Our Opinion: Municipal court reform steps toward greater goal

News Tribune editorial

A law to reform municipal court operations throughout Missouri is a significant step, but only a step toward a greater goal.

The legislation, approved by lawmakers and signed Thursday by Gov. Jay Nixon, was a response to issues of fairness and equality raised by the fatal shooting of a black man by a white police officer in the St. Louis-area community of Ferguson.

The killing of Michael Brown sparked protests and investigations, including the finding that excessive municipal court fines in Ferguson were fueling feelings of distrust between police and the largely black residents of Ferguson and surrounding communities in the St. Louis area.

In a bill-signing ceremony, Nixon said: "Under this bill, cops will stop being revenue agents and go back to being cops."

Killings, sadly, occur all too frequently. Some, however, become watershed events, calling attention to societal challenges to address injustice, racism and hatred.

Michael Brown's death last August and last month's killing of nine black church members by a white gunman in Charleston, S.C., are among specific incidents that have compelled us to evaluate human interaction.

Ending injustice, racism and hatred is not something that can happen swiftly or singularly.

But we can identify components or byproducts of those ills and address them.

Thursday's decision by South Carolina lawmakers to take down the Confederate flag is a response to the church massacre and a step toward unity and equality by removing what some people see as a symbol of divisiveness.

Similarly, Thursday's signing of municipal court reform removes an injustice that served as a wedge dividing black residents and municipal police - in some cases, largely white officers.

Reform has become an overused term, but it is an appropriate definition for the municipal court law. Details of the law's provisions are included in a Perspective elsewhere on this page, written by state Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City.

Although these changes constitute comprehensive municipal court reform, let us not lose sight of the greater goal. Ending injustice, racism and hatred will not be easy, but difficult steps can lead to harmonious outcomes.