After listening to the evidence regarding the Michael Brown incident in Ferguson, I firmly believe Wilson is innocent and what he has had to endure from everyone involved is just horrible. He had to quit his job over this and his life has been turned upside down...and he did nothing to deserve it.

 

However, while I think once he DOJ went into review the Ferguson PD, it was a "done deal" that they were going to hammer them (they had an agenda), it does appear that the Ferguson PD did in fact have some serious systemic racial issues.

After listening to the evidence regarding the Michael Brown incident in Ferguson, I firmly believe Wilson is innocent and what he has had to endure from everyone involved is just horrible. He had to quit his job over this and his life has been turned upside down...and he did nothing to deserve it.

 

However, while I think once he DOJ went into review the Ferguson PD, it was a "done deal" that they were going to hammer them (they had an agenda), it does appear that the Ferguson PD did in fact have some serious systemic racial issues.

 

I can tell you there was no agenda. This problem existed as long as I can remember. I was born in St. Louis and have been to Ferguson many a time. We had my mother's funeral at a funeral home in Ferguson. I can tell everyone for a fact that this is nothing new to those who are black and were born or lived in that area. I'm 56 years old and I can remember being told by my older brothers and my parents that when we went through Ferguson that we had to be careful. When I saw on a news report that they may disband the Ferguson police force and let the St. Louis County police do it, I looked at my wife and said well that's going from bad to worst. Of course they maybe better now.

More from the link, this map is really informative:

 

Blacks are far more likely to be arrested than people of other races, and in some places, dramatically so. Using FBI arrest records, USA TODAY found nearly 1,600 places where the disparity in arrest rates is more pronounced than in Ferguson, Mo.

 

Compare arrest rates

 

You can see the actual statistics from numerous KY police departments using the above link.

I have to question those numbers. It shows arrests for Ashland Police Department as: Black 309, Non-Black 119. I can't believe that is correct, the population of Blacks in Ashland is so low there is no way black arrests are that much higher. I don't see everyone that is arrested in Ashland, but I would venture a guess that the ones I do see are 1 in 30 black and most of those black people are from Detroit.

I have to question those numbers. It shows arrests for Ashland Police Department as: Black 309, Non-Black 119. I can't believe that is correct, the population of Blacks in Ashland is so low there is no way black arrests are that much higher. I don't see everyone that is arrested in Ashland, but I would venture a guess that the ones I do see are 1 in 30 black and most of those black people are from Detroit.

 

The numbers are stated as a "per 1,000" number.

The numbers are stated as a "per 1,000" number.

Then, I don't guess I understand what they are measuring.

I can tell you there was no agenda. This problem existed as long as I can remember. I was born in St. Louis and have been to Ferguson many a time. We had my mother's funeral at a funeral home in Ferguson. I can tell everyone for a fact that this is nothing new to those who are black and were born or lived in that area. I'm 56 years old and I can remember being told by my older brothers and my parents that when we went through Ferguson that we had to be careful. When I saw on a news report that they may disband the Ferguson police force and let the St. Louis County police do it, I looked at my wife and said well that's going from bad to worst. Of course they maybe better now.

 

I believe what you are saying about there being racism in Ferguson. I don't believe there wasn't an agenda though. I think this DOJ has an agenda on a whole lot of things it does...or doesn't do.

Then, I don't guess I understand what they are measuring.

 

They measure the number of arrests pet 1000 residents of that race. For example, if there are only 100 black residents and there are 14 arrests of blacks then you would have to multiply both the arrests by 10 to get the number of arrests per thousand. That would mean the start rate would be 140 per thousand. If you had the same number of arrests and 500 black residents you'd multiple by 2 so the arrest rate would be 28 per thousand.

 

In contrast, if you had 10,000 blacks and 200 arrests you would divide the 200 arrests by 10 to make the arrest rate 20 per 1000. It is simply a way of showing arrests per capita. By using arrests per 1000 it allows the numbers to be whole numbers instead of the tiny fraction that you would get if you did it per person. Doing it by person would still be accurate it is just easier to illustrate with whole numbers.

I believe what you are saying about there being racism in Ferguson. I don't believe there wasn't an agenda though. I think this DOJ has an agenda on a whole lot of things it does...or doesn't do.

Ok I think I see where you are coming from now. Let me try to explain what was going on the way it was explained to me. I think it was back in the late 50's or early 60's when the the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County split. Before the split most blacks lived in the city as we did. After the 60's the projects like Pruitt-Igo and others where torn down. They were high rise low income apartment buildings that got so bad that the police wouldn't go into it without major reinforcements. Well there was a revitalization project for the city of St. Louis mainly downtown. Most of the blacks then moved out into the county because during the building project most of the places where they lived were torn down. There was always a resentment in the county by some because the blacks moved out into the county. This is a very condense version of the way it was explained to me by my parents.

 

I was taught by my parents how to react if stopped by a police officer and it served me quite well a few times.

After listening to the evidence regarding the Michael Brown incident in Ferguson, I firmly believe Wilson is innocent and what he has had to endure from everyone involved is just horrible. He had to quit his job over this and his life has been turned upside down...and he did nothing to deserve it.

 

However, while I think once he DOJ went into review the Ferguson PD, it was a "done deal" that they were going to hammer them (they had an agenda), it does appear that the Ferguson PD did in fact have some serious systemic racial issues.

 

So the DOJ made up the racist emails to make Fergueson PD look bad or someone from Fergueson PD did something stupid that, if brought to light, would get most anyone in a public position fired?

 

The Brown incident gave things like that the opportunity to happen, but it didn't mean that someone made a good decision to hit "Send".

2 Ferguson officers have resigned after the DOJ investigation found racist emails they had sent.

This is chicken or the egg kind of thing. You can ask, "why are the police arresting blacks at a much higher rate than non-blacks" or you can ask, "why are blacks committing crimes at a much higher rate than non-blacks"...

 

Both are very valid questions.

 

I'm not saying the numbers are equal in terms of who actually commits what crimes, but there are a lot of statistics that support things like more whites smoking marijuana than blacks, yet more blacks being arrested for it at disproportionate rates. Once someone is "in the system", there are probably more factors that lead to them staying there as well. Just my take.

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So the DOJ made up the racist emails to make Fergueson PD look bad or someone from Fergueson PD did something stupid that, if brought to light, would get most anyone in a public position fired?

The Brown incident gave things like that the opportunity to happen, but it didn't mean that someone made a good decision to hit "Send".

 

Nice try. When did I ever say the DOJ made up anything. I said it certainly looks like Ferguson has an issue with racism. I will say that once they went in to investigate, the DOJ was going to find something, whether it was really there or not. In this case, I think it was really there.

Nice try. When did I ever say the DOJ made up anything. I said it certainly looks like Ferguson has an issue with racism. I will say that once they went in to investigate, the DOJ was going to find something, whether it was really there or not. In this case, I think it was really there.

 

That's fair. I don't agree with all of the next to last sentence, but think we're basically on the same page. Only point I was trying to make is that some of the emails that were sent, those are the kinds of things that would get most people fired from their jobs if it were brought to light. Sometimes things like that don't get brought to light, but here they did.

An argument against the justice department's findings.

 

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/030515-742174-holder-frames-ferguson-pd-with-bogus-stats.htm

An argument against the justice department's findings.

 

Holder Frames Ferguson PD For Racism Using Bogus 'Disparate Impact' Stats - Investors.com

 

Talk about a slanted article. This could easily be made into a "what came first, the chicken or the egg " case. Are blacks, in fact, more likely to commit traffic violations or does it appear that way because they are pulled over for them more often than white drivers? For example, I do a rolling stop at a 4 way stop when I can see nothing coming. A couple of minutes later a car with 4 young black males does the same thing. Who do you think is more likely to get pulled over?