Gaming the system

What do police officers in Cleveland, hedge fund billionaires in New York and a drunken teenager in Texas have in common?   It would seem that they all benefit from a system that is heavily weighted in their favor.  For the cops in Cleveland it is a justice system which virtually eliminates any penalties for killing civilians they are supposed to be protecting, especially if they are black or brown skinned.  As many have pointed out, if Tamir Rice had been a white boy in an affluent neighborhood with  a toy gun, he probably would have had a stern talking to.  Instead, Rice was shot within seconds of police arrival in his poor, mostly black neighborhood.  Meanwhile, the NYT points out in an article this morning that the 400 richest families in the US, using sophisticated lobbying and large political contributions have actually seen their tax liabilities fall as a percentage below that faced by people reporting $100,000 per year income.  Elaborate shell corporations and money laundering techniques are not available even to many in the top 1% of earners.  Finally, the affluenza defense which got a drunk Texas teen off with probation after he hit and killed four people stopped by the side of a road to aid a disabled motorist will probably help him escape serious jail time again after he violated probation and fled to Mexico.  These examples of flagrant favoritism by the law threaten to undermine the very fabric of American life.  Our country was built on the belief that all should be treated equally under the law.  How can we long endure this inequality?