Who protects us from you?
15th August 2016 · 0 Comments
By Edmund W. Lewis
Editor
Why is it so hard for law enforcement officers across the U.S. to bring in Black men and boys without killing or maiming them?
This is the question many people are asking after the recent Chicago officer-involved shooting of 18-year-old Paul O’Neal after he allegedly stole a Jaguar and subsequently ran away from police. He was shot in the back by one of the officers after he refused to stop.
Conveniently, the body camera of the officer who shot him wasn’t working but the other officers’ cameras were working and recorded the entire ordeal as it unfolded.
After the shooting, one of the officers can be seen and heard calling O’Neal a “b*tch ass mother**cker” as he lay bleeding on the ground. Even though O’Neal didn’t have a gun and hadn’t fired at police, one of the officers can be heard yelling “Why did you have to shoot at us?” The video shows the officers standing around and not even making an attempt to save the teen’s life. Reflecting on how the public and the media are going to react to the fatal shooting, one of the officers says “I’m going to be f*cking crucified.”
The City of Chicago and the Independent Police Review Authority have refused to release the names of the cops to the public, but the nine video clips were released earlier this month by the IPRA.
Concern for the safety of the officers was cited as one of the reasons the cops’ names were not released.
Mind you, Chicago is the same town where cops were caught torturing Black and Brown men who were in police custody and the same town where Mayor Rahm Emanuel withheld video footage of a trigger-happy cop standing over a Black teen while he executed him until after Emanuel was re-elected.
Tragically, Chicago is not unlike many other U.S. cities where cops have no qualms about taking the lives of people of color in part because they know that judges, grand juries, district attorneys and yes, the U.S. Department of Justice, will back their every move.
Adding insult to injury, one of the cops reportedly stood over Paul O’Neal and kicked his lifeless body as he told the 18-year-old that the fatal, officer-involved shooting would mean that the cop has to spend 30 days handling desk duties.
That’s about as bad as cops in New York City telling Black and Brown men that “it’s Giuliani time” or cops and supporters in New Orleans holding up signs that read “Heroes” as the “Danziger 7” cops who killed two unarmed civilians and wounded four others turned themselves in.
It’s coarse, incredibly insensitive and speaks to a fundamental lack of respect for human life and dignity.
That’s the underbelly of law enforcement agencies that communities of color see all too often and many whites simply refuse to see or acknowledge.
These violent, abusive cops are the ones to blame for the anger, resentment and distrust some people of color feel toward law enforcement agencies. It is not the fault of the people whose human and constitutional rights are being kicked around on a regular basis.
One has to wonder how many of the cops involved in the fatal shooting of Paul O’Neal were cuddled and hugged by civilians showering them with cakes, pies and other goodies in the wake of the Dallas and Baton Rouge police shootings.
Some might argue that Paul O’Neal is dead because he stole a car and ran from the cops but white men steal cars and run from the cops every day and live to talk about it. White men also brandish guns and fire at cops and live to tell the story.
The truth of the matter is that Paul O’Neal is dead because he came face to face with law enforcement officers who never believed that Black lives matter. In their minds, white lives have been the only ones that have ever mattered. This officer shot down O’Neal like a dog in the street, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Paul O’Neal allegedly stole a car but he could have just as easily been shot or murdered for buying a toy gun in Walmart, walking in the street with his hands up, selling mixtape CDs or loose cigarettes, reaching for his wallet, sitting in a car outside of his grandmother’s home, going to work at Burger King before the sun comes up, standing on the staircase shirtless and gunless in his home, hanging out with his friends the night before his wedding, riding in a car with his fianceé or lying on the ground with his hands raised up.
It really doesn’t matter what you are doing — all that matters is that you are doing it while you are Black, Brown or poor.
There has been a lot of talk of late about police needing additional training to lower the number of officer-involved shootings and killings of unarmed Black and Brown people.
One might point out that the training law enforcement agencies give recruits seems to work just fine when cops encounter white suspects. White suspects can kill a church filled with Black worshippers, take over federal agencies or even shoot directly at police and still manage to live to tell the story.
What cops need to develop is an appreciation and respect for the humanity, dignity and constitutional rights of Black and Brown people. Medical and social researchers need to create a pill that would make law enforcement officers immune to the myriad of messages pumped out by mainstream media organizations that Black, Brown, Red and Yellow people possess superhuman strength and speed, are dangerous, less than human and have no rights that white people in general and cops in particular are bound by law to respect.
Black people know that there are good cops and bad cops. We get that. Many of us have friends, loved ones or former classmates who have chosen law enforcement as a profession. We know there are decent, law-abiding cops out there.
What we don’t get is how so many of the so-called bad apples end up policing communities of color and why so many law enforcement officers think it is their God-given right to play judge, jury and executioner when they encounter Black and Brown people during their patrols.
We don’t get how so many white civilians are unable to see or acknowledge the lawlessness and corruption Black and Brown people experience every day at the hands of police in America and why the U.S. Department of Justice continues to allow district attorneys, judges, grand juries and others in the criminal justice system to let cops continue to get away with murder, domestic terrorism and routinely violating the human and constitutional rights of people of color.
Some might wonder why the U.S. Department of Justice appears to be powerless to effect real change in the way things are done in New Orleans unless they consider that New Orleans is older than the USA and more experienced in extinguishing freedom movements.
While the highest court in the land succumbed to pressure to end public segregation in cases like Brown v. The Board of Education, the Crescent City has never allowed freedom to fully take root in these parts.
The reason: Money. Old, old money earned from the unlawful acquisition of land stolen from the original inhabitants of this land and centuries of free labor.
Cash Rules Everything Around Me and trumps the egalitarian ideals expressed so beautifully in the U.S. Constitution, Judeo-Christian values, honor, integrity and human decency.
Money determines who is elected in local races as well as to the Presidency of the United States, which in turn means money determines who will sit on the U.S. Supreme Court and who will determine which laws will be enforced and which laws and rules will be bent to suit the agenda of the rich and powerful ruling class.
Police would not be able to get away with murder without the approval and blessing of the one percent.
Meanwhile, the nephew of one of my colleagues told me recently about being stopped by cops who said he fit the description of a suspect who someone reported for selling marijuana.
After searching his car for marijuana and finding nothing, these overzealous officers decided to break in half all of the music CDs they found in his car, telling him that he shouldn’t be listening to that kind of “garbage.”
When he asked what he should do, I told him that he should choose his battles wisely — and to stay in school so that one day he could use his mind to prevent cops from racially profiling, targeting and bullying other young men of color.
Cops continue to do these kinds of things and they wonder why they are viewed so negatively by some segments of the community. They should own up to the part they play in how they are viewed and received by the community. Show us the “Officer Friendly” side of your personality, and we’ll bring you pound cakes, apple pies and gourmet meals.
Show us the dark side and you’ll get more ominous messages like the one from Chicago gang members who reportedly have told cops in that city to watch their backs after the Paul O’Neal killing.
You can count on more shootings of innocent men and women in police uniforms as long as the powers that be, the federal courts, elected officials and the larger society continue to condone police corruption and abuse.
Senseless violence is senseless violence, whether it is delivered by someone sworn to uphold the law or a civilian who thinks he or she has the right to end someone’s life.
We need restorative justice and substantive police reforms, not cosmetic changes that do little or nothing to address the grave injustices and atrocities committed far too often in the name of law and order.
This article originally published in the August 15, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
