I hate to say it but unless Ferguson can balance its police budget without all of those fines this will just happen again in a few years.

Systemic racism means that minorities are the ones that money can be gotten out of via fines and the like. The people with enough money tend to be both white and willing to kick up a huge fuss. Hence why minorities were targeted.

The only way to fix it is kick out racists and give the police enough money to do their jobs.

@1 - Fee and fine-funded government is a problem on an axis independent of race and class. Its harms, like all harms, fall disproportionately on the powerless. But it would be a corrupting influence on the state apparatus even if racial issues magically vanished.

Try getting a commercial building permit sometime - not a task the poor typically face.

Good Morning Charles,
I admit that what jarred me about the excerpts that I read of the DOJ report wasn't so much the racism (yes, it was pervasive and supported by emails) but the graft and corruption in conjunction with it at the Ferguson, MO Police Department! The dept. was clearing parking and moving violation tickets and fees for friends and family yet fining and jailing residents for the same violations. It was just plain meanness, stupidity and corruption. Did the staff think their emails weren't going to be scrutinized? The Dept. is integrated and Ferguson, MO has a 67% minority population. What were some of the staff thinking? Absurd, nasty and racist. All of it is inexcusable.

Yes, the Ferguson PD needs an overhaul. I recommend the commentaries by Jelani Cobb of the New Yorker, Ta-Nehisi Coates of the Atlantic and Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal. All had valid points.

Judge Brockmeyer = Sheriff of Nottingham

Wait - the real villain in Ferguson was the American automobile?

Somehow I missed that in previous coverage ... and in this post.

I was just looking for a Mudede post so I could comment to you that you called this 100% correctly when the original Ferguson story broke - well done. Nice to find a post perfectly on topic on which to comment.

I can't wait to see Eric HOlder keep pressing, because you know it's driving the GOP batshit...of course, for him to actually leave, they have to approve Obama's nominee...damned if you do, damned if you don't....I just hate it when horrible things happen to such nice people.

Judge Brockmeyer may be the Sherriff of Nottingham, but he looks a lot more like a good old fashioned slave posse sherriff.

@3 - Indeed, of course, I think Anatole France said it so well, "In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread."