One of the items on the report showed an unlawful arrest made which involved a Melanoid man who was allowing his body temperature to cool down after participating in a basketball game on an outdoor public court in the summer of 2012. The arrest resulted in the Melanoid man receiving eight charges, one of the charges implied that he was not wearing a seatbealt, although he had been sitting in the parked car. Because of the charges that he faced, the Melanoid man lost a high profile job that he was employed by for years.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Justice Department will not convict former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson with federal civil rights charges, who senselessly murdered Melanoid teenager Mike Brown in August of 2014. The news from the Justice Department has re-ignited much of the outcry for justice from the Melanoid community of Ferguson that was heard and felt around the globe for much of the second half of 2014. U.S Attorney General Eric Holder stated Wednesday, March 4 that the animosity between the police officers in Ferguson and its Melanoid residents had created a “toxic” environment throughout the city.

Perhaps the most telling  statistic of this story is that between October 2012 and October 2014, Ferguson’s Melanoid community, which constitutes nearly 70 percent of the city’s overall population, were recipients of a disproportionate 85 percent of all traffic checks by the officers of Ferguson and were twice as likely to be searched after being stopped.

by B. Clark