Thinking about Mike Brown and what’s going on in Ferguson, Missouri.

This is a national issue, but if you’re also curious about local profiling politics in MO, the St. Louis Dispatch Editorial Board wrote this yesterday:

“Last year, for the 11th time in the 14 years that data has been collected, the disparity index that measures potential racial profiling by law enforcement in the state got worse. Black Missourians were 66 percent more likely in 2013 to be stopped by police, and blacks and Hispanics were both more likely to be searched, even though the likelihood of finding contraband was higher among whites….

…Those statistics don’t prove racial profiling. But those numbers plus a dead young man in the street make a strong case for deserving a closer look.”