Ferguson Fallout: 3 Things That Need To Happen Right Away

In light of the Ferguson grand jury's decision not to indict police officer Darren Wilson on murder charges in the Aug. 9 fatal shooting of unarmed teen Michael Brown, many of us are left shaking are heads, wondering when race relations are going to improve in this country and feeling powerless to bring about any real change.

The Ferguson case has shed new light on just how far apart blacks and whites still are in the way we view racial issues. Twenty-two years after the Rodney King beating at the hands of L.A. police and the ensuing riots, nearly 20 years after the O.J. Simpson verdict, and six years after the election of the nation's first African-American president, blacks and whites remain worlds apart.

This racial divide is represented in the way blacks and whites view the Ferguson case, with many whites believing there is no cause to believe Wilson acted inappropriately in shooting Brown and the vast majority of blacks believing Wilson should be brought up on murder charges.

However, it's important to note that the protests that have been taking place nationwide since Brown's shooting include people of all races.

However you may feel about the Ferguson grand jury's decision, many would agree that the problem of excessive force on the part of police, especially when it comes to young males of color, needs to be thoroughly examined. The Ferguson decision comes on the heels of yet another incident: on Sunday, Nov. 23, Cleveland police fatally shot a 12-year-old African-American boy, Tamir Rice, who was carrying a toy gun on a playground.

To prevent tragedies like this from continuing to happen, here are three things that need to happen right away, in my opinion:

President Obama should convene a special federal commission to examine excessive force by police, especially in minority communities. The commission could include a diverse group of legislators, community activists and legal scholars such as Michelle Alexander, an Ohio State University law professor and author of the best-seller The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.

A national law should be introduced to require standardized, intensive cultural sensitivity training for law enforcement. Maybe this is something the Congressional Black Caucus could take up.

A cultural diversity curriculum should be introduced in schools nationwide. There's been a lot of talk lately about the pros and cons of the "common core" method of instruction, but there should be a national, standardized diversity curriculum that students of all races should be required to take.

This diversity curriculum should increase in levels of complexity each year, like language learning. Students should be tested in cultural competence at certain stages, such as upon graduating from elementary school, middle school and high school.  

Preparing children to enter a diverse world and get along with different people is the only way the future is going to be better than the past or present.