Those who have protested against the city are dubious of the cost estimates made by Mr. Blume, the same finance director whom the Justice Department blamed in part for the city’s practice of charging excessive legal fines and fees.
“They were just making excuses on why they couldn’t get this done,” said Kayla Reed, who lives in St. Louis and has organized protests for racial justice in Ferguson.
Tony Rice, who has lived in Ferguson for 12 years and has been a regular protester, argued that if the city had fulfilled the agreement quickly enough, the consent decree could be lifted sooner than expected, saving money.
He said he believed that city officials were resistant to the agreement because “they would like to go back to business as usual.”
Some people are saying: ‘Well, that’s the cost of racism. They should have thought about it before they did all this stuff.’
Ding ding ding!
/FFS
White Privilege™: never voluntarily relinquished.