Among the many things that will be said about the conviction of Derek Chauvin is that this is a seminal moment, this is a watershed moment, this is a defining moment, this is a moment of introspection for police departments.
No, it isn’t.
All this verdict represents is a case so cold-blooded in its barbarism (that [the] jury), not an all-white one in some other corner of Minnesota, could not turn its back, knowing that the world was watching.
It does not mean that America is any closer to a reckoning on race; it does not mean that American law enforcement will be any more judicious with the use of force in communities of color.
Built into how police behave in communities of color (black communities)is an innate belief that residents of those communities are different and therefore undeserving of respect.
The general perception by far too many non-Black Americans is that African-Americas have a duty to wait until they decide what measure of humanity they should enjoy (if any). It is an arrogant perception that would condemn Black people to accept a permanent state of second-class citizenship, even after over four hundred years of genocide and oppression.
Not all police officers who work in Black neighborhoods are bad people; however, it does mean that there is an undeniably wide chasm between the world-views of the two groups. The consequences of those two competing views get played out in the constant police killings of innocent Blacks.
Police officers do not operate with nearly the same care when interacting with African-Americans as they do when dealing with whites.
A Black complainant calls the police about an altercation with someone white, which usually results in police treating the black caller as the offender and the white as the victim when they arrive. Their first instinct is to go to the white person to get his/her version of events, and thereafter their reactions are shaped by the offender’s side of the story.
Police units in predominantly black neighborhoods are prepped that the citizens are barbarians unworthy of respect.
The vast majority of police calls are [not] calls about the commission of crimes.
For example, a recently released dispatch by the New Haven, Connecticut police shows that less than 4.4% of calls to their 911 system were for calls about assault, gunfire, robbery, rape, stabbing, murder, or person shot.
Over a whopping 95.6% of those calls were for service that requires no violence and does not include the need for violence.
The question then remains, why are armed agents of the state being sent to these calls?
In June 2020, a New York Times article titled (How Do the Police Actually Spend Their Time?) asked, “what share of policing is devoted to handling violent crime? Perhaps not as much as you might think. A handful of cities post data online showing how their police departments spend their time. The share devoted to handling violent crime is very small, about 4 percent.
Despite the killings and assaults, and the conviction of Chauvin, I doubt seriously whether police officers are saying,’ geez, I gotta show more respect to the black people I come across”.
I doubted whether the cop who put four bullets into the body of 16-year old Ma’Khia Bryant would have shot a young white girl even though she had a knife and, in all probability, may have stabbed the other girl with it.
Again I ask do you use lethal force because you know you will get away with it, or do you use it because you are convinced that it is your only option?
The idea being popularized by police departments is that [force] means deadly force. This is not true; there are varying degrees of force; this is why officers are equipped with batons, pepper-spray tasers, and guns.
The level of force that police use should only be enough to subdue an unruly subject. That force does not have to be equal to the level of resistance coming from an offender; it can be greater but just enough to gain control.
For example, after George Floyd was handcuffed, the police officers had no legal authority to keep him on the ground with their knees on his neck and back.
The level of force applied does [not]have to be lethal; force does not go from zero to a hundred. The officer who shot 16-year old Ma’Khia Bryant had every right to use force to stop her from stabbing another person; whether he made the right decision when he decided to go to lethal force as the first option is the issue?
Were Sheriff’s deputies justified in shooting Andrew Brown Jr. to death, a Black resident of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, on Wednesday, April 21st, when they tried to serve him with a search warrant about 8:40 a.m? Why did they not shoot Alvin Oeltjenbruns a white man, after he hit one cop in the head with a hammer and drove away in the video above?
Was a cop justified in killing 12-year-old Tamir Rice immediately on arrival on the scene as the kid played in the park with his toy gun? What 12-year-old boy has not played cops and robbers with their toy gun growing up? Should a child who is playing with a toy gun worry about being killed by police?
Was police justified in choking Eric Garner to death for selling loose cigarettes? Was police justified in killing Sandra Blan over not signaling a right turn? Was police justified in Firing over twenty bullets into 23-year-old Sean Bell’s car, killing him on the day he was supposed to be married? Was the police justified in murdering Amadou Diallo when they fired a total of forty-one billets, ending his life for absolutely no reason? What about the monsters who arrived and immediately killed John Crawford (111)inside a Walmart because he had a rifle? Walmart sells the guns; Crawford was looking at the guns?
Was Police justified when they murdered Philando Castile inside his car with his girlfriend and her daughter? What about Alton Sterling? Botham Scheme Jean, was the cop justified when he placed seven bullets into the back of Jacob Blake? Why would a taser not work?
What if they had no guns? Would they not resolve each situation without the use of force?
What we hear these days coming from Police Chiefs and cop-apologists is,” please stop running away from police.” “If only he/she did not run.”
As a former Police Officer, I did not relish having to chase down a suspect, but I also understood that no one wants to lose their freedom. In the United States, where it has been government policy to criminalize and incarcerate Blacks, why would anyone be surprised that people run away from spending months in for-profit jails and prisons because they were unable to pay for having a broken tail-light or making a turn without signaling?
Their ancestors had no problem with the brutality, and the mutilation meted out to enslaved people who dared to run away from a lifetime of servitude and genocidal abuse. They risked being beaten to an inch of their lives; countless were killed, they risked being torn to shreds by the vicious dogs imported from Cuba specifically to hunt them down; still, they ran.
Why would he run away? His master treated him well”?.
Unless you know the story .…..shut your mouth.
The war has moved from the provinces of Iraq & Afghanistan to the streets of the United States; the victims are Black & Brown, all unarmed.
It is a veritable Vietnam wall of bodies, the bodies of living breathing American citizens gunned down, run over, electrocuted, choked, beaten, and otherwise murdered by American police.
This list represents only some of the victims over the last decade. It is important that before cameras on cell phones and body cam videos, there was no accounting by police departments when they kill someone. The Federal Bureau of Investigations had no database of the killings because there are no laws compelling police departments to report the killings to Federal authorities.
The list below does not account for armed people. It represents unarmed Black people.
Daunte Demetrius Wright, October 27, 2000 — April 11, 2021. Marvin David Scott III, 1995 — March 14, 2021. Patrick Lynn Warren Sr., October 7, 1968 — January 10, 2021.Vincent “Vinny” M. Belmonte, September 14, 2001 — January 5, 2021. Angelo Quinto, March 10, 1990 — December 26, 2020. Andre Maurice Hill, May 23, 1973 — December 22, 2020. Casey Christopher Goodson Jr., January 30, 1997 — December 4, 2020.Angelo “AJ” Crooms, May 15, 2004 — November 13, 2020.Sincere Pierce, April 2, 2002 — November 13, 2020. Marcellis Stinnette, June 17, 2001 — October 20, 2020. Jonathan Dwayne Price, November 3, 1988 — October 3, 2020. Dijon Durand Kizzee, February 5, 1991 — August 31, 2020. Rayshard Brooks, January 31, 1993 — June 12, 2020. Carlos Carson, May 16, 1984 — June 6, 2020. David McAtee, August 3, 1966 — June 1, 2020. Tony “Tony the Tiger” McDade, 1982 — May 27, 2020. George Perry Floyd, October 14, 1973 — May 25, 2020. Dreasjon “Sean” Reed, 1999 — May 6, 2020. Michael Brent Charles Ramos, January 1, 1978 — April 24, 2020. Daniel T. Prude, September 20, 1978 — March 30, 2020. Breonna Taylor, June 5, 1993 — March 13, 2020. Manuel “Mannie” Elijah Ellis, August 28, 1986 — March 3, 2020. William Howard Green, March 16, 1976 — January 27, 2020. John Elliot Neville, 1962 — December 4, 2019. Atatiana Koquice Jefferson, November 28, 1990 — October 12, 2019. Elijah McClain, February 25, 1996 — August 30, 2019. Ronald Greene, September 28, 1969 — May 10, 2019. Javier Ambler, October 7, 1978 — March 28, 2019. Sterling Lapree Higgins, October 27, 1981 — March 25, 2019. Gregory Lloyd Edwards, September 23, 1980 — December 10, 2018. Emantic “EJ” Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., June 18, 1997 — November 22, 2018. Charles “Chop” Roundtree Jr., September 5, 2000 — October 17, 2018. Chinedu Okobi, February 13, 1982 — October 3, 2018. Anton Milbert LaRue Black, October 18, 1998 — September 15, 2018. Botham Shem Jean, September 29, 1991 — September 6, 2018. Antwon Rose Jr., July 12, 2000 — June 19, 2018. Saheed Vassell, December 22, 1983 — April 4, 2018. Stephon Alonzo Clark, August 10, 1995 — March 18, 2018. Dennis Plowden Jr., 1992 — December 28, 2017. Bijan Ghaisar, September 4, 1992 — November 27, 2017. Aaron Bailey, 1972 — June 29, 2017. Charleena Chavon Lyles, April 24, 1987 — June 18, 2017. The Fetus of Charleena Chavon Lyles (14−15 weeks), June 18, 2017. Jordan Edwards, October 25, 2001 — April 29, 2017. Chad Robertson, 1992 — February 15, 2017. Deborah Danner, September 25, 1950 — October 18, 2016. Alfred Olango, July 29, 1978 — September 27, 2016. Terence Crutcher, August 16, 1976 — September 16, 2016. Terrence LeDell Sterling, July 31, 1985 — September 11, 2016. Korryn Gaines, August 24, 1993 — August 1, 2016. Joseph Curtis Mann, 1966 — July 11, 2016. Philando Castile, July 16, 1983 — July 6, 2016. Alton Sterling, June 14, 1979 — July 5, 2016. Bettie “Betty Boo” Jones, 1960 — December 26, 2015. Quintonio LeGrier, April 29, 1996 — December 26, 2015. Corey Lamar Jones, February 3, 1984 — October 18, 2015. Jamar O’Neal Clark, May 3, 1991 — November 16, 2015. Jeremy “Bam Bam” McDole, 1987 — September 23, 2015. India Kager, June 9, 1988 — September 5, 2015. Samuel Vincent DuBose, March 12, 1972 — July 19, 2015. Sandra Bland, February 7, 1987 — July 13, 2015. Brendon K. Glenn, 1986 — May 5, 2015. Freddie Carlos Gray Jr., August 16, 1989 — April 19, 2015. Walter Lamar Scott, February 9, 1965 — April 4, 2015. Eric Courtney Harris, October 10, 1971 — April 2, 2015. Phillip Gregory White, 1982 — March 31, 2015. Mya Shawatza Hall, December 5, 1987 — March 30, 2015. Meagan Hockaday, August 27, 1988 — March 28, 2015. Tony Terrell Robinson, Jr., October 18, 1995 — March 6, 2015. Janisha Fonville, March 3, 1994 — February 18, 2015. Natasha McKenna, January 9, 1978 — February 8, 2015. Jerame C. Reid, June 8, 1978 — December 30, 2014. Rumain Brisbon, November 24, 1980 — December 2, 2014. Tamir Rice, June 15, 2002 — November 22, 2014.
Akai Kareem Gurley, November 12, 1986 — November 20, 2014. Tanisha N. Anderson, January 22, 1977 — November 13, 2014. Dante Parker, August 14, 1977 — August 12, 2014. Ezell Ford, October 14, 1988 — August 11, 2014. Michael Brown Jr., May 20, 1996 — August 9, 2014. John Crawford III, July 29, 1992 — August 5, 2014. Tyree Woodson, July 8, 1976 — August 2, 2014. Eric Garner, September 15, 1970 — July 17, 2014. Dontre Hamilton, January 20, 1983 — April 30, 2014. Victor White III, September 11, 1991 — March 3, 2014. Gabriella Monique Nevarez, November 25, 1991 — March 2, 2014. Yvette Smith, December 18, 1966 — February 16, 2014. McKenzie J. Cochran, August 25, 1988 — January 29, 2014. Jordan Baker, 1988 — January 16, 2014. Andy Lopez, June 2, 2000 — October 22, 2013. Miriam Iris Carey, August 12, 1979 — October 3, 2013. Barrington “BJ” Williams, 1988 — September 17, 2013. Jonathan Ferrell, October 11, 1989 — September 14, 2013. Carlos Alcis, 1970 — August 15, 2013. Larry Eugene Jackson Jr., November 29, 1980 — July 26, 2013. Kyam Livingston, July 29, 1975 — July 21, 2013. Clinton R. Allen, September 26, 1987 — March 10, 2013. Kimani “KiKi” Gray, October 19, 1996 — March 9, 2013. Kayla Moore, April 17, 1971 — February 13, 2013. Jamaal Moore Sr., 1989 — December 15, 2012. Johnnie Kamahi Warren, February 26, 1968 — February 13, 2012.Shelly Marie Frey, April 21, 1985 — December 6, 2012. Darnisha Diana Harris, December 11, 1996 — December 2, 2012. Timothy Russell, December 9. 1968 — November 29, 2012. Malissa Williams, June 20, 1982 — November 29, 2012. Noël Palanco, November 28, 1989 — October 4, 2012. Reynaldo Cuevas, January 6, 1992 — September 7, 2012.Chavis Carter, 1991 — July 28, 2012. Alesia Thomas, June 1, 1977 — July 22, 2012. Shantel Davis, May 26, 1989 — June 14, 2012. Sharmel T. Edwards, October 10, 1962 — April 21, 2012. Tamon Robinson, December 21, 1985 — April 18, 2012. Ervin Lee Jefferson, III, 1994 — March 24, 2012. Kendrec McDade, May 5, 1992 — March 24, 2012. Rekia Boyd, November 5, 1989 — March 21, 2012. Shereese Francis, 1982 — March 15, 2012. Jersey K. Green, June 17, 1974 — March 12, 2012. Wendell James Allen, December 19, 1991 — March 7, 2012. Nehemiah Lazar Dillard, July 29, 1982 — March 5, 2012. Dante’ Lamar Price, July 18, 1986 — March 1, 2012. Raymond Luther Allen Jr., 1978 — February 29, 2012. Manual Levi Loggins Jr., February 22, 1980 — February 7, 2012. Ramarley Graham, April 12, 1993 — February 2, 2012. Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., April 12, 1943 — November 19, 2011. Alonzo Ashley, June 10, 1982 — July 18, 2011. Derek Williams, January 23, 1989 — July 6, 2011. Raheim Brown, Jr., March 4, 1990 — January 22, 2011. Reginald Doucet, June 3, 1985 — January 14, 2011. Derrick Jones, September 30, 1973 — November 8, 2010. Danroy “DJ” Henry Jr., October 29, 1990 — October 17, 2010. Aiyana Mo’Nay Stanley-Jones, July 20, 2002 — May 16, 2010. Steven Eugene Washington, September 20, 1982 — March 20, 2010. Aaron Campbell, September 7, 1984 — January 29, 2010. Kiwane Carrington, July 14, 1994 — October 9, 2009. Victor Steen, November 11, 1991 — October 3, 2009. Shem Walker, March 18, 1960 — July 11, 2009. Oscar Grant III, February 27, 1986 — January 1, 2009.
It is inconceivable that cops have decided to stop targeting African-American motorists solely based on their skin color.
The way police behave cannot be decoupled from the foundational principle on which policing was built in the first place. Policing came from slave catching. I suppose I sound like a broken record, so be it. Regardless of the fancy uniforms and the ties and all the new accouterments, police are basically little more than a blue line that separates the races.
They are trained to fire multiple bullets to stop a 16-year-old girl with a knife but not to fire once at a 61-year-old white male who assaulted civilians, struck a cop in the head with a hammer, and drove away, almost killing another cop.
The lack of respect they feel for African-Americans emboldens them to kill any black person for contempt of cop, but handle white mass ‑murderers with respect.
This is not about people committing crimes; it is about people who are inherently racist being trained as police officers and given the power of the states to kill.
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Mike Beckles is a former Police Detective, businessman, freelance writer, black achiever honoree, and creator of the blog mikebeckles.com.