“The past is never dead…,” William Faulkner

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” wrote William Faulkner.

This was never more true than as the events in Ferguson unfolded. While the debate continues about the validity of the actions of a single policeman, it has come to light that the police department as a whole is guilty of at the very least systematically criminalizing the poor. They have achieved this by continuously issuing bogus pedestrian tickets (parking, jay walking, etc.) to raise revenue for the county. The poor in Ferguson who must pay these tickets, as in many city suburbs around the country, are African Americans. When they can’t pay the fines, criminal records are incurred.

African Americans and others are kept from meaningful work and higher education by the criminal records that are the consequence of unpaid pedestrian tickets. Do the members of the Ferguson police department really not understand that the short-term goal of gathering revenue for the county by issuing tickets would be far surpassed by long-term job employment and successful businesses within the county? Do these same police really not understand that their actions go far beyond intimidation – it fosters resentment, frustration and hatred. It seems to me that this kind of economic injustice highlights cruelty at its worst – it keeps individuals from achieving their goals while holding a community hostage to debilitating poverty and ultimately the outbreak of violence.

The same cycle is witnessed in Small Moments. Amelia spends years paying the fine her nephew was given for a non-existent crime. Combined with being underpaid, the consequence is that she is unable to get ahead or to break the cycle of poverty into which she was born. Notably, Amelia’s story takes place in the first half of the 20th Century. More than fifty years later, little has changed.

“The past is never dead. It is not even past.”