The people of Ferguson are demanding justice. Our legal system may have been designed with
justice as a goal but in the end justice and the law are not necessarily the
same.
As in the OJ case and the Trayvon Martin case one gets the
impression that the only outcome that will be perceived as justice is finding
the shooting officer guilty of murder.
Some will say so. On the other hand there are some on both sides who despair at the "outsiders" who seek trouble. That is a good sign.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that I find most appalling is: How can a population that is 2/3 black with black leadership have a police force that 6% black?
I suspect that when the dust settles the 6% number will be the police Chief’s (and possibly others) downfall. It is difficult to construct a scenario that would result in a 6% black participation on the force without a racial bias factor. Even if the facts showed a void of racial bias I doubt the Chief could overcome the perception of bias created by the 6% number. It is, as they say, statistically significant.
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ReplyDeleteThe 6% number
ReplyDeleteThe population of Ferguson has remained approximately the same since 1990. In 1990 the population was 25% black and 74% white. In 2010 (20 years later) the population was 67% black and 29% white.
The Ferguson police department has 51 white officers and 3 black officers.
The balance of white/black officers undeniably does not reflect the demographics of the city. Still, considering the shift in population from predominantly white to predominately black in 24 years and the small number on the police force the 6% number is, to me, very troubling, but not as statistically horrendous as it first appeared.