I just finished
reading an article about a man subdued and consequently killed by the police http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/26/justice/oklahoma-arrest-death-video/index.html
. His crime? Attempting to stop an argument between his
wife and daughter. Okay, America, at
what point do you not realize that the police have become synonymous to the
Gestapo and the SS of Nazism? How can I say that? Because in urban communities [also outside of
the community], police officers target people of color mostly males to harass,
arrest and kill just because. Officers
hide behind the badge and no one dares question their actions because heaven
forbid we find that the individual[s] are not worthy of the badge. But hey, wait a minute, many of them are
not. Many are no more than legalized psychopaths
with a license to kill and that they do very well. The interesting thing is that if the
continued murders of minority youths by the police were happening to youths in
the suburbs; there would be an outcry.
The police, just
like the rest of us, are human beings yet we, as citizens, do not have the
right to question them and not end up in handcuffs. It is especially so for people of color but
my question is why can’t we ask questions of the police? How is it resisting arrest because we want to
know specifics? Come on America, you
cannot be so blind because justice is not.
Consider the fact that a male of color, be he African American or
Hispanic/Latino, youth or adult is stopped.
Now, if that citizen asks “why are you stopping me” or “what did I do
officer” that officer has the right to slap the cuffs on and say the person was
resisting arrest. It has happened far
too many times and who in society is going to side with that male of color
against a cop? Consider during training, officers are taught
to shoot to disarm yet the biases and racism within our society also permeates
the organization that is supposed to protect us. The “stop & frisk” under former New York
City mayor, Michael Bloomberg is actually what police officers have been doing
to men of color since Jim Crow through to the Civil Rights Movement….. and
since the Civil Rights Movement, it has become quite clear that race or
ethnicity is not an issue here because once they put on that uniform – they are
all blue. It should not be ignored that
many police officers were and still are members of groups with extreme racist
views like the KKK; nothing has changed except the enactments of a few federal
laws that are not being adhered to.
If you think I am
blowing hot air, look to the story of New Jersey Marcus Jeter who was falsely
accused by the police of resisting arrest http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/investigators&id=9440401
yet the dash-cam showed a whole other scenario and the police falsified their
reports; research the story of Chavis
Carter who mysteriously died of a shot to the head, an alleged suicide while
handcuffed in the back of a police car http://thegrio.com/2012/08/02/chavis-carter-case-mother-disputes-police-story-of-squad-car-suicide/;
or the story of a Hispanic youth killed for graffiti on an empty building http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/israel-hernandez-taser_n_3722420.html
. Does anyone realize that the murders
of the three young men (Chaney, Goodman & Schwerner) during the Civil
Rights Movement was aided and abetted by law enforcement? http://core-online.org/History/Chaney,%20Goodman%20%26%20Schwerner.htm. Many citizens assume that the police are the
good guys but this is only a snippet of the truth that far too many of you want
to ignore unless this injustice hits close to home.
While not all law
enforcement is like this, far too many took this position to wield power and
control, which is one aspect of the SS and Gestapo. Just as during WWII, when the Gestapo would
walk the streets harassing and shooting Jewish citizens is the same tactics used
against Hispanic and Black males now. Just as in the
old South when police officers with their KKK counterparts would do the same
with the added invasion of homes, it is a continuance in a non-stop loop of
racism, hubris and apathy. Not only from
the police but our society as well and people wonder why so many citizens of
color hate the police. There is a long
record of the victimization of people of color by the police, a throwback to
the days of slavery. Just because you
don’t know about it does not means it is not real. Many of you choose not to
see it or learn of it and by your silence America; you give this legitimized
gang the power to continue in their brutality.
The fact that Black parents live in fear when their sons go out, not
knowing if they are coming back alive is no different from WWII and those who
did not fit the Nazi Aryan form of being.
It may not be on the same level of heinousness; however, it is still an
evil that you, America, by your very silence have validated.
