The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in October 1966 - 40 years ago - largely in response to police brutality, oppression and poverty in urban communities. The battle for civil rights and civil liberties was at a turning point. American soldiers were fighting an unpopular war of aggression against people of color in a far away land. The nation’s Texas-bred president was under great pressure from citizens to end the war and from business leaders to keep the war on track. Government agencies were cracking down on dissent by spying on anti-war protestors and other American citizens.
But Huey P. Newton isn’t around anymore, and any sense of deja vu that you have is misplaced. Comparing Iraq to Vietnam is like equating a quagmire in the middle of the desert to a swamp in the heart of the jungle.
This is the message of police advocates like Darrell Ross and David Klinger, who claim that despite the recent rash of violent police incidents that have been reported in the media (and showing up on YouTube), police brutality and the use of excessive force are much better than they used to be.
5 comments:
Nadir: You seem to think that "business leaders" want anything different than what the majority of Americans want: a prosperous and safe population. American business leaders mostly now want an end to the current war, and perhaps now most of them question its wisdom.
I cannot prove one way or another if police brutality has increased, decreased, or stagnated in the past 30 years; can you? A rash of reportings may indicate a rash of police brutality, it may indicate a worsening or stagnating of the problem, or it may merely indicate an increase in reporting. This is surely the case with child murders and molestations, which are demonstrably much lower (much, much lower) today than 30 years ago, contrary to the impression created by media reporting.
What are the facts on police brutality? Where are the facts? This is a concept that has interested me for years, and I have simply never found any data. Do white folks get brutalized as often as black folks on a per interaction basis? Do white cops beat people at a higher frequency than black cops? Do white cops beat black citizens more frequently than they do white citizens? How about black cops?
These are questions that nobody seems to be asking; I am the only person I am aware of who is asking these questions. Is anybody else interested? What are the answers?
I am certain of one thing: black folks making smart decisions in life travel freely in the US with essentially no fear of police interactions. I travel constantly with such black folks, and such black folks are constantly meeting me at various places all through the Detroit metro area, in white and black -dominated locations. At no time does anybody ever get beaten by cops, or ever alter his behavior out of fear of police interaction.
Since I and my friends have been law-abiding people, I am aware among my friends of a single case of police acting like bullies, and that incident was triggered by sketchy behavior on my part. That did not justify the police behavior, but neither did did the incident constitute racist white cops brutalizing innocent black guys without any provocation. In or case, I believe that the cops were guilty of assault, and that we were guilty of nothing except sneaking an underage dude into a bar in order for him to break the law and jeopardize the liquor license of the club. This act of ours did not warrant an assault by off-duty cops, but neither were we just a group of 20 black guys (with one cracker) innocently walking down the street and some Bull Conner-types put us in our place with fists and billy clubs.
It certainly remains true that with whatever problems we still have with police brutality, US citizens of all "races" are freer of police brutality than nearly any place on earth.
"What are the facts on police brutality? Where are the facts? This is a concept that has interested me for years, and I have simply never found any data. Do white folks get brutalized as often as black folks on a per interaction basis? Do white cops beat people at a higher frequency than black cops? Do white cops beat black citizens more frequently than they do white citizens? How about black cops?"
The article posted provides links to a cop-centric article that includes statistics on these very questions. If you follow the link, you will see that the post tries to answer these questions.
The sarcasm of the post is simply to point out that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Some statistics may be better such as the percentage of racially motivated beatings or shootings or the number, but it tries also to present possible explanations.
Ultimately, there are more questions than answers because in cases of brutality, the police aren't always forthcoming, and if their victims are actually criminals, they aren't very honest either.
Do we agree that a 92 year-old grandmother has the right to shoot when some armed jokers break into her house without announcing they are police?
http://www.bet.com/News/FBIInvestigateGrannyShootingCase.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic&WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished&Referrer=%7B03CE5360-2620-42CB-AD7E-77E4249C5FB7%7D
Yes, I agree with your statement, though I haven't read the article.
I would also expect that she has been victimized more in her life by non-cops than by cops, and that on balance cops have helped her more than they have harmed her, that she fears non-cops more than cops, and that when she locks her doors at night and keeps her pistol handy it is due to fear of non-cops not cops. Why? Because an incident like this is so rare, whereas crime by non-cops in many areas is very common.
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