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Townhall
Ferguson Shows
Blacks Live in a Different America
Steve Chapman
Aug 17, 2014
Fifty years ago this summer, President Lyndon Johnson signed the
landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. Back then, it was reasonable to
expect that by 2014, America would be a fully integrated nation in
which equality prevailed. But as the events in Ferguson, Mo.,
dramatize, the country still resembles what a presidential commission
described in 1968: "two societies, one black, one white -- separate and
unequal."
There is a big difference in the routine experiences of the two races.
White teens have little fear of police, but black teens generally view
them with mistrust. A 2013 Gallup poll found that 24 percent of young
black males said they have been treated badly by cops because of their
race just in the past 30 days.
In conversations with black high school students in Chicago who have
visited the Tribune, I've been struck by two things. The first is how
hard it is for them to navigate their lives in violent neighborhoods
plagued by gangs.
The second is how negatively they regard cops. Being stopped and
frisked is a common experience for the boys. They are acutely aware
that encounters with police can be humiliating, dangerous and even
fatal.
Law-and-order types will respond that blacks have more of these
encounters because, as a group, they are more likely to commit crimes.
But innocence is no protection. In New York City, in 2012, 90 percent
of the people stopped and frisked were not arrested or ticketed. Blacks
were more likely than whites to be searched for weapons -- but less
likely to be carrying them...
Read the rest of the article at Townhall
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