The Ferguson report is a farce

Unexplainable? Only to someone who hasn’t completed third-grade arithmetic.

As Heather Mac Donald, Hans Bader, and others have noted, several studies over the last 20 years (including data adduced before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights) show that black drivers commit various types of traffic offenses — including speeding, driving under suspension, DUI, and running red lights and stop signs – more often than drivers of other races. Could it be possible these phenomena contribute to the “unexplainable” disparities?

It’s clear that the report is designed to give cover to the president and attorney general, whose statements at the outset of the Michael Brown incident got ahead of the evidence. Its purpose is to perpetuate a politically useful narrative unsupported by facts. That, and to further the administration’s social-engineering goals. Consider: To forestall future Michael Brown–type incidents, the report suggests that “increasing gender and sexual orientation diversity in policing in particular may be critical in re-making internal police culture and creating new assumptions in what makes policing effective.” How this relates to purported racial discrimination in policing is anyone’s guess. Next up: “Using carbon- neutral police cars reduces racially discriminatory traffic stops.”