Impact on Houston of events in Ferguson, Missouri

The events in Ferguson, Missouri are having impact here in the houston area, with many parents seeing this as an opportunity to talk about race relations.

Houstonians have rallied and tweeted about the fears that the "next Mike Brown" could be here. One Twitter follower says she has three children who are half-black and she fears for her son's future. Another says as he and his wife are expecting their first child, his parents still talk with him about police...he's 36.

Civil rights pioneer Rev. Bill Lawson says this fear is legit, even with what he believes is great leadership in local law enforcement.

"There is a different response when you're dealing with a black or a latino person from when you're dealing with a white person that has nothing to do with the Chief of Police or the Sheriff," Lawson says.

Professor DoVeanna Fulton with the University of Houston-Downtown says the way people watch and discuss Ferguson may depend on their experience.

"...Consistently those experiences of harassment, of disenfranchisement on a daily basis don't get voiced. And if you don't experience them or live them, then people outside of that community, outside of that experience then they'll dismiss it," she says.

"Even if he (Officer Darren Wilson) is charged, he's never going to get convicted," explains Joel Androphy.

Androphy says whoever was in the wrong in Ferguson, Houston is not immune to what happened there. As an attorney, he has some advice about how to have this talk with your kids.

"Parents, whether you're a parent of a minority or a non-minority, teach your children that if you're stopped by the police, just listen to them, yes sir, no sir to them, and then complain later."

Rev. Lawson says the only way the problem of race relations will ever be solved is for there to be honest open dialogue about events like the aftermath of Michael Brown's death between people of all races, even if it's uncomfortable.