You're misstating the issue completely. On one side we've got people blaming Holder and the DOJ for a report that revealed a completely dysfunctional and abusive police department. If you're read any of the report, the problems just are severe. One of the ones that stuck in my mind was when the boyfriend was at the scene of a car wreck where his girlfriend was badly injured and bleeding. When the cops arrived, they tried to get the boyfriend to back away, and he didn't or didn't do it fast enough, which is understandable - it's an emotional thing to see someone hurt and bleeding. So the cop then left the injured person, bleeding, arrested the kid, and charged him with FIVE infractions, and had his car towed and impounded. Several cases where women called the cops over domestic abuse, and during the investigation the WOMEN were ticketed for code violations. How willing are you to trust cops who come to investigate a crime against YOU and then give you a ticket?
The point is it's not Holder's fault for putting this kind of systemic dysfunction into a report. Does that mean it's the "cops" fault that some asshole shot two of them? No. But it's not Holder's fault that his department revealed a troublesome environment at the police department that is tasked with public safety, not generating revenue off the backs of its citizens.
And it's really not just a problem with Ferguson. I read a long article a while back and the entire area has too many little fiefdoms and they all need to pay for their own police, municipal government etc. and how they do it is through fines and penalties. And it just preys on the poor and gets them into downward spirals that are hard to emerge from, but the problem is the fines piled on penalties piled on warrants and court costs is a feature, not a bug, of how these little fiefdoms pay the bills.
The other thing, and this isn't directed at anyone in particular, is it's just bizarre that the right wing has a general distrust for the government, and is I assume opposed to what would approach a police state. But the report on Ferguson is a picture of the worst kind of government abuse against its citizens, and a great many of the conservatives here are blaming the messenger instead of for once joining with liberals in condemning government abuse of power. It really is something that should unite all sides - there is no defense of it. I have to assume, and hope, that those making light of the report haven't read any of it. If you can read it and find any reason for the black community to trust the police in that town, I will be amazed.
