In my experience, bigoted and racist local governments are usually the most corrupt: you can’t decide that laws will be applied unequally and not have that spill over into other areas of governance. An honest government would not use traffic infractions to acquire one-quarter of its funding–which hits the poor the hardest. At the same time, corrupt people will use racism and bigotry to their advantage. I’m certain that even a precursory examination of the good burg of Ferguson will find tons of sleaze, if not outright illegality.

The rot infects root, branch, and stem there.