More of the Same old song

Ferguson, Mo. has become the latest example in the case for a racist America.   When the cops who are sworn to "serve and protect" refer to those demonstrating the probable murder of a black teenager as "4000 animals", America has a serious, unresolved problem.  Although I have not checked, I doubt Faux News has had much coverage of the situation in the suburb of St. Louis where the probable crime took place.   Much of white America has too much political and moral capital invested in the proposition there is no racism in the US.  Meanwhile, black men face de facto execution for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  As economic inequality worsens, blacks and whites seem to have less and less interaction.  This new segregation on the basis of race and economic status poses serious threats to our democracy.  A permanent underclass of black, brown and poor whites is a recipe for social unrest.  As many in the putative middle class find themselves sliding into poverty, they are looking for scapegoats.  The "other", or someone not like them is an easy target, and with the proliferation of guns, the temptation to rage against something or someone eventually becomes irresistible.  We need courageous political leadership, not the dithering democrats or the pandering republicans we now have.