Tag Archives: racial bias

‘Wild and Timely’ Report Details Infiltration of Far-Right Militias and White Supremacist Groups in US Police Departments

The study comes amid unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the latest high-profile police shooting of a Black man and the shooting deaths of two protesters by an alleged far-right militia member.

By Julia Conley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 8-27-2020

Kyle Rittenhouse walks past police in Kenosha after allegedly shooting three people, killing two of them. Photo: Rod Breslau/Twitter

As law enforcement agencies and lawmakers respond to nationwide outrage over countless police shootings of Black Americans with pledges to address racial profiling and “implicit bias,” the Brennan Center for Justice released a report Thursday on what it called “an especially harmful form of bias, which remains entrenched within law enforcement: explicit racism.”

The presence of virulent racism within police ranks across the country has grown over the past two decades, Brennan Center fellow and former FBI special agent Michael German wrote in the report, as white supremacist and far-right militant groups have infiltrated law enforcement agencies. Continue reading

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The other epidemic: white supremacists in law enforcement

Law enforcement agencies have been breeding grounds for far-right ideology for decades, and it’s not just an American problem.

By Simon Purdue,  Published 8-6-2020 by openDemocracy

George Floyd protests on their ninth day in Miami. Photo: Mike Shaheen/Wikimedia Commons/CC

 

As protests continue to bring cities across the United States to a standstill, the problem of racist policing is more evident than ever before. The murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis PD was just the latest in a long line of violent assaults on people of color by law enforcement, and his name joins an ever-growing list of people who have been killed by those who are sworn to protect and serve. The United States is grappling with the issue of police racism in front of the world, and the scale of the conversation currently happening is unprecedented, and sadly still not enough.

While the unconscious bias of some officers of the law has been laid bare for all to see, the conscious and hateful bias of others has remained largely in the shadows. The systemic issue of racial profiling is evident, but the hidden epidemic of far-right activism in police forces around the country is an insidious and even more dangerous threat. The links between the police and organized racism are as old as the institutions themselves. Continue reading

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Admitting Failed Experiment, DOJ to Phase Out Private Prisons

Private prisons more dangerous and costly, Justice Department finally admits

By Nika Knight, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 8-18-2016

Corrections Corporations of America is one of the largest private prison corporations in the country, and currently runs 47 prisons nationwide. (Photo: CCA.com)

Corrections Corporations of America is one of the largest private prison corporations in the country, and currently runs 47 prisons nationwide. (Photo: CCA.com)

After years of documented human rights abuses by the private prison industry, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is finally ending its use of privately-run, for-profit prisons, the Washington Post reports.

Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates issued a memo Thursday announcing that the federal government is ending its contracts with the private prison industry, days after the department’s Inspector General issued a damning report about the danger and abuse facing inmates in private federal prisons. Continue reading

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Blue Lives Matter: Police Exceptionalism Leading America Toward Second Civil War

By Claire Bernish. Published 7-23-2016 by The Anti-Media

PORTLAND OREGON - NOV 17: Police in Riot Gear Holding the Line in Downtown Portland Oregon during a Occupy Portland protest on the first anniversary of Occupy Wall Street November 17 2011

PORTLAND OREGON – NOV 17: Police in Riot Gear Holding the Line in Downtown Portland Oregon during a Occupy Portland protest on the first anniversary of Occupy Wall Street November 17 2011

United States — Lurched back and forth in the ever-quickening spiral of an American empire circling the drain, we — as a people — have chosen battle lines on nearly every issue from politics to foreign policy, domestic surveillance to policing.

Thrust back into national focus, the last issue — policing in the U.S. — might even surpass in contention the ongoing race to the White House. And it stands to reason, with the world lashing out against failed globalism in its various nefarious incarnations — largely driven by American exceptionalist military presence nearly everywhere on the planet — the empire sees expediency in heading off a possible insurrection. Continue reading

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With Arms in Air, Unarmed Black Caregiver Shot by Police

As long as I’ve got my hands up, they’re not going to shoot me, is what I was thinking. Wow, was I wrong.’

By Nika Knight, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 7-21-2016

"All he has is a truck. A toy truck. I'm a behavior therapist at a group home," Charles Kinsey pleaded with officers, holding his arms in the air and trying to help an autistic patient before he was shot. (Screenshot)

“All he has is a truck. A toy truck. I’m a behavior therapist at a group home,” Charles Kinsey pleaded with officers, holding his arms in the air and trying to help an autistic patient before he was shot. (Screenshot)

Charles Kinsey, a black man and caregiver at a group home, was shot by police on Monday in North Miami, Florida.

Cell phone video footage released late Wednesday showed that Kinsey was lying on the ground, holding his arms in the air to show he was unarmed, and trying to help a distressed autistic patient in the moments before he was shot in the leg.

“As long as I’ve got my hands up, they’re not going to shoot me, is what I was thinking. Wow, was I wrong,”said Kinsey to local TV station WSVN from a hospital bed on Thursday. Continue reading

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Bahamas to Its Citizens Traveling to the US: Beware of out of Control Cops

By Clarice Palmer. Published 7-9-2016 by The Anti-Media

The International Arrivals Hall at Boston Logan International Airport's Terminal E. Photi: hildgrim/flickr/CC

The International Arrivals Hall at Boston Logan International Airport’s Terminal E. Photi: hildgrim/flickr/CC

It appears even foreigners are scared of United States law enforcement.

The Bahamian government is warning its citizens to use extreme caution when traveling to the United States. The recommendation follows the “extrajudicial killings” of blacks, Caribbean outlet Antillean Media Group (AMGreports, “which have spurred increased unrest across America.” Continue reading

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“Why Do You Have to Make These Shootings About Race?” Because They Are

By PM Beers. Published 7-9-2016 by The Anti-Media

#BlackLivesMatter protest in St. Paul- September 2015. Photo: Fibonacci Blue from Minnesota, USA [CC BY 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

#BlackLivesMatter protest in St. Paul – September 2015. Photo: Fibonacci Blue from Minnesota, USA [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Baton Rouge, LA —Why do you always have to make it about race?

Because it IS about race.”

This is a common, growing conversation in the United States.

PolRacismtweet1 Continue reading

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Legal Experts Raise Alarm over Shocking Use of ‘Killer Robot’ in Dallas

‘The fact that the police have a weapon like this…is an example of the militarization of the police and law enforcement—and goes in the wrong direction’

By Nadia Prupis, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 7-8-2016

Dallas Police Chief David Brown giving a press conference on Friday morning. (Screenshot)

Dallas Police Chief David Brown giving a press conference on Friday morning. (Screenshot)

As news emerges that police officers in Dallas, Texas used an armed robot to kill the suspected shooter in Thursday night’s ambush, experts are warning that it represents a sea change in police militarization that only heightens risks to human and constitutional rights.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown said Friday morning during a press conference that police “saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate” where the suspect had taken refuge in a parking garage as police tried to negotiate with him, adding that he was “deceased as a result of detonating the bomb.” Continue reading

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Striking Analysis of Civil Rights Complaints Sheds Light on Why Police Impunity Reigns

Newspaper investigation reveals that federal prosecutors failed to pursue civil rights complaints against police officers in 96 percent of cases

By Lauren McCauley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 3-14-2016

The findings come against a backdrop of increased attention on police misconduct, including evidence of racial discrimination, unlawful shootings, surveillance, imprisonment, and torture. (Photo: Thomas Hawk/cc/flickr)

The findings come against a backdrop of increased attention on police misconduct, including evidence of racial discrimination, unlawful shootings, surveillance, imprisonment, and torture. (Photo: Thomas Hawk/cc/flickr)

A striking new analysis published this weekend found that federal prosecutors failed to pursue civil rights complaints against police officers a full 96 percent of the time.

The investigation, conducted by Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reporters Brian Bowling and Andrew Conte, examined 3 million federal records regarding criminal complaints against law enforcement from 1995 through 2015. The findings come against a backdrop of increased attention on police misconduct, including evidence of racial discrimination, unlawful shootings, surveillance, imprisonment, and torture. Continue reading

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Justice Department Files Civil Rights Lawsuit Against the City of Ferguson

By Jake Anderson. Published 2-11-2016 at The AntiMedia

Photo: Paul Sableman (Ferguson City Hall) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Paul Sableman (Ferguson City Hall) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

In response to Ferguson City Council requesting amendments to a consent decree, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that it will “aggressively” prosecute a civil rights lawsuit against the city. Attorney General Loretta Lynch stated that the lawsuit alleges a pattern and practice of unconstitutional police conduct.

“The residents of Ferguson have suffered the deprivation of their Constitutional rights, the rights guaranteed to all Americans, for decades. They have waited decades for justice,” Lynch said. “They should not be forced to wait any longer.” Continue reading

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