Colorlines Editor-at-Large Kai Wright appeared on MSNBC’s Melissa Harris Perry show to discuss the media’s portrayal of Michael Brown, the racial dissimilarity of the Ferguson police to the people of the town, whether transparency is the same as accountability and whether trust can be built with the state.

Follow Colorlines’ coverage of Michael Brown’s shooting and Ferguson protests here, and Life Cycles of Inequity: A Series on Black Men.