Ferguson shooting sparks conversation about race

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It's video straight out of a war zone -- tear gas, rubber bullets, protesters trying to be heard.
 
Since the shooting death of Michael Brown, the country has erupted in unrest.
 
'It's another national tragedy. I think this is this year's Trayvon Martin," JeffriAnne Wilder said.
 
Wilder is an associate professor of sociology at the University of North Florida. She said what's happening in the Show Me State goes hand in hand with emotions in Florida.
 
"We have the same strained history of race relations right here in Jacksonville, and we need to be mindful of that," she continued.
 
Wilder is referring to the death of another unarmed black teen, Jordan Davis, and Marissa Alexander, a black woman given 20 years for firing shots at her abusive husband.

Miguel Bean, 18, said he knows the effects of race firsthand. 
 
"It's definitely a stigma. It definitely gets to you and sometimes you think, 'Why am I looked at as a bad person or a violent person?'" he said.
 
Bean plans to study international finance and become a stockbroker. He hopes we can overcome the Missouri shooting and all that's associated with it.
 
"What are we fighting for? Why is race still so prevalent in today's society?" he asked.

"We can't ignore this. We cannot treat this case of Michael Brown as an isolated incident. We can't sit back and think: 'oh that's going on in Furgeson, It can't happen here.' It can happen here, It has happened in our backyard before."

WJAX