Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I will also quote President Obama, who said "What happened in Ferguson may not be unique, but it's no longer endemic or sanctioned by law and custom". It is endemic. A report by the US Department of Justice found a pattern of civil rights violations by the Ferguson police department and points to shocking statistics. Some 90% of people who received a citation in Ferguson were African American, and 95% of manner of walking along roadway charges and 94% of failure to comply charges were followed against African Americans. This points to racist practices by the police and a blind eye being turned to those by city officials. However, they are not unique to Ferguson. There are hundreds of Fergusons across the country. In the seven years up to 2012, an African American has been killed by a white police officer approximately twice per week. Black people are three times more likely than white people to be killed when they encounter police.

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