• some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    3 months ago

    “After an extensive review, we found that police officers in Lexington routinely make illegal arrests, use brutal and unnecessary force and punish people for their poverty — including by jailing people who cannot afford to pay fines or money bail,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who leads the civil rights division. “For too long, the Lexington Police Department has been playing by its own rules and operating with impunity. It’s time for this to end.”

    Seems pretty standard for the south (Missouri is south-adjacent).

        • vovo@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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          3 months ago

          I just don’t get those comments all the time. They arrest 10 times as many people as the average in Mississippi, so it can’t be normal.

          It’s like saying ‘nothing to see here’

          • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            No, it’s not like saying that at all. Comparable racially motivated arrest rates (and criticism) happens in towns like Ferguson, MO; Brookside, AL; Pine Lawn, MO; St. Ann, MO; Country Club Hills, MO; Walnut Grove, MS; Benton, AR; and Richland, MS to name only a few.

            Each of them is, as the commenter pointed out, in the south and many are in Missouri and Mississippi. These are racist towns that use arrests and police violence against, usually, black people as a violent form of oppression. Perhaps Ferguson, MO rings a bell?

            The other commenter wasn’t saying “there’s nothing to see here,” they are saying there’s a lot more to see here, and it happens to be regionally specific for these more egregious examples, but it happens across the country. Perhaps “Black Lives Matter” rings a bell? This is a large part of what BLM is about.

            • vovo@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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              3 months ago

              I can’t find news about such high arrest rates.

              Thank you for listing these places, yes they are racist as well.