Race Relations with Police worsening in U.S., AP votes it Top Story of 2014

The Secular Jurist

By Robert A. Vella

Relations between minority communities and local law enforcement are rapidly deteriorating across the U.S. in the wake of two grand jury decisions not to indict police officers for the killing of unarmed black men (Michael Brown, Eric Garner), and the subsequent murder of two NYPD cops.  The most prominent flashpoints have occurred in Ferguson, Missouri and now New York City, but worsening race relations are a national problem which has shaken America to its moral foundations.

At the heart of the matter is the dangerous increase in economic inequality that has plagued the U.S. and other western countries since the Great Recession.  As societies become more stratified and segregated along class and ethnic lines, civil unrest intensifies as a natural result.  This pits a stubborn – and predominantly white – administrative establishment against an angrily disaffected – and racially diverse – population with law enforcement…

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Our Communities Are Not War Zones!

I recently received this message, and an accompanying petition, in an email from the ACLU:

“On August 9th, local police fatally shot an unarmed African-American 18-year-old named Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. In the days that followed, there have been massive protests in Ferguson and heavily armed SWAT teams are roaming the streets in response. Our communities are not war zones.”

Major developments today in the Ferguson, Missouri civil rights incident

The Secular Jurist

By Robert A. Vella

Here are the major developments that have occurred over the past day regarding the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the subsequent violent confrontations between local law enforcement and civilian protesters in that beleaguered town:

Yesterday, after a phone conversation with President Obama, Missouri governor Jay Nixon ordered the state highway patrol – headed by Captain Ron Johnson – to assume law enforcement duties in Ferguson (see:  Missouri Gov. Puts Highway Patrol in Charge in Ferguson).

Afterwards Robert McCulloch, the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney who would be responsible for bringing the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown to trial, responded to the Governor’s move.  From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch – McCulloch blasts Nixon for replacing St. Louis County Police control:

“It’s shameful what he did today, he had no legal authority to do that,” McCulloch said…

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Big step: “A Human Rights Crisis”: In Unprecedented Move, Amnesty International Sends Monitors to Ferguson

Later On

The video report and transcript are at Democracy Now! The core of the statement:

STEVENHAWKINS: Well, Amnesty saw a human rights crisis in Ferguson, and it’s a human rights crisis that is escalating. We sent observers down because there was a need for human rights observers. Clearly there are violations of international human rights law and standards, in terms of how the policing is being done on protests. So, for example, we’ve issued reports on, for example, Israel and the Occupied Territories, how tear gas is supposed to be administered—never in an indiscriminate way where children and the elderly could be subject to very harmful effects, even death, from tear gas. So, we sent down observers to be on the ground. We have been thwarted in our efforts to be able to go out on curfew with the police, which would be a clear standard in these circumstances…

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Ten things about Ferguson to keep in mind

Later On

This seems important. Don Hazen, Terrell Starr, Steven Rosenfeld, and Tana Ganeva of AlterNet report at AlteNet:

Ten days after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot to death by officer Darren Wilson, police and protestors continue to face off in the city of Ferguson. Last night’s protests broke into chaos[3] as riot police descended on the streets of the city in an attempt to disperse protestors.

On Monday, Gov. Jay Nixon deployed the National Guard, allegedly without alerting[4] the White House. The first Humvees have left the National Guard base, according to reports from the scene highlighted in the Guardian. [5]

As the tense situation on the ground quickly evolves, here are 10 things you should know:

1. National Guard trained in fighting protesters

The Missouri National Guard troops being sent into Ferguson are military police, which, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), have studied the Occupy…

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