As most know, there has been civil unrest in the city of Ferguson, MO. For those who do not know, all of the unrest was started from a shooting of a young, black, male who's name was Mike Brown. He was shot and killed by a white, male, police officer named Darren Wilson. To those who have not followed this story, most would assume that this is a "simple" situation of which a man attacked an officer of the law, and the officer defended himself. That however is not the case. There is an investigation looking into the incident, however that is not what this post is about. This post is about how people, even a high powered governmental official, believe that Ferguson has been plagued with civil rights violations. After talking to community members of Ferguson, the Attorney General, Eric Holder, believes that there has been civil rights violations stating that "...the consistent stories from residents who described systematic police
targeting and excessive fines provide “compelling” concerns with the
local law enforcement agency’s practices." Holder, in fact, launched an instigation into the police department of the city based on the accusations and reports from the citizens of Ferguson. The investigation is to be handled by the Department of Defense's Civil Rights division. (Sakuma & Roth, 2014)
Reference:
Sakuma, A. & Roth, Z. (2014). Ferguson welcomes federal civil rights investigation. Retrieved October 15, 2014 at http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/doj-open-civil-rights-investigation-ferguson-police
