My take on black-on-black crime and Ferguson.

The "Black-on-Black crime" moniker is racist rhetoric functioning under the guise of concern for the state of Black America. People of all races -- Blacks included -- seemingly love to discuss how not killing our own and being more respectable will alleviate the effects of racism. What Does 'Black-On-Black Crime' Have to Do With Ferguson?

What does black-on-black crime have to do with Ferguson?

From an idealistic point of view, not a whole lot of anything.

From a realistic view?

Potentially fewer dead black men.

Why?

Police officers are expensive, available in finite quantities (effectively), and require a relatively long period of training and experience to do their job well.  Very few governments have the “luxury” of too many well-trained police officers.   Additionally, police agencies are in competition for well qualified officers.  Being well-trained and certified (if the state requires it) is an entry ticket into agencies that may pay more.

This means three things:

1. Communities with lower tax bases will often have either fewer police officers than they may desire and those officers it does have will often be skewed toward less experienced officers (who are willing to work for less in exchange for training and experience).
2. Communities with lower tax bases should have issues retaining well-trained personnel in competition with other agencies.
3. Assignment of officers will often be less than uniform, with lower staffing in areas where need is perceived to be less.

The usual explanation for black crime is socioeconomic status (SES).  In turn, lower SES is a problem for community governments serving low SES areas.   This means the previous problems should often occur in black-majority communities.

That still doesn’t really talk about black-on-black crime.

It doesn't, however, in any area with a higher crime rate compared to others served by the same police agency, the priority will be to focus numbers of officers to those areas.  Increased numbers of officers—due to crime rates in lower SES areas where many blacks live—increases the number of potential police-civilian interactions.  Additionally, it likely increases the potential that the police officers involved in these interactions are less experienced or those who aren't qualified in some manner to be offered a higher paying position elsewhere.

Reducing black-on-black crime in majority black communities reduces some of crime’s effects on SES (and increases the likelihood police will be better trained and paid) while decreasing the pressure for police agencies to staff as many police officers in a particular area (reducing the number of police-civilian interactions).  This combination does nothing to directly address the idea of racism in the justice system as currently espoused in the media; it only serves to remove the vehicle for potentially lethal interaction between police and civilians.

And it's those interactions that seem to be what's going bad for black men with the police...