The Campaign of Terror against African Americans. The Ferguson Report One Year after Michael Brown and the Urban Rebellion
Department of Justice Report
A Department of Justice (DOJ) study completed earlier this year and released to the press has been published in paperback book form. Entitled “The Ferguson Report”, this 173-page study shows clearly the systematic denial of fundamental civil rights to African Americans in St. Louis County, Missouri.
Utilizing internal communications among law-enforcement personnel and the courts, the study makes a strong case for holding the authorities criminally liable for their premeditated plans to exploit and socially control African Americans through unwarranted stops, excessive fines and jail sentences.
According to Theodore M. Shaw—Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Civil Rights at the University of North Carolina—in the introduction to the report, surmised that the DOJ conducted the study to unravel the political and economic context under which the developments in the aftermath of the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Even though the white police officer Darren Wilson who killed Brown was not criminally indicted, in the overall context the City of Ferguson, Missouri, the municipality stands guilty for its illegal nationally oppressive and racial discriminatory policies conducted through its daily interactions with its African-American residents.
