A friend of mine who used to work in city government in Detroit told me that former Mayor Coleman Young, who packed a pistol both as CPer/UAW organizer and elected official, once boasted, "The toughest gang in Detroit is the police."
mbs
Carrol Cox wrote:
>I think a real serious case can be made (I believe Angela Davis has
>written on this) that the criminal justice system creates more crime
>than it prevents -- especially more street crime. And certainly, the
>most vicious and destructive street gang in Chicago is the Chicago
>Police Department.
DH: Nathan Newman, who's unfortunately taking a vacation from this list, pointed out to me yesterday that lefties who take these sorts of attitudes towards the criminal justice system obviously don't spend much time talking with working class people of color, who generally think the cops spend too much time repressing them and not enough time responding to their complaints and going after real bad guys. . . .