A Diverse New York City? In Some Ways, Anything But - NYTimes.com

A Diverse New York City? In Some Ways, Anything But - NYTimes.com: New Yorkers take an imperious pride in the belief that our city is better than other cities — fairer, obviously, and more embracing than a place like, let’s say, Kansas City. New Yorkers don’t actually need to visit Kansas City to convince themselves of this. These beliefs are self-sustaining, fed by a collective egotism and impervious to contravening realities. In matters of race, our arrogance increasingly seems misplaced.

Among the most recent events that ought to intrude on our self-perception was the arraignment last week of a young police officer, Michael Daragjati, who was accused by federal prosecutors of atrociously biased misconduct. Assigned to the Police Department’s anti-crime unit on Staten Island, Mr. Daragjati stopped a black man for no apparent reason last spring, pushed him, the government says, and then, when the man complained about his treatment, arrested him without cause.