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Justice Department report implicates Ferguson Police of routinely violating rights of African Americans
Benjamin Crump, the attorney for the Brown family, said that if the reports about the findings are true, they “confirm what Michael Brown’s family has believed all along — and that is that the tragic killing of an unarmed 18-year-old black teenager was part of a systemic pattern of inappropriate policing of African American citizens in the Ferguson community.”
The report says there is direct evidence of racial bias among police officers and court workers, and details a criminal justice system that issues citations for petty infractions such as walking in the middle of the street, putting the raising of revenue from fines ahead of public safety. The physical tussle that led to Brown’s death began after Wilson told him and a friend to move from the street to the sidewalk.
The practice hits poor people especially hard, sometimes leading to jail time when they cannot pay, the report says, and has contributed to a cynicism about the police on the part of citizens. Among the report’s findings was a racially tinged 2008 message in a municipal email account stating that U.S. President Barack Obama would not be president for very long because “what black man holds a steady job for four years.”
The department has conducted roughly 20 broad civil rights investigations of police departments during Holder’s tenure, including Cleveland, Newark, New Jersey, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Most such investigations end with police departments agreeing to change their practices.
John Gaskin III, a St. Louis community activist, praised the findings, saying, “Ferguson police have to see the light in how they deal with people of color. It is quite evident that change is coming down the pike. This is encouraging,” he said. “It is so unfortunate that Michael Brown had to be killed. But in spite of that, I feel justice is coming.”
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press
