Scathing DOJ report on Ferguson police imminent

[DemocratSinceBirth]

The Department of Justice is preparing to release the findings of its probes into the shooting death of Michael Brown and allegations of widespread racially biased policing in Ferguson, Missouri.

The release of the department’s final reports, six months after Brown’s killing by a former Ferguson police officer, is expected any day now. Federal officials are expected to meet with city and state leaders on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing investigations.

While it is unlikely that the DOJ will file federal civil rights charges against the former officer, Darren Wilson, given the high bar for such charges, it is more probable that the department could find a pattern and practice of bias policing by the Ferguson police department.

There is evidence that African-American residents are stopped more often than whites. A group of plaintiffs recently filed a federal law suit against the city and the police department claiming the city was essentially running a debtors prison scheme by targeting poor black residents for arrest and holding them until they were able to pay exorbitant fines and fees.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/scathing-doj-report-ferguson-police-imminent

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. This thread is dying. Folks here are more interested in discussing e-mail accounts.../NT

[jtuck004]

10. Maybe they just tire of endless discussing, little change in what matters. n/t

[jtuck004]

14. What if that's not possible? I have been around a long time, and there is little evidence that

attitudes change. They are often passed along to the kids.

It's not pleasant to think of, but how do you survive with them?

One can knee-jerk disagree, but I was here in the 70's, and this is one fucked up country right now in comparison, and with a series of implosions in our future. Planned ones. We KNOW they are gonna happen and hurt a lot of people. And where we would normally look for solutions as to how to use our government for our purposes, take a look at what passes for our Congress today.

If we can't change them, and we probably can't, one still needs a strategy to survive.

Because there are thousands of Fergusons out there.

[libodem]

4. Yep

Exactly!

The murders are bad enough but the lack of justice is infuriating. No one is held accountable.

[NCTraveler]

3. Murder = Scathing Report

I understand a serious report can be the start of something really positive moving forward. It's just hard to reconcile.

[Jefferson23]

6. Highly recommend. n/t

[uppityperson]

7. k&r for lives matter

[tiredtoo]

8. Has this made it to the main stream media yet

The citizens of America only respond to what is put before them by the main stream media. For the most part.

[hifiguy]

9. i am sure a "strongly worded letter" followed by complete inaction

will result.

[bluesbassman]

16. A "strongly worded letter" with a "stern look" most likely.

Then there'll be some wringing of the hands following DOJ's meeting with local officials, and in a week it'll be back to business as usual.

[sakabatou]

12. And yet, no one will get indicted, my bet.

[Marrah_G]

15. I don't understand why the DoJ can't do anything more then write a report

[Stellar]

18. The police need to go to jail for a change.

Or, can they prove they have treated a white person the same way they have treated a person of color every time something goes wrong in the black community? Then the score is evening.

[loyalsister]

19. understandable, reasonable, justified??

It seems that maybe the climate described may have made the noted violence against African Americans predictable. Is something justified just because it appears to be inevitable? Does that absolve people who act on the hate that has been institutionally groomed of responsibility?

I think that if someone sees that as the case with police actions, they also have to see rioting and anger as justified.
If not, the implication is that understanding a response to one's environment only applies to white people. It is racism that is deeply institutionalized without question and even supported by (mostly white) people who oppose racism in other contexts.

How well meaning people respond to this will be revealing.

[Trillo]

20. I can't help but wonder about the timing of this versus Netanyahu.

If any group of folks in the U.S. are like the policies we understand about Israel vs Palestine, it's our police. Many of them have even been cross trained with Israeli police and military.

Perhaps Netanyahu's visit was also about something other than the words he spoke? Can anyone say DISTRACTION? Start a big worry about things in the ME, so this report can be washed away by that wave.