The arrest of four East Haven Police officers on federal charges of assaults of Latinos and covering up their crimes made national headlines last week while galvanizing calls throughout Connecticut to address police abuse in communities of color and profiling with stronger laws.
Why did this story generate such attention? Well, for one, it is not that common for the Department of Justice to indict local police officers for violating civil rights and harming the citizens they're sworn to protect.
Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, addressed a crowd of about 500 at Howard University’s Rankin Chapel in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, as part of the Chapel’s series on connecting personal values and ethics with professional life.