Greetings!
Now that the protests and over-the-top police actions have stopped in Ferguson, Missouri, the story has all but dropped from the headlines. Deprived of potential “if it bleeds it leads” video, the media swarm has moved on to greener pastures and left the people of Ferguson to deal with their problems. But the problems in Ferguson didn’t just appear out of a vacuum. They’re problems that inevitably result when a government (literally and metaphorically) keeps kicking citizens, year in and year out, and telling them it’s just the way government is supposed to work. Ferguson’s problems, to varying degrees, are our problems all across the country. They’ve been simmering for years, but Ferguson was just where they happened to boil over.
Amid the flashbangs and tear gas, little attention was paid to one of the major contributing factors to the Ferguson uprising… the abusive way their courts levy fines. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled people can’t be sent to jail simply for being too poor to pay fines and fees. Someone could only be sentenced if they had the money and “willfully” refused to pay, but the justices did not define what that meant and they certainly didn’t limit the size or nature of the fees. Municipal court fines are the second highest source of revenue in Ferguson, overwhelmingly targeting low-income people who become trapped in a cycle of unpaid tickets, arrest warrants, and fines. Courts in Ferguson, a city of 21,135 people, issued 24,532 warrants in 2013, or three warrants per household. Again, this is not just an isolated problem in a small Missouri town, it is representative of a pattern in municipalities across the country.
Another problem that faces us all was on full and ugly display in Ferguson’s residential streets… the militarization of our police. The image of SWAT robots lounging on tanks before squaring off against rock-and-bottle-throwing protestors is something we should never have to see in America, but it’s something we should all be getting used to by now. (Remember Occupy?) It’s happening in every state, in large cities and small towns, and it’s not happening because cops suddenly need better tools to deal with a suddenly universally violent and well-armed America. It’s happening because of money. Defense contractors see money to be made pumping military hardware onto city streets, so that’s exactly what they’re doing, and they’ll continue to do it as long as the money is there. This powerful hardware, in the hands of people with no need or training to use it, is a literal powder keg waiting to explode.
Courts and police exist solely to serve the people. If the people can’t trust their courts and police then the basic assumptions of a stable society, much less a free society, are invalidated. It is unreasonable to expect anyone to behave as though they lived with the rule of law when the reality they live with every day proves they don’t. I chose to devote this month’s newsletter to examining a few of the biggest issues of police in today’s America. Last month, these country-wide problems surfaced in Ferguson. Next month, unless things change, there’ll be another rupture somewhere else. This month, please join me in taking a deeper look at the issues that are simmering around all of us, and join me in thinking about what all of us can do to fix them.
Take Care and Make a Great Day!
