Ferguson, Missouri used to be a sundown town, and African Americans seen on the street

after dog could be arrested or worse. For a while, it was of interest mostly to geographers

as a striking example of the resegregation of Americans in their suburbs. Ferguson lies

just to the north of the city of St. Louis and flipped from majority white to majority

black in a generation. In 2014, it became world famous as the place where Barack Obama's

hope for a post-racial America was dashed. In August that year, the president was on

holiday in Martha's Vineyard as Ferguson erupted in rioting after the death of Michael Brown

and 18-year-old African American man. In November, demonstrators took to the streets again when

a grand jury decided not to indict a white police officer named Darren Wilson in the

case. A rolling news split screen image showed Barack Obama urging peaceful protest next

to live footage of an angry mob rolling over a police car. It exposed the gap between

the symbolism of his election and the reality of race in America. Ferguson gave rise to

a new generation of racial justice activists as millions adopted the hashtag Black Lives

Matter. Now St. Louis is getting renewed attention as the epicenter of a spike in crime

across America's big cities. And there's a new president who'd rather talk about something

else. This is Chex and Balance.

I'm John Prado, the economist's US editor. Each week we take one big theme shaping American

politics and explore it in death. Today, why are so many murders unsolved?

Big city homicide rates have spiked during the pandemic. St. Louis has the highest murder

rate in America and nearly two-thirds go unsolved. The long-term trend across the country

has seen the murder rate decline since the 1990s, but so have clearance rates. What's

the effect on citizens and policing when so many cases are left to cold? In this episode,

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