I suspect that black market sales of cigs was going on before higher taxes were imposed, and would have been going on regardless of taxes because there is money to be made by illegal sales.
The guy was resisting arrest, and I have no doubt use of some sort of force was the only way he was going to be taken in based on his demeanor in the video.
I don't doubt the ongoing black market, but the exorbitant taxation on smokes in NY state and NYC creates a higher demand for this market since these taxes affect the poorer smokers the most. A pack of cigarettes in NYC is more than twice the costs of the same pack in most states. Even California, the state that has lead the way in decreasing public smoking, a pack of cigarettes is less than half the cost of the same pack in NY state.
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Jacks, I agree there may still be some levels of institutional prejudice and discrimination, but departments such as NYPD see their minority officers outnumber white officers by a sizable margin.
I also agree that the Brown killing was the wrong spark. Sure, the spark itself is not as important as the need for improved race relations, but to put all the blame on law enforcement and white people is not going to help get that conversation rolling. Further insult to injury is the perpetual claim of racism in every single incident where a white person harms or kills a person of color. That is where the Martin, Brown and Garner deaths have all been used as sparks but actually have worked more to stifle race relations or discussion on the subject.
I watched a PBS special with Gwen Ifill in Ferguson back in September. She invited a well-rounded group of participants, but was amazed me the most was the lack of real conversation on the mass killing of black youths by other black youths. This is the true epidemic facing black youths, not law enforcement, yet, most black people refuse to discuss it. Any time a white person mentions this inconvenient truth, he is called a racist. Black person who bring it up are called Uncle Toms. So, how do you have an honest discourse if one side refuses to admit to any responsibility in the problems that plague their neighborhoods?
The week of the Ferguson GJ decision, CNN aired a special on how this tainted relationship with law enforcement affects black families. One single black mother was attempting to convince her teenage son to cooperate and stay calm if he is stopped by authorities. His attitude was that of, "Why do I need to be clam when he stopped me for no reason and got up all in my face?" A black journalist on FNC interviewed a classroom full of first graders in Ferguson. All the black six and seven year olds said that cops are bad people. Where in the world would these kids get this idea if their families aren't brainwashing them into believing this myth? Brainwashing may be a strong term and cannot be proven, but it might be the best descriptor in this case.
And then you have hustlers such as Sharpton acting as if Jim Crow still exists, as if blacks are shot down like dogs in the street and hanged en masse. Tell me, I ask of you sincerely, how do we have an honest dialogue when one "side" throws this crap at the other "side"?
