DOJ report on racism and shakedown-artistry in the Ferguson PD

[KingOrfeo]

Whole report.

Highlights.

What I want to know is, is it like this in any other American towns or cities? Which ones?

This thread is not about Brown/Wilson, we've got other threads for that.

 

[RobDownSouth]

My understanding is that there are quite a few cities in Missouri just like Ferguson.

White flight from #ThosePeople in the 1960s resulted in the creation of these little towns, insulated from racial strife.

Two major problems developed:

1. the towns were so small (700-2000 people) that they couldn't support the infrastructure needed to support a city bureaucracy to deliver basic services
2. the original white flight krewe aged and died off, and once again #ThosePeople infested the place

What ended up happening is that the white city fathers relied on massive police crackdowns to keep property taxes low. Spit on the sidewalk? $250 fine in Ferguson. They basically used fines against the black citizens to fund the city.

Not surprisingly, the black folks got a tad peeved at being singled out for special treatment.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Whole report.

Highlights.

What I want to know is, is it like this in any other American towns or cities? Which ones?

This thread is not about Brown/Wilson, we've got other threads for that.

For various reasons, this is quite common in small towns. Here is more about cities in MO. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/06/us/missouri-other-cities-like-ferguson.html

 

[Wrong Element]

This is a long but excellent read on the civil forfeiture racket:


http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/08/12/taken


I think it's safe to say that when municipal and county governments actually count on these seizures to fund police departments, there's an incentive to fuck over the citizenry.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Janet Allon writes in AlterNet:

3. Megyn Kelly stubbornly and utterly misses the point in Ferguson.

After an extensive federal investigation that uncovered profound racial bias on the part of the police in Ferguson, Missouri, Megyn Kelly remained primarily concerned with what happened to the white police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown.

Odd.

Poor Darren Wilson, who is neither dead nor under indictment for shooting an unarmed teenager. The court of public opinion was so mean to him. This injustice far outweighs the well-documented suffering of Ferguson’s black residents who have been putting up with racist policing resulting in injury, impoverishment, and imprisonment for years.

Kelly went after her guest, Democratic strategist Mark Hannah, when he said the protests might have been fueled by “perceptions” of a racist police force, perceptions that were more than borne out by the DOJ’s investigation.

Nope, Kelly countered. She’s sticking with the absurd notion that Al Sharpton is the one responsible for stirring up all the trouble.

No, Megyn, Al Sharpton did not ignite any tinderbox in Ferguson. The police did that. Residents there know full well what they’ve been enduring. And now, thanks to the DOJ investigation, the world knows it as well.

And on that pesky pattern of racially biased policing in Ferguson, Kelly remains perplexed. “That justifies this, Mark? What we saw, all these folks with their ‘hands up, don’t shoot,’ which did not happen!”

Didn't it?

But, yes. We’d say that taking to the streets and protesting these chronic abuses with that powerful gesture is more than justified.

 

[NeverEndingMe]

nice to see you ass monkey's smoking the juice

 

[KingOrfeo]

This is a long but excellent read on the civil forfeiture racket:


http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/08/12/taken


I think it's safe to say that when municipal and county governments actually count on these seizures to fund police departments, there's an incentive to fuck over the citizenry.

And people will get angry over that who might not get so angry over racism.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Ferguson police chief resigns.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Jonathan Chait writes on Ferguson and "Big Small Government."

 

[KingOrfeo]

Mayor Knowles carps about the DOJ report. But does not, so far as I can see, dispute its findings.

 

[possum123]

After an extensive federal investigation that uncovered profound racial bias on the part of the police in Ferguson, Missouri, Megyn Kelly remained primarily concerned with what happened to the white police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown

Sort of hard for some people to believe that the DOJ isn't guilty of the same profound racial bias.

 

[KingOrfeo]

After an extensive federal investigation that uncovered profound racial bias on the part of the police in Ferguson, Missouri, Megyn Kelly remained primarily concerned with what happened to the white police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown

Sort of hard for some people to believe that the DOJ isn't guilty of the same profound racial bias.

Yes. Sort of hard for some people.

 

[possum123]

Yes. Sort of hard for some people.

Thank you for agreeing.

 

[KingOrfeo]

It's not just Ferguson.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Jeez, even in Portland, Oregon . . .

 

[Boxlicker101]

Chicago is notorious for shakedowns by cops. https://www.google.com/search?sourc...B_enUS560US560&q=police+shakedowns+in+chicago

Of course, we don't read about the guys who get away with it.

 

[unregistered]

 

[RobDownSouth]

Johnathan Capehart is due at least a measure of kudos:

‘Hands up, don’t shoot’ was built on a lie

By Jonathan Capehart March 16

The late evening of Aug. 9, 2014, I couldn’t sleep. I was due to substitute-anchor MSNBC’s “UP with Steve Kornacki” and should have been asleep. But after looking at my Twitter feed and reading the rage under #Ferguson, I felt compelled to type a reaction to the killing of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson. Tying the shooting to the inane whine of certain politicians about a “war on whites,” I decried the next morning the death of yet another unarmed black man at the hands of a white police officer.

In those early hours and early days, there was more unknown than known. But this month, the Justice Department released two must-read investigations connected to the killing of Brown that filled in blanks, corrected the record and brought sunlight to dark places by revealing ugly practices that institutionalized racism and hardship. They have also forced me to deal with two uncomfortable truths: Brown never surrendered with his hands up, and Wilson was justified in shooting Brown.

The rest here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...n-learned-from-the-shooting-of-michael-brown/

That's some serious spin you found there for your confirmation bias, fatso! "Yeah, multiple witnesses saw xyz happen but we must discount their accounts because they are not exactly the same".

Derp.

#ScaryBlackMan
#ThosePeople
#TehNarrative

 

[unregistered]

 

[KingOrfeo]

. . . the lynch mob in the Department of Just Us . . .

Don't. It's lamer than lame.

 

[unregistered]

 

[phrodeau]

Hey, they acted like a lynch mob when it's leader and the President jumped onto Brown's side of the argument because he was black and before they had any evidence to support it.

Where did you pick up that trash? When exactly did President Obama jump on Brown's side of the argument, whatever that means?

 

[Boxlicker101]

Quote:
Originally Posted by vetteman View Post

Hey, they acted like a lynch mob when it's leader and the President jumped onto Brown's side of the argument because he was black and before they had any evidence to support it.

Where did you pick up that trash? When exactly did President Obama jump on Brown's side of the argument, whatever that means?

This is what was said: https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/08/12/president-obama-issues-statement-death-michael-brown

Obama basically eulogized Brown and Holder insisted on a full investigation by the DOJ. How often do either of those events happen when a street thug gets killed while attacking a cop? ETA: Do you think it would have happened if Brown would have been white?

 

[Sean Renaud]

I don't think he would have been shot if he'd been white so no the rest of this wouldn't have happened.

 

[unregistered]