Post-Ferguson we need national commission on justice

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Donna Brazile: After Ferguson decision, trust among black community has to be rebuilt

She says dance tutus justice system often unfair to blacks. It doesn't mean U.S. backslid in gains onrace

She says Americans want fairness. We need national commission on justice

Brazile: Changes, forgiveness must come. But we cannot pretend problem doesn't exist

Editor's note: Donna Brazile, a CNN contributor and a Democratic strategist, is vice chairwoman forvoter registration and participation at the Democratic National Committee. A nationally syndicatedcolumnist, she is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and author of "Cooking WithGrease: Stirring the Pots in America." The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those ofthe author.

(CNN) -- On the night the Ferguson Grand jury's decision broke, a friend sent me an email:

"Something was clearly broken in the Ferguson community long before Michael Brown died. Timeand energy neon tutu needs to be spent on figuring out what went wrong and how you begin againto build trust -- because it will have to be rebuilt."

I agree. Justice to be credible and accepted has to have trust as its foundation.

Ferguson does not stand alone. Every day, incities and towns across America, African-Americans experience weighted scales of justice.This reality is an accepted part of life for toomany. That must change.

It's also important to realize that having problemsbased on race does not mean we've backslid.President Obama is right when he says racerelations in this nation are improving, and aremuch better than in years past.

We have traveled a long, hard road to a betterAmerica. It is an ongoing journey requiringconstant vigilance. When I was growing up, ournation was partitioned: Blacks were segregated bylaw in the South and largely by custom in the North, though it too had segregation laws.

Our best universities had quota systems. Many white communities had real estate covenants to keepnonwhites out. Segregationist Gov. George Wallace won Michigan and Maryland -- not just the deep

South -- in his bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. It was a crime in the South forblacks and white to sit together on a bus. North and South, it was prohibited for blacks and whites tomarry.

Despite this wide racial gulf, most Americans showed a deep commitment to fairness. Thiscontrasted and contested sharply with sanctioned -- sometimes officially, sometimes unofficially --vigilante hangings and bombings, fire hoses, police dogs, and congressional filibusters.

As the civil rights struggle progressed, Americans responded to the justice of the cause, sheddinglayers of the crusty armor that shielded the white majority from contact with its large blackminority.

There are layers left.

It feels so much better to be on good terms with one another. I remember when Sen. John Stennis ofMississippi, a vigorous opponent of civil rights legislation, voted for an extension of the VotingRights Act in 1983. "I didn't want to go back to all the days of misunderstanding," he said afterward."I didn't want to turn around and go back," he said.

We have gone forward. We also know America isn't Shangri-La. When cities burn in the night,parents weep in silent anguish, thousands march in protest, and a Ferguson prosecutor willinglyundercuts his own case, we have a distance to travel.

Today, we need a national commission on justice. One that is more than a fact-finding commission.One whose purpose is reconciliation. This one should be modeled after South Africa's Truth andReconciliation Commission, chaired by Bishop Desmond Tutu.

There was an emphasis in that commission on reconciliation. There was a marked effort to forgive.Tutu wrote, "When I talk of forgiveness I mean the belief that you can come out the other side ... abetter person than the one being consumed by anger and hatred.

"Remaining in that state locks you in a state of victimhood, making you almost dependent on theperpetrator. If you can find it in yourself to forgive then you are no longer chained to theperpetrator. You can move on."

Bishop Tutu added a "but."

"But the process of forgiveness also requires acknowledgment on the part of the perpetrator thatthey have committed an offense."

The grand jury system, not just in Ferguson, but nationwide, needs a hard look. Millions feel thatofficers who are trigger-happy are handed a license to shoot -- based not on facts, but on stereotypesthe officers carry.

Millions feel stereotypes explain why a lone 12-year-old with a toy gun was instantly, and fatally shotin daylight by Cleveland police, but why a white mass-murderer, shooting in a darkened theater, wasapprehended unharmed. Citizen grievances must be gathered, studied and addressed.Acknowledgment of wrongdoing, where appropriate, must be made. Changes must come.Forgiveness must follow. But we cannot ignore this problem, or pretend it doesn't exist.

I share the pain of the Americans who wrote these tweets: from Joelie @Joeelleeee "IF YOU'RE NOTANGRY, YOU'RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION."

And Petty LaBelle @d_Sassy1ne who tweeted, "My 7 year old son just said: "Don't worry mom. If wewant to live, we just have to stay home". I'm turning off my tv. My heart just broke."

Let us start by addressing these issues, work together to find ways to rebuild trust between citizensand those who are paid to protect us from violence.

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