Three months after the 18-year-old African-American Michael Brown was shot dead by white police officer Darren Wilson, the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson witnessed one of its darkest nights of demonstrations after a Missouri grand jury determined not to indict Wilson on any charges. The city on Monday night was engulfed with flaming vehicles, broken storefront windows and flying canisters.

The grand jury's decision is not only devastating to Brown's family, but also to thousands of people who found the decision baffling and an injustice. Since Brown's death, the spotlight has focused on racial profiling of law enforcement in the US. It's argued by activists and critics that there is "an epidemic of police violence" in the black community in the US. The latest case of a fatal shooting of a black civilian is the death of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy who was shot dead after he was seen waving a replica gun around in a playground.

According to a study conducted by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, an anti-racist grass-roots activist organization, "police officers, security guards, or self-appointed vigilantes extrajudicially killed at least 313 African-Americans in 2012." An analysis by ProPublica, an independent non-profit newsroom, pointed out that young black males in recent years were at 21 times greater risk of being shot dead by police than their white counterparts in the US.

Despite progress made in anti-racism movements over the past half-century and an elected African-American president, the US is still plagued with racial inequities. Conservative social scientist Charles Murray is infamous for claiming that blacks and Latinos are genetically inferior to white people and that it is because many people are born lazy that poverty remains a national problem. Murray was referenced by Congressman and the Chairman of the House Budget Committee Paul Ryan when he was discussing inner city problems in the US.

The Ferguson case underscores the necessity to ensure trust between law enforcement and the black communities they protect and serve. It highlights the sensitivity and difficulties in solving racial and ethnic problems, which are prevalent in many countries.

Every time a white police who killed an African-American was exonerated, the black community was incensed, however, when similar cases are brought before the court, the verdicts aren't affected by public pressure. This shows the deep racial chasms within American society.