Some "hard truths" backatchya, Director Comey

[markpkessinger]

FBI DIrector James Comey, in his widely acclaimed speech a couple of days ago that essentially boiled down to an apologia for police bias and abuse couched in nice-sounding language, said he wanted to talk about some "hard truths." Well, I had a few "hard truths" for Director Comey, which I posted as a comment to a New York Times article.

Mark Kessinger

Some more "hard truths" for Mr. Comey to consider::

• one of the biggest contributors to the absence of role models for young men in poor minority neighborhoods is our decades-long, failed war on drugs;
  
  
• the black teen walking down the street of Bed-Stuy has a huge chance of being stopped and frisked, and having police find that partial bag of weed in his jacket that he forgot about; whereas the white, well-dressed kid from Dalton Prep, who is just as likely to be carrying something similar, faces almost zero chance of being stopped by police (and his investment analyst father enjoys the convenience of having his coke and weed delivered to his doorman building on the Upper West Side);
  
  
• in the unlikely event the Dalton Prep kid is caught, he will be provided with the best legal defense money can buy; the kid from Bed-Stuy will have to take his chances with an overworked, underfunded public defender (and he will languish in Rikers while he awaits trial);
  
  
• Comey mentions the dangers faced by police on a typical night shift, yet he fails to mention that both Brown and Garner were killed in broad daylight;
  
  
• any position that invests in its holder an unusual level of authority over others will attract more than its share of those who enjoy wielding that authority; if the danger is recognized, procedures can be put in place to try to weed these folks out; if it is denied, the danger will be realized, and it will metastasize..

Ill say this much for Comey though: he does earnest really well.