THE CITY of Ferguson, just north of St. Louis, has a population that was, as of the 2010 Census, 67.4 percent Black and 29.3 percent white. Yet whites account for five of Ferguson's six city council members, and six of seven school board members (the seventh member is a Latino). Out of 53 officers in the Ferguson police department, there are three African American.
The white Mayor James Knowles has a delusional attitude toward race in his city. "We've never seen this kind of...frustration, this kind of tension between the races," he claimed. "I know we've always gotten along."
How can a shrinking minority of whites continue to dominate the political power structure in Ferguson? One answer: In the 2013 municipal election, just 11.7 percent of Ferguson's voting-eligible residents cast a ballot. The percentage was far lower for African Americans--some 17 percent of eligible white voters participated, compared to 6 percent of eligible Black voters. As a result, according to a Washington Post analysis, whites were actually a larger part of the electorate than Blacks, despite being a much smaller minority in the population.
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