Justice Department Releases Report Confirming Ferguson Police Corrupted By Racism

Don’t you just love it when an investigative report comes out and tells you things average people on the street have known and been saying for years?

A new Justice Department report has come out with a bit of sting to it, stating that cops in Ferguson, Mo. have been sh*tting on the Constitution when dealing with black residents for years upon years. Among the charges alleged in the report are ? surprise, surprise ? excessive force and b.s. traffic stops. Surely that is only the tip of the billy club, too.

racism
(Image courtesy of WikiMedia)

The investigation began after the now infamous murder-by-cop of Ferguson teen, Michael Brown, last August. As a result of the investigation, the Justice Department determined that much of the discrimination comes about due to ?racial stereotypes held by city officials,? as the New York Times put it. Just one example to back this up cites city officials making racist jokes in their official, city-related email accounts.

As most people have come to know and learn through the Ferguson spotlight resulting out of Brown’s murder, the city is predominantly black while the police department and governing body of the city is largely white. Out of those dynamics, much tension arose in the wake of Brown’s death. The civil unrest in the area that followed eventually pulled in the attention of the FBI, Attorney General Eric Holder, and even President Obama.

So far, federal authorities have summarized the report’s conclusions, but the full report is scheduled for release as of Wednesday. Ironically, another report is due to wash any blame from Michael Brown’s murderer, former-Officer Darren Wilson, thereby clearing him of any possible civil rights actions that might have come his way.

As a result of all this, officials in Ferguson have to decide whether to work out a settlement with the Justice Department, or risk being sued by the Department for operating consistently in violation of the Constitution.

Can you believe that?

Michael Brown’s family receives NO JUSTICE or compensation for the murder of their son by a cop in an area the Justice Department now recognizes as being notorious for racism and corruption, yet the Justice Department can sue or work out a settlement to receive ?justice? AND compensation for a more whitewashed, generalized place-no-specific-blame-on-anyone version of the very crimes these cops are guilty of committing that lead to Brown’s murder. Citizens may not receive justice or compensation for suffering the brunt of these offenses, but the government will make d*mn sure it gets its due.

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(Image courtesy of the Department of Justice via newyorktimes.com)

Forming the report, hundreds of interviews were conducted by federal investigators. Police records to the sum of 35,000 pages were combed through, and compiled race data was analyzed regarding every interaction between the police and the community.

Know what they concluded?

In the past two years, black folks made up for 85 percent of the traffic stops. Ninety percent of citations were given to African Americans, too, who make up roughly two-thirds of the community. Black folks also suffered 93 percent of arrests made and 88 percent of the cases that endured police brutality. Additionally, if you are guilty of driving while black in Ferguson, you are twice as likely to have your car searched even though statistically you are less likely to be found with any sort of contraband, like guns or drugs.

That means, the less than one-third population left in the area, be it white or any other race, is much more likely to be carrying drugs and guns, but far less likely to be pulled over. Now that’s racism. That’s discrimination.

Of course, this whole Justice Department report is only formalizing what folks have known and been saying all along ? it is this shifty, racist environment under white control in a largely black community that created the dynamics that brought about the murder of Michael Brown.

But Darren Wilson is innocent?

 

H/T: nytimes.com | Featured image: via WikiMedia