St. Louis Protests: Police Abuse Still Rampant, BLM Still Active

FEATURING JODY ARMOUR – The city of St. Louis, Missouri is the latest flashpoint in the national debate over police brutality and a lack of accountability in the criminal justice system. Last Friday September 15th, Jason Stockley, the white police officer facing first degree murder charges in the 2011 killing of a black man named Anthony Lamar Smith, was acquitted.

The acquittal prompted days of protests by St. Louis residents and activists under the banner of Black Lives Matter. Missouri Governor Eric Greitens called in the National Guard, and police decked out in riot gear arrested hundreds of people. Reports have emerged that police were heard chanting “Whose Streets, Our Streets,” a refrain popularized by social justice activists for many years. Acting police chief Lawrence O’Toole said earlier this week, “We’re in control. This is our city and we’re going to protect it.”

St. Louis neighbors Ferguson, the site of mass protests against the police shooting of Mike Brown brought the Black Lives Matter movement to prominence just about 3 years ago.

Jody Armour, the Roy P. Crocker Professor of Law at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Negrophobia and Reasonable Racism: The Hidden Costs of Being Black in America. He is also a Soros Justice Senior Fellow of The Open Society Institute’s Center on Crime, Communities and Culture, and he is the Race and Criminal Justice Correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali.