dysfunction, Divisions in Police Departments in St. Louis County
Nixon wrote in his executive order creating the commission that members should conduct “a thorough, wide-ranging and unflinching study of the social and economic conditions that impede progress, equality and safety in the St. Louis region.” The commission says it especially embraced Nixon’s call to be “unflinching.”
“So often when we talk about our region’s struggles, we flinch,” the report says. “We avoid talking about race, or poverty, or other factors that might make us uncomfortable, even though addressing those issues head-on is what is needed to move forward.”
What’s next for the commission? According to its website, the commission’s focus through 2015 is to “identify necessary investment, infrastructure and 2016 legislative actions to support signature priorities.”
Read the report here:
Contact Lindsay Toler by an email at LToler@stlmag.com or on Twitter @StLouisLindsay. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
