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The investigation exposed a staggering degree of racially biased, unconstitutional behavior by police.

African Americans are stopped, interrogated and frisked on the street for no reason.

They鈥檙e frequently arrested without probable cause for misdemeanors like 鈥渓oitering鈥� or 鈥渢respassing鈥� or 鈥渇ailure to obey.鈥�

And they鈥檙e routinely subjected to police violence, even when posing no threat to anyone and not suspected of any serious crime.

In a 4陆-year period, Baltimore police recorded more than 300,000 pedestrian stops, but only a tiny percentage led to charges. One African-American man was stopped by police 30 times 鈥� and not charged with anything.

What鈥檚 more, African Americans were arrested on drug charges at five times the rate of white people 鈥� even though searches of white people were far more likely to find drugs.

The blistering DOJ report leaves little doubt that these practices are rooted in racial bias.

But while there are surely some who are overtly racist, it wouldn鈥檛 be fair to lay all the blame on individual police officers. Beginning in the early 1990s, city and police leaders encouraged 鈥渮ero tolerance鈥� policies that emphasized the very practices still in place today.

We all know that over-aggressive policing that targets African Americans is not just Baltimore鈥檚 problem. The DOJ issued similar findings about Ferguson, Missouri, after the killing of Michael Brown, which happened two years ago yesterday.

It is, in fact, a deeply engrained problem across America 鈥� and part of a larger criminal justice system that has resulted in our country having the world鈥檚 highest per-capita incarceration rate.

The tactics instituted in Baltimore more than two decades ago were the wrong answer to rising crime rates in impoverished urban areas that for decades have borne the brunt of systemic racism. The DOJ carefully highlights the structural forces at work in the city: poverty, segregation, poor health care access and economic isolation.

Last year, following the indictment of six officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, I wrote about how the underlying dynamics of civil unrest in the city are the same as those identified 50 years ago in the Kerner Commission report.

In its most famous passage, the Kerner Commission wrote, 鈥淥ur nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white 鈥� separate and unequal.鈥�

Today鈥檚 DOJ report refers to two Baltimores 鈥� one 鈥渨ealthy and largely white,鈥� and the other 鈥渋mpoverished and predominantly black.鈥�

What has happened in Baltimore is no accident. It鈥檚 the result of intentional choices made by those in power. Only by recognizing this truth can political and law enforcement leaders begin to heal the wounds and start the hard work of ensuring there is only one Baltimore 鈥� and one America.

Cover photo: AP Images/Patrick Semansky