Nagpasya ang grand jury na walang sapat na ebidensya para kasuhan si Opisyal Darren Wilson ng krimen. Hindi nito idineklara siyang walang kasalanan. Ang desisyon nito ay hindi isang boto ng pagtitiwala sa pagpapatupad ng batas sa Ferguson o isang pagsaway sa mga taong nagtanong sa mga aksyon ni Officer Wilson at dinala sa mga lansangan upang ipakita ang kanilang mga alalahanin. Ang isang pagsisiyasat ng mga pederal na paglabag sa karapatang sibil ay nagpapatuloy at dapat na ituloy nang husto; maaaring humingi pa rin ng civil damages ang pamilyang Brown.

So this case is still open and the national soul-searching it has triggered is not over. The best way for all of us to honor Michael Brown’s memory now is to reject violence and embrace the real work needed to ensure that the review and the discussion continue – in Ferguson and across the country. Here are a few suggestions.

• We must insist that government at all levels provides real community policing, with cops on the beat who live among, understand and look like the people they’re charged with protecting. When police roll down the streets in armored vehicles, outfitted like troops heading into battle, no one should be surprised that they’re treated as an occupying army.
• Congress should launch a comprehensive review of our judicial system, with a national accounting of how our courts handle cases of possible police violence.
• We must attack the economic inequality that has consigned millions of Americans, particularly in communities of color, to second class citizenship. We need incentive programs that bring good jobs with solid career prospects to young people in every neighborhood, along with major investments in education and job training. We need Congress to raise the minimum wage to at least $10.10 and states and localities to adopt a living wage of $15.
• We must bring every citizen into our democracy, with aggressive moves to boost voter registration and turnout. Because they’re convinced government has given up on them, too many of our citizens have given up on it. In Ferguson, a community with a substantial African-American majority, just one of the city’s six council members is African-American; in municipal elections this year only 12.3 percent of eligible voters bothered to cast ballots. That’s unacceptable.

Michael Brown’s death was a tragedy that could and should have been avoided. It’s also a bitter symbol of the work that remains to be done in this country to offer equal justice and true civil rights to every citizen. We cannot deceive ourselves that our democracy provides “justice for all” when there is systemic inequality in law enforcement, in our judicial system, and in our economy.