I take exception to the inclusion of drugs and rap music as part of your analysis. If you look at the history of slavery in this country, torture, lynching, rape, and other forms of murder were practiced on Africans. We were not flooded with drugs in Africa. We were not singing rap music in the 15th century, and yet the same levels of cruelty and torture and murder were visited upon us. In fact, the initial purpose of police in the United States was to capture runaway slaves. So none of these societal ills like drugs and music can be used as an excuse for why police officers felt empowered to terrorize black neighborhoods. They were simply following precedent.