Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"In their Atlantic article, Kelling and Wilson recognized the racial implications of order policing. 'How do we ensure, in short, that the police do not become the agents of neighborhood bigotry?' they asked, before essentially shrugging and moving on. 'We can offer no wholly satisfactory answer to this important question.' Oh, well -- hopefully everything will work itself out.

"More than 30 years later, the answer seems clear to me: [the 'broken windows' policing strategy] will always become an agent of neighborhood bigotry, because broken windows encourages cops to define lower-class men as basically another species and to make ad hoc cultural judgments the linchpin of crime prevention strategies. This is how looking different transforms into looking dangerous. This is how Eric Garner dies, mumbling 'I can't breathe,' held in a chokehold by a white police officer who works for a department led by a man who believes that if 'you take care of the little things, then you can prevent a lot of the big things.' This is how you get thousands of marchers in the streets of New York City. Loose cigarettes today. Civil unrest tomorrow."

-- Justin Peters, 2014-12-05