If there is one thing the Ryan Moats incident reminded us of, it is that meetings between men of color and men of the law are generally of dramatically different tenors. Dismiss that if you want. Charge that those of us of color are just paranoid. But you'd be hard-pressed to find a black man in this country who hasn't been treated -- and I use the word loosely -- by the law as Moats was despite his quite honest and understandable protest.
A recent series on race in America by The Chicago Tribune quoted Reggie Shuford, a senior attorney with the racial justice program at the American Civil Liberties Union: "All the anecdotal information demonstrates that African Americans are the most frequent victims of zealous, inappropriate police activity that often winds up in a shooting. It's a shoot first, ask questions later approach to policing."
Moats Incident Another Tale of Inequality originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:20:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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