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Persisting protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and a large number of other cities, serve as a sharp reminder of the deep social division in the United States along racial lines.
The direct cause of the tension is the fatal shooting of an unarmed black young teen, Michael Brown, by a white police officer on Aug. 9, which immediately sparked fierce clashes in the suburb of St. Louis county, a predominately black community with a mostly white police force.
Wide-ranging racially charged anger burst on Monday over a grand jury's decision not to charge the officer Darren Wilson. In Ferguson, buildings were burned, stores looted and shots fired.
There is no justification for vandalism undoubtedly. But to some degree, the Ferguson unrest should alarm the United States of the risks it could face if it allows racial division to fester.
Though legal segregation has faded into history, the racial gaps in the United States are roughly the same, if not wider, as they were decades ago.
Many barriers -- stereotypes, discriminatory housing practices, and institutional racism -- remain out there, stripping African-Americans of decent opportunities enjoyed by the whites.
A revealing study by Institute on Assets and Social Policy found that even equal achievements, such as income gains, can yield unequal wealth rewards for whites and African-Americans.
Disparities in homeownership drives the wealth chasm further apart. Redlining, discriminatory mortgage-lending practices, lack of access to credit, and lower incomes have made it hard for African-Americans to buy homes and reinforce communities segregated by race.
Meanwhile, residential segregation undermines minority children's chances to attend quality schools, which also furthers achievement gap.
Similarly, African-Americans are more vulnerable to labor market instability than whites. Black unemployment remains twice as high as white unemployment.
All of these factors feed each other, creating a vicious circle exacerbating a host of social problems, from overuse of force against black people to mass incarceration and violent protests like the one in Ferguson.
Sadly, most African-Americans born into deprived circumstances do not have the capacity or support to break this vicious circle.
What makes things worse is the reluctance of U.S. politicians to fix the policies that result in glaring racial disparities, including the preferential tax treatment that favors the affluent.
Normalcy and peace will descend on Ferguson. But discontent among African-Americans will not automatically disappear. The U.S. government should learn a good lesson from the Ferguson incident: a sound, fair and equitable society can not be realized if the nation lets the current trajectory go on.
