Engaging seriously with the evidence on issues of crime reduction, allegations of police brutality, and unjustified lethal use of force on members of minority communities was clearly not part of Mac Donald’s purpose in writing this book. She chose instead to present a lawyer’s brief in defense of the police against charges of discriminatory treatment and over-policing of minor crime.
Ferguson’s Fault Lines is, admittedly, difficult to read. To be sure, the prose is fine, and the organization is mostly sound. It does not employ much legal jargon or toil in overly complicated theories. Simply put, the book is hard to finish because it invokes memories of a low time in America.
How state lawmakers seeking a solution to St. Louis County’s municipal revenue problems found more than they bargained for.
On August 9, 2014, people had worried that Michael Brown would be forgotten. By September of that same year, it was clear no one would ever forget Brown, but what legacy his death would leave was in question.