DOJ’s civil rights investigation into the Ferguson criminal justice system found that authorities have routinely violated the rights of black citizens and have used tickets to generate revenue for the city. Many police officers “appear to see some residents, especially those who live in Ferguson’s predominately African-American neighborhoods, less as constituents to be protected than as potential offenders and sources of revenue,” in part due to city policies, according to the report. .... The report found that city, police and court officials have “worked in concert to maximize revenue at every stage of the enforcement process” for several years. “City and police leadership pressure officers to write citations, independent of any public safety need, and rely on citation productivity to fund the City budget,” the report states. “Everything’s about the courts... the court’s enforcement priorities are money,” one Ferguson officer told federal investigators, according to the report. The report describes several instances of officers abusing their power. In summer 2012, for example, one officer charged a man with violating Ferguson’s municipal code by saying his name was “Mike” instead of “Michael.” The man told the Justice Department that he lost his job as a federal contractor because of that charge along with several others. More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/04/ferguson-police-report_n_6800440.html I see so many calls for FDR's New Deal for today, which in many ways was a huge benefit to Americans, yet left out POC. If you look at the timeline and read what Blackmon wrote, the New Deal 1933, for the eight years that it was put in place, the Re-Enslavement of blacks was still going strong and to an extent ended with the start of our entering WWII, it was well known and people/ politicians just looked the other way since slave labor benefited them financially. So no, you can't tell me that part of the 30's will not follow as it is already here and always has been. That is the truth. We need our own deal not a 1933 deal and we need women and people of all color, LGBT...all making those decisions for our collective futures...not just a few, decisions for us all. You can NOT have economic justice without social justice at the forefront. You cannot tell more than half the country that their needs must wait. This is not 1933 this 2017. Past time for new ideas.
Not at all unusual for cities and states to use traffic violations as a funding mechanism. Just look at the entire state of Ohio.
