MOSCOW, November 26 (Sputnik) — Rand Paul, US Senator for Kentucky, has put the blame on politicians for the tragedy unfolding in the city of Ferguson, where a grand jury’s decision not to indict a white police officer for killing an African-American teenager has sparked riots.
“In the search for culpability for the tragedy in Ferguson, I mostly blame politicians. Michael Brown’s death and the suffocation of Eric Garner in New York for selling untaxed cigarettes indicate something is wrong with criminal justice in America,” the Republican politician stated in an opinion piece, published by the Time. Rand Paul argued that Ferguson is a reflection of numerous ills, plaguing the US, with injustice of criminal system being only one of them.
The fact that law enforcement officers disproportionately target African-American community is a result of the war on drugs, he maintained. “The War on Drugs has created a culture of violence and put police in a nearly impossible situation. … [It] has created a tension in some communities that too often results in tragedy,” the US senator said.
Rand Paul also pointed to the cycle linking poverty and crime, which reinforce one another. This trend affects communities of all colors, the politician said. “When you look at statistics for the white community alone, you see that we’ve become two separate worlds in which the successful are educated and wait to have children until they are married, and those in poverty are primarily those without higher education and with children outside of marriage.”
The US senator doubted that reforming the criminal justice system will help to eradicate poverty. “I have no intention to scold, but escaping the poverty and crime trap will require more than just criminal justice reform,” Paul stated. Despite that, reforming the latter to “make it racially blind is imperative,” he added.
The US senator underscored the need for the revival of spirit, purpose, and action in the US. But the person at the helm of this process will be “a preacher or teacher” but not a politician.
Rand Paul’s remarks come after the grand jury’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson, a white police officer who fatally shot the African-American teenager, sparked rioting in Ferguson and numerous other cities in the US.
