Conrad Black
Never mind the police. The greatest failing of the American judicial system is the fact that prosecutors have practically unlimited power.
"The current inflamed condition of political debate presents opportunities as great as its challenges. There is some merit in both the Democratic and, as far as they are now known, the Republican proposals for reform of police techniques. No doubt many American police forces have habitually and excessively harassed African Americans. That community accounts for an inordinate percentage of both offenders and victims of felonies, and strictly from a policing perspective, the inevitable discussion about the sociological reasons for the relatively high African American crime rate is not relevant. Whatever the motives of the lawbreakers, it is a police problem to deal with it, but that does not justify the proactive suspicion that any African American is apt to be guilty of something.
"Most police activity is not a federal jurisdiction, but the fiscal influence of the federal government can assert irresistible pressure on local police forces to observe reasonable guidelines in the apprehension and treatment of all suspects.
"It need hardly be added that there is a 100 percent consensus that the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis was a monstrous crime; it was an almost unimaginable affront to the sensibilities of everyone in the world who watched the video. Nothing since Bull Connor’s vicious dogs in Birmingham, Alabama—nearly 60 years ago—has in a single depiction done so much damage to the reputation of the United States, nor produced such a convulsion in domestic public opinion.
"We can now see that the most remarkable result of Floyd’s death has been the sudden revelation of the proportions and ferocity of the urban terrorist guerrilla movements in the United States.
"We saw Antifa at Berkeley, Portland, and Charlottesville in 2017 and saw that it had its adherents and emulators elsewhere, but it is clear that none of the municipal governments in the many cities that have been afflicted in the last two weeks—and apparently not the U.S. Justice Department either—had any idea of these movements’ ability to exploit peaceful demonstrations in such a hugely destructive and well-organized manner." . . .
Never mind the police. The greatest failing of the American judicial system is the fact that prosecutors have practically unlimited power.
"The current inflamed condition of political debate presents opportunities as great as its challenges. There is some merit in both the Democratic and, as far as they are now known, the Republican proposals for reform of police techniques. No doubt many American police forces have habitually and excessively harassed African Americans. That community accounts for an inordinate percentage of both offenders and victims of felonies, and strictly from a policing perspective, the inevitable discussion about the sociological reasons for the relatively high African American crime rate is not relevant. Whatever the motives of the lawbreakers, it is a police problem to deal with it, but that does not justify the proactive suspicion that any African American is apt to be guilty of something.
"Most police activity is not a federal jurisdiction, but the fiscal influence of the federal government can assert irresistible pressure on local police forces to observe reasonable guidelines in the apprehension and treatment of all suspects.
"It need hardly be added that there is a 100 percent consensus that the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis was a monstrous crime; it was an almost unimaginable affront to the sensibilities of everyone in the world who watched the video. Nothing since Bull Connor’s vicious dogs in Birmingham, Alabama—nearly 60 years ago—has in a single depiction done so much damage to the reputation of the United States, nor produced such a convulsion in domestic public opinion.
"We can now see that the most remarkable result of Floyd’s death has been the sudden revelation of the proportions and ferocity of the urban terrorist guerrilla movements in the United States.
"We saw Antifa at Berkeley, Portland, and Charlottesville in 2017 and saw that it had its adherents and emulators elsewhere, but it is clear that none of the municipal governments in the many cities that have been afflicted in the last two weeks—and apparently not the U.S. Justice Department either—had any idea of these movements’ ability to exploit peaceful demonstrations in such a hugely destructive and well-organized manner." . . .
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