Ferguson and Minneapolis: The Killing of Unarmed black men and the silence

Join Ronald A. Edwards and Don Allen for another episode of The Ron and Don Show. This week both hosts will talk about the killing in Minneapolis as well as what's happening in Ferguson, MO. Tune in at 8:30 p.m. to hear the best in Black Talk Radio on #BlogTalkRadio. 

It is unlikely the town of Ferguson, Missouri will change in our lifetimes. The mainstream media has portrayed Ferguson, Missouri as a town of rioter’s and looter dismissing the fact the town of 21,203 (2010 census) is in a crisis. In a report from ArchCity Defenders — a legal group that “works to break the cycle of ‘revolving door justice’ in the St. Louis metropolitan area” — reveals that in 2013, “the Ferguson Municipal Court disposed 24,532 warrants and 12,018 cases, or about 3 warrants and 1.5 cases per household.” In Ferguson, the “majority (67%) of [the city's 21,203] residents are African-American” and “22% of residents live below the poverty level.” Despite Ferguson’s relative poverty, fines and court fees comprise the second largest source of revenue for the city, a total of $2,635,400 [...] According to a court employee, the docket for an average court session may include as many as 1,500 cases. Assuming an 80% conviction rate, the average fine in a case resulting in a guilty verdict would be $275.The local carnage happening over the last month and a half is a direct representation of what being poor, black and broke looks like in a town with no opportunities to rise beyond the mundane.