Julio Figueroa was arrested for drinking in public - carrying beer in a styrofoam cup near his home. 125,000 people were similarly charged last year in New York City. “As hard as I try, I cannot recall ever arraigning a white defendant for such a violation,” wrote Judge Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Dear, a former city councilman who was elected to a judgeship in 2007.
Judge Dear wrote that he had his staff review a month’s worth of past public-drinking summonses issued in Brooklyn, and found that 85 percent of the summonses were issued to blacks and Latinos, while only 4 percent were issued to whites. According to census data, Brooklyn’s population is about 36 percent white."
The Times reports that Dear announced that henceforth he will require a lab report to prov alcoholic content in excess of .05%. the sniff test won't do nor will an admission by the defendant. Black and Latin residents of New York live under a police regime of harassment that white voters generally believe protects them from Black and Latin muggers; while Black and Latin citizens view it as racial discrimination.
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