No justice, no sleep
3rd October 2016 · 0 Comments
By Edmund W. Lewis
The Louisiana Weekly Editor
Another unarmed Black man lost his life last week when San Diego police responded to a call from a woman to help her mentally ill brother by hitting him with a Taser and pumping him full of bullets. So much for protecting and serving the public.
Last week’s shooting in San Diego and the fatal police shooting in Tulsa, Oklahoma on September 16 have driven home the point that Black and Brown people can not and should not depend on law enforcement agencies for even the most basic assistance protective services. Any time we cross paths with the police or pick up a phone and call them for assistance, we do so at our own peril.
Witnesses said the San Diego man was clearly in distress and walking in traffic before he was fatally shot by members of the El Cajon Police Department. “I just called for help, and you came and killed him,” the victim’s sister told police. Adding insult to deadly injury, police confiscated the cell-phone of a witness and later said that the phone was voluntarily given to them.
Police wasted no time in releasing a single frame from the cell phone video they confiscated – the part that supports their version of what happened on September 27. Their version said the victim had assumed a “shooting stance,” although the police chief had to acknowledge that the object in his possession was not a weapon.
Unlike Charlotte police who were in no hurry to release body cam footage from their encounter with Keith Lamont Scott on September 21 until his wife released a video from her cell phone, El Cajon police were determined to get their version out before any other version of what happened could cast a shadow over the department.
Meanwhile, down here in our neck of the woods, the Bonnabel High School alumni group is furious that many of the school’s football players decided to kneel down during the playing of the national anthem at a recent game. Incensed that these teenagers had the audacity to stand up for what they believe in, the alumni group has cancelled several school fundraisings and some Jefferson Parish sheriff’s deputies have said that they won’t work security details at upcoming Bonnabel High School football games. That’ll show these young people and their civics teachers who told them that the U.S. Constitution gives them freedom of expression.
R & B singer Beyonce knows exactly how these football players feel after cops across the U.S. said they wouldn’t work security details at her shows after she used her “Formation” music video and a Super Bowl performance to speak out against police brutality.
Apparently, police only protect and serve civilians who espouse white supremacy, agree with and approve of everything police do and pretend not to see the many instances of police murdering Black and Brown men, women and children.
Despite the many atrocities and injustices committed by police in the name of law and order, and the many times these murderous and cowardly acts have been captured on video, law enforcement agencies have seen no reason to change the way they interact with communities of color and have continuously pushed the notion that police are actually victims of hate crimes in which they are subject to distrust, suspicion, anger and criticism from Black and Brown civilians.
Many law enforcement officials have blamed groups like Black Lives Matter for the recent police shootings in Baton Rouge and Dallas, as if Black people need someone to tell them how angry and appalled they are about the ongoing slaughter of unarmed Black and Brown men, women and children by police across the U.S.
While I don’t know anyone who celebrated the killing of the police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, many have said they are not surprised by these deadly shootings given the draconian practices of police departments across the U.S. We need and demand justice and equal protection under the law, not investigations, police cover-ups and more half-hearted efforts by the judicial system and the Feds to hold police officers accountable when they violate civilians’ constitutional rights or murder innocent people.
How do we accomplish this?
By making sure that law enforcement agencies don’t continue to hire police recruits with little or no regard for Black, Brown and poor people and are afraid of their own shadows. By making sure that the elected officials who represent us are not beholden to the white business community or anyone who does not live in our communities. And by doing whatever is necessary to make sure the U.S. Department of Justice, district attorneys and the entire judicial system uphold the U.S. Constitution.
Until we get justice, there will be no sleep or no peace.
All power to the people.
This article originally published in the October 3, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
