What caused the Ferguson riot exists in so many other cities, too.
The use of “broken windows” policing meant, in practice, increasing harassment of young black men. This sort of harassment is doing as much to breed hostility as to prevent crime. For example, the New York Police Department’s use of the controversial stop-and-frisk practice is most commonly exercised against young blacks and Latinos. A recent report by the Center for Constitutional Rights found that black and Latino people are stopped much more frequently than whites under this program, even in mixed and especially in predominantly white communities. Further, the report noted, “Blacks and Latinos are treated more harshly than whites, being more likely to be arrested instead of given a summons when compared to white people accused of the same crimes, and are also more likely to have force used against them by police.” The racial biases underlying this disparity extend to other forms of aggressive policing, causing black people to associate police officers with humiliation and injustice, and stirring distrust for police in black communities around the country.
The intensified police presence in poor black communities fosters this negative association in residents from a young age. As children, they see police officers walk the hallways of their schools like in a prison. When black boys are involved in an altercation or disruption, instead of being sent to the principal’s office, they are too often handcuffed on the spot and given a criminal record. Experience teaches black men that police officers exist not to protect them, but to criminalize and humiliate them. Few black boys get through adolescence without a story of police harassment, and with age, their stories proliferate. Aggressive police tactics turn black males into subjects of suspicion and skeptical scrutiny. This makes them vulnerable to harassment, whether their crime is real or imagined. Black men engaged in innocuous activities — walking home from a corner store, holding a BB gun at Walmart, leaving his bachelor party — become targeted as criminals by authorities. With each negative encounter, black men build up antagonism toward law enforcement. They develop defense mechanisms and toughen up to protect their pride and perceived respectability. With this built-up hostility, interactions over minor offenses, like suspicion of selling loose cigarettes, become quickly charged.
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/13/what-caused-the-ferguson-riot-exists-in-so-many-other-cities-too/
This is exactly the sort of police harassment that O'Malley was famous for using in Baltimore. Except O'Malley took it to a new level of disregard for civil rights with his police sweeps of poor black neighborhoods and countless bogus arrests of young black males. No one should support him if he does try to get the Democratic nomination for President.
= new reply since forum marked as read
