Then we heard last week that Darren Wilson, the Ferguson, Mo., police officer who killed 18-year-old Michael Brown, wouldn’t be indicted, there was a collective gasp of despair that soon gave way to protests, tear gas and, in some cases, riots and looting. Ferguson’s outrage has inspired kindred, mostly peaceful demonstrations across the nation—with young black Americans courageously leading many of these protests and making their mark by fighting for justice. And the attendant anger and anguish are incredibly powerful catalysts. They can compel the nation’s political apparatus into motion to make the necessary, if incremental, changes to improve the...