Photography by Whitney Curtis
Everyone seemed to have an opinion about what happened in Ferguson. Amy Hunter had ideas too, but for her, it was more than saying the first thing that came to mind. This was Hunter’s job, as director of racial justice for the YWCA Metro St. Louis. She blogged during the turmoil, but her work continued long after the National Guard left. She thinks curtailing racial profiling is a place to start. She also thinks the region will never be the same—and that’s a good thing.
What do you think people have learned from Ferguson? The majority population may not have had an understanding of how big racial profiling is for African-Americans and Latinos and what a huge issue this is for us, as mothers, as sisters, as wives, as partners. This microagression and systemic oppression happens so often, it is a shared experience, not just for the African-American and Latino men that it happens to, but everyone in their lives who are connected to them. You really want to protect your children. That human piece is coming to fruition. We need written legislation that is anti-profiling.
What can be done to curtail racial profiling? People have been talking about trying to diversify the police force, but what we’re really looking at is the system of law enforcement. Imagine a world where we had no more racial profiling. There actually have been attempts to get that on the floor to be voted on, but it hasn’t made it all the way through our legislative process. Changing the law on how we police people, and people of color in particular, can change from a legal aspect. That way, it doesn’t matter necessarily who is in the job, but that the job no longer dictates that we’re going to stop a certain group of people versus another group.
What other effects does racial profiling have? It has brought a bigger conversation around where racial profiling exists outside of the police. What does it look like in our schools? It’s when teachers have expectations about certain students who come from certain neighborhoods or backgrounds or who look a certain way. This doesn’t just happen on the streets; this happens in classrooms and hospitals. What kind of care do people get or not get based on the perception of who they are? There has been a lot of research around inequities around healthcare based on racial identification. This offers an opportunity for all of us to examine what we can do better. It’s not “Did it happen to me?” It happens to all of us. Then, it’s about “What can each one of us do differently and better?”
Do you sense that the racial dynamic here will begin to change? I don’t think it will be that neat. I think a lot of progress has been made and will be made, but it will be varied. What we are running into a lot is that our only mental model for this is the civil-rights movement of which many people have a memory, but people of my generation and younger don’t have a memory of at all. People say we’re going to replicate that, but really, this moment will look very different. We have technology now, and so many things have changed. We’ve made some progress: Police officers are trained, the Department of Justice is doing an investigation, the arts community and clergy has become involved. With people from all walks of life coming together, it’s a hopeful and wonderful acknowledgement of the possibilities and dedication of the people who live here.
Those positive developments haven’t gotten as much attention. So much of what gets reported is negative, but I know I was in awe. It was really cool to look at all the different kinds of people who gathered for the same reason: to end violence. No matter where they sat, ending violence was part of the conversation. That is a great thing. Witnessing is a wonderful word. Once you see it, you can’t forget it, because you were a witness to it, not only from a spiritual standpoint, but also a legal standpoint. People who are witnessing are forever changed. I’m not worried about going back, because I don’t think there is a “going back.” There is only a moving forward. I believe we have wonderful, amazing people here in St. Louis who are committed to moving forward.
