Six Vital Conversations Jumpstarted on the Streets of Ferguson

[G_j]

Last edited Sat Aug 23, 2014, 02:22 PM - Edit history (1)

http://billmoyers.com/2014/08/23/six-vital-conversations-jumpstarted-on-the-streets-of-ferguson/

Six Vital Conversations Jumpstarted on the Streets of Ferguson

August 23, 2014
by John Light

<snip>

Here are a few discussions that are emerging as America takes a step back:

1. Ferguson is part of a long history of racial discrimination

The shooting of Michael Brown may have been the spark that ignited a powder keg, but the protests were in response to a legacy of racial injustice in St. Louis’ segregated suburbs, and, more broadly, in America on the whole.

At the LA Times, Michael Hiltzik notes that before being shot, Michael Brown was, ostensibly, stopped for the most minor of offenses: jaywalking.

Peter Coy reports for Bloomberg Businessweek that earlier this year, “a legal aid firm called ArchCity Defenders prepared a white paper that accused several municipalities in St. Louis County of stopping black drivers disproportionately for traffic violations, fining them in court sessions that were closed to the public, and jailing them when they were unable to pay.” The report found that “poorer drivers, mostly black, who can’t afford lawyers, often find themselves caught in a downward spiral. They get points on their licenses, they can’t afford their fines, they’re jailed, they lose their jobs, they drive with suspended licenses and get into deeper trouble.” The recent unrest in Ferguson is “taking place in a society that plainly isn’t working,” Coy writes.

At Marginal Revolution, Alex Tabarrok calls the system described in the report a modern-day “debtors prison.” At the LA Times, Michael Hiltzik notes that before being shot, Michael Brown was, ostensibly, stopped for the most minor of offenses: jaywalking.

Ta-Nehisi Coates writes in The Atlantic that the prejudices shown here are not specific to Ferguson, nor to police officers. “Black people,” he writes “are not above calling the police—but often we do so fully understanding that we are introducing an element that is unaccountable to us. We introduce the police into our communities, the way you might introduce a predator into the food chain. This is not the singular, special fault of the police. The police are but the tip of the sword wielded by American society itself.” And in a sometimes humorous but mostly sobering summary of the first week’s events, John Oliver calls out Ferguson Mayor James Knowles for claiming that the town had no history of racial tensions: “As a general rule, the mayor should not be able to say, ‘There is no history of racial tension here,’ because that sentence has never been true anywhere on earth.”

...more...

[loyalsister]

1. I jaywalk almost daily in Missouri

and have never heard word one about it. That probably has to do with the fact that I live next to a pedestrian campus. I have taken it for granted that that is the case for everyone, but I am going to start polling my friends.

[loyalsister]

5. "It has nothing to do with walking in the middle the street, obstructing traffic. Do you do that?"

In fact, I do. There is a street between my home and the next block that has no sidewalks. When I am out and about with friends who use wheelchairs. They drive in the traffic lane because they may not be seen as easily if they are on the edge of the street and they can't jump onto the grass if they need to.

[Dems to Win]

2. I've jaywalked, been told by a cop to get in the crosswalk -- twice that I remember

Neither time did the officer drop an F-Bomb on me. One of the times, the officer's tone of voice made clear that she was irritated with me -- but still, no F-Bomb.

Neither time did the situation escalate. If the officer had said 'Get out of the fucking street' and I had scowled back, could have been a different story.

The lack of basic civility by the cops is a real issue these days.

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, G_j.