Tuesday, August 19, 2014

zero-sum politics in this beast: dollar dollar bill y'all....,


NYTimes |  POLITICS, wrote the political scientist Harold Lasswell in 1936, is about “who gets what, when, and how.” If you want to understand the racial power disparities we’ve seen in Ferguson, Mo., understand that it’s not only about black and white. It’s about green. 

Back in 1876, the city of St. Louis made a fateful decision. Tired of providing services to the outlying areas, the city cordoned itself off, separating from St. Louis County. It’s a decision the city came to regret. Most Rust Belt cities have bled population since the 1960s, but few have been as badly damaged as St. Louis City, which since 1970 has lost almost as much of its population as Detroit. 

This exodus has left a ring of mostly middle-class suburbs around an urban core plagued by entrenched poverty. White flight from the city mostly ended in the 1980s; since then, blacks have left the inner city for suburbs such as Ferguson in the area of St. Louis County known as North County.

Ferguson’s demographics have shifted rapidly: in 1990, it was 74 percent white and 25 percent black; in 2000, 52 percent black and 45 percent white; by 2010, 67 percent black and 29 percent white. 

The region’s fragmentation isn’t limited to the odd case of a city shedding its county. St. Louis County contains 90 municipalities, most with their own city hall and police force. Many rely on revenue generated from traffic tickets and related fines. According to a study by the St. Louis nonprofit Better Together, Ferguson receives nearly one-quarter of its revenue from court fees; for some surrounding towns it approaches 50 percent.

Municipal reliance on revenue generated from traffic stops adds pressure to make more of them. One town, Sycamore Hills, has stationed a radar-gun-wielding police officer on its 250-foot northbound stretch of Interstate.

With primarily white police forces that rely disproportionately on traffic citation revenue, blacks are pulled over, cited and arrested in numbers far exceeding their population share, according to a recent report from Missouri’s attorney general. In Ferguson last year, 86 percent of stops, 92 percent of searches and 93 percent of arrests were of black people — despite the fact that police officers were far less likely to find contraband on black drivers (22 percent versus 34 percent of whites). This worsens inequality, as struggling blacks do more to fund local government than relatively affluent whites.

19 comments:

BigDonOne said...

...Here is a really terrific reader comment on one of this morning's Drudge articles on the Ferguson protesters: "It's not like most of them have to get up and go to work in the morning..."

BigDonOne said...

Nah, if it's such a big problem in Ferguson, they could always GTFO or start their own biz's.
it has always been a problem with lazy-ass Eye-Cue-Seven-Five types.
As immortally documented way back in 1957 by the Silhouettes....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysKhbaLyIFw

Vic78 said...

Look who's piling on: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/08/18/how-the-rest-of-the-world-sees-ferguson/

CNu said...

lol, remember where you saw it first, remember where you saw it best, and accept no muthaphukkin substitutes!!!

(oh, and whatever else you do, spread the meme, drive the discussion and keep it squarely on the rails of the political economy which is precisely where it needs to stay if we're to have any hope of instigating some structural change and competent governance. Heaven knows these mark-assed, bitch-assed, punk-assed afrodemic "scholars" aren't up to the task - so it's down to us to carry forward a bit of bass-in-your-voice Adolph Reed Jr. goodness to the masses)

BigDonOne said...

...How can you say that, CNu, when the whole fucking WhiteHouse is full of N... black folks.
It's a matter of having the proper cognitive skills to play one's cards right, kiss the right asses, etc. You can make millions with a Pet Rock, or an app that only sends "Yo!" to all your friends. And definitely does not start with a telling one's teachers to F/O, accumulating a criminal record, saturating one's brain with Substances, and breeding out of wedlock. Such realities, however, don't play well in the genetically-challenged community.....


In 25 years, you will be complaining that the PoliceBots are racist.....

PapayaSF said...

How can you tell how much money is shown here? Which do you think is more likely: 1) that Brown paid the correct amount, the storekeeper confronted him for no reason, and that a false robbery report was made to the police, or 2) that this does not show Brown paying the correct amount?

John Kurman said...

How are your two enumerated scenarios not covered under the statement "Looks like Mike paid"?

Ed Dunn said...

Alright this is some straight BS, if the store didn't call about a strong arm robbery, then this is some made-up mess going on. Someone is lying here. A "customer" calls about a store robbery? Did the cops rush to the store? No...so something just ain't right here.

PapayaSF said...

But how much did he pay? Maybe he paid for one but grabbed the entire box. If he paid for everything he took, why did the shopkeeper come out from behind the counter, and why did Brown assault him? In the video it sure looks like he didn't pay (or pay enough), and since we cannot see the amount of money involved, it's odd to conclude that it was just a normal transaction.

PapayaSF said...

That's your idea of "playfully rough housing"? Grabbing someone half his size by the shirt? The shopkeeper looks terrified in the video.

PapayaSF said...

Why conclude it was "made-up"? The shopkeeper was physically intimidated, and maybe verbally, Too. Maybe he decided he didn't want to risk trouble by "snitching" to the cops.

John Kurman said...

Well, kiddo, why don't you save yourself the turmoil of idle speculation and drive on down there to Ferguson and ASK the store owner what happened?

PapayaSF said...

Because the guy is probably in hiding, in fear of his life?

Ed Dunn said...

Why conclude it was not made up. How do you know he was "physically intimidated" - do you mind read people feelings on video? Maybe he decided or maybe he didn't decided. You are laboring over little distracting matters - either the police lied about the incident of "strong arm robbery" or the store owners. As far as we concerned, there is no "customer" until it comes out in court.

John Kurman said...

Oh dearie dear! You've got your work cut out for you, then.

PapayaSF said...

Are you kidding? It doesn't take a mind-reader to interpret this.

Ed Dunn said...

That picture you showing is propaganda and only is a few fraction of a second..

makheru bradley said...

Mr. Kurman, FYI

[In an interview with msnbc shortly after the report was released, (Dorian) Johnson’s lawyer confirmed that Brown had taken cigars from the store.

“We see that there’s tape, that they claim they got a tape that shows there was some sort of strong-armed robbery,” said Freeman Bosley, Johnson’s attorney. “We need to see that tape, my client did tell us and told the FBI that they went into the store. He told FBI that [Brown] did take cigarillos. He told that to the DOJ and the St. Louis County Police.”]

Since Johnson has not been charged as an accessory to the robbery he may be cooperating with the Ferguson PD to avoid jail time. Is Johnson telling the truth about what happened in the store? If he changes his story about the initial encounter they had with the police, then we will know he's selling out to save his ass.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ferguson-police-name-michael-brown

None of that explains the execution-style murder of Michael Brown by officer Darren Wilson. Basically Wilson defenders are attempting to create “reasonable doubt” in the court of public opinion, which they believe will carry over to a court of law, if Wilson is indicted. They are probably correct.

[As for upcoming investigations, 52 percent of whites said they had a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of confidence in investigations into the shooting, while only 18 percent of black people were confident in a fair inquiry. Three-quarters of blacks have little or no confidence in the investigations and 45 percent have no confidence at all.]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/only-37-whites-polled-believe-michael-brown-shooting-raises-race-issues

Ed Dunn said...

Did the shopkeeper called and say there is a strong arm robbery or nah? Strong arm robbery is pistol whipping someone while forcefully take cash out the register. That did not happen and no proof but you want to harp on a .33 second frameshot...

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