The Ferguson Report. Part 1: Breathing While Black, and Other Offenses

The Ferguson Report. Part 1: Breathing While Black, and Other Offenses

http://whowhatwhy.org/2015/07/29/the-ferguson-report-part-1-breathing-while-black-and-other-offenses/

By: 2016-07-29
Date:

It has been said that African-Americans are often arrested for “driving while black.” In fact, African-Americans seem to be arrested for walking, talking—or just breathing—while black.

This is not news. What is news is that the Department of Justice investigated the city, the police department, and the judicial system of Ferguson, Missouri—which is apparently just one of many places in America where such racially driven abuses occur on a regular basis.

Out of this came The Ferguson Report.

Here we present anecdotes from that report, a catalog of grinding daily harassments, humiliations—and worse—by a police department intent on keeping a people “in their place” while earning revenue for the city by writing as many tickets as possible.

Photo Credits: Steven Melkisethian/Flickr The shooting of Michael Brown sparked protests and rallies in Ferguson and beyond, including this one hosted by the Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition in Silver Spring, Maryland.

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