SUMMARY In the news article “Michael Brown, Ferguson, Missouri, and the Invisibility of Race” it talked about how most white people do not see race and that we live in a society where skin color is no longer important. However, Kaufman in his interview with Stephen Colbert, he said
“The idea that race is no longer important in the United States becomes particularly evident when there are confrontations between Black citizens and white police officers.” Also that the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, the unarmed Black man who was killed in Ferguson, Missouri, was a prime example.
Kaufman also collected public opinion polls asking both whites and blacks for their opinions on whether or not the Michael Brown cases opened more issues about race or whether or not the police response had gone to far. The article also hit on the the mis­ and missing education of race, residential race segregation, and how media played a major role.
ANALYSIS
First is the conflict perspective; racism, is the idea that one major group is inherently superior to another group. If one group defines itself as “better” than another group, then the unequal treatment and distribution of resources can be considered acceptable.
The Michael Brown incident is all about race. To think that the case of Michael Brown is not about race is to be ignorant and oblivious about the social, historical, and political aspects of the United States. Since its very beginning and to the present day, our country has been shaped, scarred, and defined by race. This is a basic sociological premise. When was the last time we read about an unarmed upper­class white male being killed by the police, much less by a Black

police officer? How many predominantly white communities around the United States have a police force comprised predominantly of officers of color?
Residential racial segregation is actually a major factor. Ferguson, Missouri, the city where the Michael Brown incident occurred, is part of one of the most segregated metropolitan areas (St. Louis) in the United States. Cities like St Louis did not end up like