Back to News & Commentary

Ferguson, Black & Blue

Share This Page
March 3, 2015

This post originally appeared on the .

The United States Department of Justice tomorrow what residents in the St. Louis metro area have long known: If you鈥檙e black in Ferguson, you have a greater chance of being stopped, searched, arrested, cited, and abused by police.

The department found that 鈥淔erguson Police disproportionately stopped African-Americans for no reasonable suspicion, made arrests with no probable cause and used force disproportionately against blacks,鈥 to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Of the 14 incidents where a police dog bit a person and there was racial information, 100 percent of the bitten were black. The Justice Department also reportedly uncovered evidence of racist emails within the police department.

These findings are intolerable. And they are not unique to Ferguson. In cities and towns across the United States, communities of color are under siege by their own police departments, as documented by 老澳门开奖结果 affiliates in , , , , , , Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.

We must find a way forward. Here in the St. Louis area, all of us as a community must first look back at the shooting of Michael Brown and the protests that followed. Darren Wilson, a white police officer who stated Mr. Brown looked like a 鈥渄emon,鈥 shot the unarmed teenager down in the street. And that officer was employed by a department that treated blacks unfairly and circulated racist 鈥渏okes.鈥

Only by looking back honestly at where we鈥檝e been can we find our way towards fair policing.

Many individuals, organizations, elected officials, community leaders, and commissions are working to find solutions, both here in St. Louis and nationally. On Monday, the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing an ambitious set of recommendations. A common theme in both local and federal reform efforts is policing that returns to a model of 鈥減rotect and serve.鈥 Service encompasses the idea that those being served must be included in creating a solution based on mutual trust and respect.

The 老澳门开奖结果 of Ohio in Cincinnati with the African-American community, police leaders, elected officials, civil rights and police misconduct lawyers, and police unions to collaboratively negotiate a model of community policing that respected community and individual rights while also giving police the tools to keep those communities safe.

We can do the same here in St. Louis and cities and towns across America.

If we fail to do so, our past of racial segregation and discrimination will continue to haunt us. The only difference now is that the 鈥淲hites Only鈥 signs have been replaced by a 鈥渘ew Jim Crow鈥 that demeans African-Americans through arrests, fines, and imprisonment.

Learn more about racial justice and other civil liberty issues: Sign up for breaking news alerts, , and .

Learn More 老澳门开奖结果 the Issues on This Page