Shocking (not) report from the U.S. Department of Justice on the Baltimore PD: Or if you don't want to read the report, just watch two episodes of The Wire. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...doj-report-details-abuses-by-baltimore-police
I used to live there. I have no doubt the police there suck. I'll just say that I don't believe its systematic racism from the police as much as its terrible city leadership. They've had numerous black mayors, black police commissioners, black judges, etc. These folks have been put into position to address problems and potential racism and they haven't. At what point does it cross from a racial problem to a nobody is doing anything about it problem? Another thing I'll add is this. That city is the most segregated city I've ever seen. All the young professionals live in one pocket, all the poor working class whites live in one area, all the poor working class blacks in another, all the gay people in another (seriously not a joke), all the greeks in their area, all the rich folks, etc. etc. A lot of cities can be like that but this is unlike anything I've ever seen and strongly divided. So since these the city is strongly, strongly divided into these pockets, no matter what when policing an area they are "targeting" a certain group. Basically, if a lot of the crime comes from one neighborhood then, and the neighborhoods are highly segregated, is it even possible to ask the police to fight crime and not 'target' a certain race? Its an honest question. I think what I am mostly saying is that there is probably an issue with the police there but there are FAR bigger issues in that city with leadership that the police issues are spawning out of. I would ask things like why do the "white neighborhoods" get the Free Charm City Circulator public transportation and the "black neighborhoods" get the MTA buses that charge them? Why are the housing decisions different? why is the city still investing in segregated city services? etc. etc. it goes on and on. They do all of that and then expect the police to be the ONE city office that is non-partial in their jobs? come on now. oh and Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is hot but she's a terrible mayor
The question is then how can we fix our broken American cities? Public education is horrible in cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and many others. Kids go to underfunded schools, are expected to fail, inevitably fail, then turn to crime since they're uneducated and unlikely to hold down any decent job. And then these cities don't have any decent jobs for working class people since we don't make anything in this country anymore. So it's a vicious cycle with these largely black cities because they're the ones committing crimes, cops hate them because they're the ones committing crimes, and then you have two sides who are at war with each other. What a fucking mess.
What always amazes me on my trips to Maryland is the discrepancy in wealth between Baltimore and its suburbs. Huge homes on sprawling estates dot the landscape. Once inside the city limits though, shields up. There should be plenty of opportunity for folks to work their way out of the hood IF they have the marketable skillets required. I would say Bernie Sanders would appreciate this but he just brought a $600K home himself. Inner City Cops have their hands full and its just easier to kill than subdue if there's no value on the lives of those they're paid to protect. Certainly explains bullets vs. teargas or tasers. I don't envy them their jobs but I still wonder how many of these LEO's are combat vets from either Iraq War or Afghanistan.
I will take this with a grain of salt given that I have very little faith, no wait let me correct that, I have ZERO faith in the current United States DOJ.
The middle class is being phased out entirely. Where are they working their way out of the inner city to?
Well Obama is releasing hundreds of gun toting drug dealers so they will have the numbers to make it happen.
