depth of racial hatred that was given free rein there. i was in ferguson before, during and after the high points of the activity there. my personal observation was i have never really seen a police department have such an us against them attitude. bbc, cnn, the world media was there. if there was ever a time to act like you care and you see these taxpayers as your bosses that would have been the time to do it. instead it felt very tribal like we are, our group, these people protesting are some other species of people. i grew up in the rural south. i never felt that kind of disrespect from a law enforcement agency. it gave me a sense, if what i was hearing was correct, there s something wrong with this department. these e-mails were written by supervisors, police officers i don t think anybody was disciplined for any of this kind of stuff. it is pretty shocking. if you look at police departments around the country, similar question that i asked our earlier guests is this
charged protests in ferguson a new report is exposing the ugly and pervasive culture of racial bias that ignited the unrest. our view of the evidence found no no alternative elf mra explanation other than implicit and explicit racial bias. reporter: the justice department s more than 100 page report reveals a pattern of discrimination against african-americans. it s filled with specific cases and shocking racially offensive e-mails targeting the president and first lady. one e-mail depicts the president as a chimpanzee. another includes a photo of a group of bare chested women in what appears to be africa with a caption that reads, michelle obama s high school reunion. community leaders in ferguson are outraged. if they would say that about the president of the united states what do you think they would say about poor black men
all aspects of society. as mentioned by the department of justice, there are several initiatives taking place in the city of ferguson and in the police department. they are as follows. the ferguson police department is in the process of hiring three new officers. we hope to have an update on the positions and the racial makeup of the new hires sometime in the next week. the ferguson police department has hired one correction officer since august 9 of 2014. one african-american female candidate was hired for that position out of a pool of approximately 91 applicants. the ferguson police department has also hired two assistant court clerks since august 9 of 2014. both positions were filled by african-american females from a pool of 64 applicants. all ferguson police department officers have completed mandatory diversity training as of december 31, 2014. the ferguson police department
as you know the naacp is present in 50 states all across the country. nearly 2,000 units. we can simply say as americans grassroots army of democracy, this problem is not isolated to ferguson. we may have a police department that s committed to acting like camels that is collectively putting their heads in the sand but the fact is we have a national problem. i have spoken with the governor he understands that this is a challenge for not only ferguson but for towns and cities across missouri but also around the country. when we have police departments that see the citizens as not those we should protect but those whom we should fine and sanction and use as sources of revenue, that s a problem. but it s not a problem isolated to ferguson. you agree with that marc? i do think that what is clear is that there are many other examples around the country and currently, there are 15 police
departments that are under consent decrees which means they have either admitted or the justice department has found patterns of violations of civil rights. so that alone indicates that this is not, if you will, an isolated incident. the law certainly gives the justice department the power to review not only individual complaints but potential comprehensive violations if you will systematic violations into departments around the country. there s ample evidence that this is not isolated but what i hope is that this conversation and this is where the urban league s ten-point plan that we not only submitted to the president s task force but we continue to advocate for, that this conversation needs to turn to the kinds of reforms we need and ferguson is a perfect place to start, but these reforms have to take place all across this nation. i want to invite both of you back if you can to join us tomorrow. i know you are both getting ready to go to selma, alabama