So far, Ferguson police and courts responses have been tepid, more like a shrug

So far, from reports I'm reading, it looks like the "withering" Department of Justice report on racial bias in the Ferguson, Missouri police department and court system is falling more or less on, if not deaf ears, at least on shrugged shoulders.   Sort of like, 'Yes, but everybody does it;  that's just the way the system works."

Here's an example.   The DoJ report mentioned several racist jokes that had been emailed around as a mere introductory illustration of some of the blatant racism.   So they're now saying that the people who sent those "no longer work here."   They either resigned under pressure or were fired.

As if that fixed the problem.  But that is not even scratching the surface.  It's equivalent to giving aspirin for a fever, and thinking you've cured the infection.  Here's just one  example:

Black drivers are stopped and their cars searched far more frequently than whites.   Officers write tickets for minor violations, like maybe a tail light out, that would just get a warning to a white driver to get it fixed.   Instead, blacks get ticketed.   They're supposed to appear in court and pay a fine.    If they don't pay the fine on time, then the fines start escalating along with court costs;  and they are charged with another crime, for not paying what they can't afford.

What started as a simple traffic ticket for minor violation now accumulates to hundreds of dollars that the person cannot pay.    Pretty soon, they put this person in jail.  Then they're faced with even more court costs.

Meanwhile, the municipal judge who oversees all this trades favors and fixes traffic tickets for police officers and his friends.   And, worse than that, this particular judge owes $170,000 in back income taxes.   Why isn't he in jail with the black man who owes a few hundred in traffic fines?

Outrage overflows.   A racial joke on an email is bad.   But this -- putting people in jail for a tiny fraction of the offenses of the judge who orders them there:   that is despicable.

I can only imagine the sense of vindication felt by the black community of Ferguson as they see all of this exposed by the Justice Department of the United States.    It cannot stop with firing a few low level people for emails.   They've got to sweep the whole system of the judges and the police chiefs who allow this to happen -- and are often guilty themselves of worse than what they are putting people in jail for.

 They're right -- that it isn't just in Ferguson or even St. Louis county.   It is a nationwide problem -- as the news of the epidemic of police killings of young, unarmed black men across the country testifies so tragically.

Ralph