A series of riots broke out in Chicago, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C.on Dec. 5, in response to oppose the grand jury that decided to not indict Wilson, according to CNN.

Wilson said he believed that Brown was the suspect in a convenience store theft after the surveillance video showed Brown stealing some cigarillos at the store. As Brown moved toward Wilson, he fired several shots, killing Brown, as reported by New York Times.

“It seems to me that the protestors are reacting so passionately because there has been a long history of racial tensions, real or perceived, between the white and black communities of the town and many towns across the nation,” junior Joseph Kim said. “The court ruling is just the straw that broke the camel’s back; suddenly all the frustrations that had been building up to the case, all that pent up resentment is being unleashed.”

Mad activists demanded fair civil rights for black people and criticized police brutality. It spread outward from the United States and became a controversial problem internationally as Ferguson  demonstrators began dominating the city streets of Japan and Australia on Dec. 6. The opinions of the public are split over whether the police responded in the right way or took an ill-informed, immoral step, as stated in Newsweek.

“I don’t believe this case was about race; I believe it’s a case of an officer doing his job whose circumstances have made him the scapegoat of decades’ worth of white hate crimes and the target of decades’ worth of black resentment towards the racism that pervades to this day,” Kim added.

As some witnesses claimed that Brown assaulted Wilson to take away his gun, some people began supporting and standing up for Wilson for taking proper measures in terms of self-defense.

“I think the cop did the right thing. The guy reached for his gun and [Wilson] killed [Brown] in self-defense,” sophomore Justine Weiner said. “Honestly, I don’t think it’s a racial issue; it was a matter of self-defense, but I just think that we have to trust the police and trust them to make the right decision in those scenarios.”

This world-wide issue does not seem like it will die down soon because it involves controversial racism and injustice in society.

“I think it’s a racial problem because the white police didn’t get any punishment for killing an unarmed innocent African American guy,” sophomore Sophia Byun said. “If it was a black policeman that shot down a white guy, it would’ve become a big deal, and he would’ve gone to jail and had consequences. But just because it was a white policeman shooting a black guy, people don’t even care and the government just let him go, which shows the injustice in our society. ”

I think it’s actually all very unfortunate as you watch the news, and you see that regardless of what the police did or what happened with this case, the aftermath has been very sad to watch,” history teacher, Abigail Haselton said. “I hate to see that Americans are using this method to have their voices heard.”