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Published On: Wed, Mar 4th, 2015

DOJ report highlights Ferguson racism, email jokes about President Obama

The Department of Justice report, set for full release today, highlights the Ferguson Police Department’s patterns of racial bias, a hot topic since the shooting of Michael Brown by Darren Wilson.

The full report portrays the overwhelmingly white police department in a predominantly black city as riddled with racism, where violence was sometimes used against people of color and where traffic stops focused on blacks as a way to raise municipal funds, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the findings.

Michael Brown

Michael Brown

“This confirms what many people have been saying for a long time,” said Antonio French, a St. Louis alderman

“The Ferguson Police Department had a pattern and a culture that targeted minorities.”

A snapshot of the police attitudes on racial bias and stereotyping can be seen in two emails exchanged between members of the police force and municipal court officials that were included in the report.

A May 2011 email, according to the report, said:

“An African-American woman in New Orleans was admitted into the hospital for a pregnancy termination. Two weeks later she received a check for $5,000. She phoned the hospital to ask who it was from. The hospital said, ‘Crimestoppers.’ ”

Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III, City Manager John Shaw, Police Chief Thomas Jackson and City Atty. Stephanie Karr met with Justice Department officials Tuesday to receive the report, according to a statement. The city said it was reviewing the report and would respond after its official release.

The report will also detail that police made racist jokes on city email accounts, The New York Times reported.

“In a November 2008 email, a city official said Barack Obama would not be president long because “what black man holds a steady job for four years?” Another email included a cartoon depicting African-Americans as monkeys. A third described black women having abortions as a way to curb crime,” the NY Times says.

Michael Brown robbing a store minutes before being fatally killed by police  photo/screenshot of video

Michael Brown robbing a store minutes before being fatally killed by police photo/screenshot of video

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About the Author

- Catherine "Kaye" Wonderhouse, a proud descendant of the Wunderhaus family is the Colorado Correspondent who will add more coverage, interviews and reports from this midwest area.

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  1. DOJ Ferguson Report: Witnesses scared to tell truth, threatened and scared - The Global Dispatch says:

    […] Initial coverage on the DOJ report still painted the police force as racists – more here […]

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