A New Style of Old Racism
It hasn’t been a secret that Ferguson Missouri has been going through some serious crises within the last several months. In fact, it has been a well-publicized, and highly debated matter. Following the shooting of Michael Brown, an 18 year old, unarmed black man, things began to take flight. Not only was there a buzz swirling around about a police cover up and the wrongful handling of the Grand Jury, but also an intense argument between the citizens of Ferguson and the justice officials. Once the Grand Jury refused to indict Darren Wilson of Any criminal charges, the fighting and protesting began again, calming only after Federal justice officials promised to take a thorough look into the case, as well as the Ferguson police department and its judicial system. Yesterday, the Department of Justice finally released their findings to the public. As we all expected, their findings were just further validation of what has been known, and lived, by this racially divided community for years. Though there are many reasons that cause concern, the disparities statistically have been the highlight of the newly released report. With 67% of the community being African-American, the DOJ found that they had incredibly high arrest, conviction and even citation rates. Rates that should have never been that high when looked at in reference to the actual percentage of African-Americans within the communities. The report goes into further detail showing that, of the 67% black population in Ferguson, 90% of Citations were issued to blacks, 93% of arrests made were of blacks, and 85% of traffic stops had been of African-American individuals. Not only were these numbers cause for immense concern, they are proof of definite racial profiling and the wrongful handling of the African-American community. Furthermore, during the DOJ’s investigation, e-mails had surfaced in which individuals whom were in positions pf power, were speaking in an incredibly derogatory fashion about people that were not of the Caucasian race. Some of these e-mails even came to throw shade toward the President and First Lady. This morning it was confirmed that three of the individuals involved in the transmission of those racists e-mails have been let go from the department, while two have been suspended. However, individuals are of the firm belief that the two suspended officer’s jobs will not survive the investigation. We will be continuing to cover this story as it develops.
