PBS recently hosted America After Ferguson , a unique town hall discussion on division, race, and mobilization through social media following the murder of Michael Brown in August.
Moderated by PBS NewsHours Gwen Ifill , the complex conversation included various viewpoints from government officials such as Senator Claire McCaskill and St. Louis Alderman Antonio French , activists such as Connie Rice of The Advancement Project , journalists such as Margaret Schneider of St. Louis Magazine , police officers and concerned citizens.
Many issues discussed reached far beyond Ferguson, Missouri. In the clip above, Phillip Agnew , Executive Director of Dream Defenders , speaks on the problems with systematic inequality across the board.
“It’s about a system of police repression, police harassment, racial profiling,” Phil explains. “We’ve got a school to prison pipeline, we’ve got a war on the poor, a war on immigrant communities…”
You can watch the full exchange in the segment below, which is also available on DVD along with additional footage at shoppbs.org .