Missouri creates Ferguson Commission to look at root causes of unrest

As unrest in and around Ferguson, Mo., continues more than two months after the death of Michael Brown, Missouri’s governor announced Tuesday that a commission will be formed to examine the deeper issues at the heart of the tension.

Gov. Jay Nixon said the Ferguson Commission will study the social and economic conditions in the St. Louis area and recommend specific ways to make the region “a stronger, fairer place for everyone to live.”

The fatal Aug. 9 shooting of Brown, an unarmed, black 18-year-old, by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, touched off largely peaceful protests in the St. Louis suburb. Soon, crowds were also protesting the aggressive way police responded to the initial demonstrations.

Ferguson has since become a rallying point for demonstrators from near and far — including clerics and politicians — to protest subsequent police shootings in the area and the deaths of other black men across the nation.

Nixon said he expects the new commission to include “thoughtful people from every walk of life” and asked for volunteers. The members are to be named next month.

Whether the panel will have an effect remains to be seen.

“Talk is important — as long as it leads to action,” Antonio French, a St. Louis alderman who gained a national following during the early weeks of the unrest, said on Twitter.

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