The Cafe' [Think Tank]

Saturday, September 12, 2015 12:18PM NEW YORK (WABC) -- Former tennis star James Blake is calling for the firing of the officer who tackled him in an arrest mix-up Wednesday morning. "It's not debatable if he should be out there ever again," said Blake Saturday morning, noting that the officer has other civilian complaints against him. "You can't let that pattern continue." On Friday, the NYPD released surveillance video of the incident in which former tennis star James Blake was handcuffed in Midtown Manhattan. The footage shows Blake standing against a silver post outside the Grand Hyatt New York when the officer approaches suddenly, grabs Blake, spins him around and body slams him to the ground before handcuffing him. You need Flash to watch this video.Sorry, your browser doesn't support Flash , needs a Flash update , or has Flash disabled. The officer was placed on desk duty as authorities investigate whether he used ex...

With a Black population of 75 million, Brazil has the second highest number of Black people in the world after Nigeria. The country has long boasted that it is free of racism because of a “racial democracy” that doesn’t see and acknowledge skin color. But behind that myth, the real story is much different. Police Killings of Black People Worse Than in U.S. Though police killings of Black men have roiled the U.S. in recent months, the problem is actually much more rampant in Brazil. Brazilian police killed 2,212 people last year, according to a study by the Brazilian Forum of Public Safety, a national think tank, released last November. That’s an average of six a day. Between the Brazilian state and federal police violence, they have killed more Brazilians in the last five years (11,200) than did all U.S. police combined in the last 30 (11,090). The predominant targets of the Brazilian police are Black people. A 2009 study by economist Daniel Cerqueira foun...