Missouri State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal (D) called the riots in Ferguson "St. Louis' race war," according to Breitbart.
After months of national debate, a St. Louis County grand jury decided that Darren Wilson, the Ferguson, Mo., white police officer, would not face charges for fatally shooting unarmed black teenager Michael Brown on Aug. 9.
The verdict set off a night of violent protests and racial unrest.
"We didn't have a race war like other cities throughout the U.S. This is our race war," she said on MSNBC's "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" on Monday night after a 12-person grand jury, made up of nine white and three black members, declined to indict Wilson for firing six shots, finding that no probable cause existed in the shooting of the 18-year-old.
"I have to tell you that there has been systematic racism, institutionally in state government for decades, including my own state party," Chappelle-Nadal continued. "So what we are looking at right now is a symptom of racism that has been swept under the rug for decades.
"And I am so glad now that the truth is out, and I'm very grateful to your network for telling the truth in reporting the truth of what's going to go down in the coming days. As it was said earlier today, and because of the systematic racism that we have in our state government, and our state party, and we do not bring the truth to bear, then we will not recover from what we are going on.
"What we are experiencing right now, and I have to tell you, this is St. Louis' race war. We didn't have a race war like other cities throughout the U.S. This is our race war.
"Country and people have to be open, and they have to be honest. And they have to be earnest, and they have not been earnest for decades. I know people in my own party, in my own government structure who disregard things that we say and how we feel, and we are not going to allow it anymore," added the senator, who is black.
After an Aug. 9 confrontation between the 18-year-old and Wilson, Brown's lifeless and bleeding body lay for more than four hours in a Ferguson residential street, immediately igniting dismay and anger among the Ferguson community. On the following night, protests turned into rioting and looting, with police responding with armored vehicles and tear gas, triggering a nationwide debate over police tactics.
Based on media accounts, two starkly different versions of the events leading to the shooting have emerged.
"Police have said a scuffle broke out after Wilson asked Brown and a friend to move out of the street. Wilson told investigators he shot Brown only after the teenager reached for the officer's gun," according to USA Today. But according to some witnesses, "Brown had run away from Wilson, then turned and raised his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender before he was shot in the head and chest."
In another version, police have said Brown struggled with Wilson inside his police car, and then reached for Wilson's weapon, leading to gunshots being fired.
Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal investigation into the shooting of Brown will be continued by the Department of Justice and the FBI, Breitbart reported.
