Ferguson, a St. Louis suburb, was engulfed in widespread riots after the grand jury decided not to indict the white officer who fatally shot Michael Brown.
The controversy began as a minor, almost innocuous, incident in the form of a traffic caution on August 9th, when Officer Darren Wilson saw Michael Brown and his friend walking down the middle of the street, and told them to use the sidewalk.

Wilson then realized that Brown’s clothes matched the description of a strong-arm robbery that took place in the area moments earlier.

An altercation between the two ensued, and while the details of what happened are still disputed between multiple eye-witnesses, the situation rapidly escalated. In the end, Brown was shot dead after receiving more than 6 gunshot wounds.

The black community, as well as many media outlets, attributed this tragedy to racism, resulting in daily protests until November 24th, when the county grand jury decided not to indict Officer Wilson after 25 days of deliberations. After hearing the decision, the protests turned violent, with many stores going up in flames. President Obama called on all involved to respect the law, and suggested that there was much work to be done to address racial grievances.

While the matter should be resolved according to what’s dictated by law, the impression that the law isn’t being applied impartially due to racism is fueling resentment.

The issue is emotionally charged, but this is also an example of the Karma that the United States carried through its history. A melting pot that has thrived through pluralism also has a dark history of racial oppression and persecution. Erasing the wounds of racism isn’t as simple as electing the first black president.

In the end, it seems, understanding and internalizing religious truth is the only means of erasing the remaining vestiges of racism and the hatred that it has engendered in its victims.

Master Okawa Ryuho, the founder of Happy Science, recorded the spiritual message of Nelson Mandela, who spent his life fighting the scourge of apartheid. Mandela’s spirit claimed that “God does not decide right and wrong based on the color of one’s skin”, and stressed the importance of the individual’s thoughts and actions. Furthermore, he pointed out that “God created all spirits, and sent those spirits to live on Earth. The soul has no color. It’s transparent. This is the true meaning of equality and freedom”, and emphasized that we are all equal and free because we are God’s children.

The United States will continue to reap the fruits of its Karma until it realizes that the core of the issue rests not in laws or their application, but rather it resides within the ideologies and faiths upon which those law are built.