Robert P. McCulloch has been asked to recuse himself should the killing of Michael Brown go to trial. He has won four terms as prosecuting attorney. (stlouscopa.com)
Perhaps you’ve heard that supporters in Michael Brown’s defense in Ferguson want County Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch to recuse himself should the grand jury order a trial.
What’s the problem? Ferguson is 67 per cent black and McCulloch easily won election four times, including a primary victory with 71 percent of the vote over his black opponent on Aug. 5, 2014. There apparently wasn’t an effort to replace him. The problem is blacks do not register and vote.
While turnout by race is not collected in municipal elections there, just 12.3 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot. And, as a rule a low turnout favors white conservatives.
Leslie Broadnax, who was defeated by McCulloch, believes there is a “huge distrust in the system,” adding that “(voting) is not going to matter anyway, so my one vote doesn’t count.”
Leslie Broadnax was defeated by Robert McCulloch by a 30-point margin in the Aug. 5, 2014 Democrat primary. (stlamerican.com)
“Well, if you get an entire community to individually feel that way,” she said, “collectively we’ve already lost.”
A caring black community in Ferguson could have easily defeated McCulloch, if they didn’t approve of the job he was doing, and put Broadnax in office.
“Voter apathy is very typical of the communities,” said David Kimball, a political science professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, who has studied the pattern of non-voting blacks in the inner-ring suburbs around St. Louis. I’m surprised Attorney General Eric Holder hasn’t charged Republicans with voter suppression.
All of this tells you why the mayor of Ferguson is white, as are five of the six city council members, and six of the seven school board members.
The media reports that 94 percent of the police force is white, but they fail to do the research to learn why. How many blacks have sought a position on the force? Of those who applied, how many failed the tests.
You have probably heard that McCulloch’s father, who was a police officer, was killed 50 years ago by a young man who used his father’s gun. Many are using this as a reason to demand McCulloch recuse himself. It was encouraging to learn that Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) believes he would “be fair.”
Button courtesy of hobnobcolumbus.com)
My guess is that there will be a change of venue, which could make the McCulloch situation moot.
If anything, this should send a powerful message to blacks everywhere. If you don’t care enough to register and vote, you lose your legitimate right to object.
