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The recent grand jury decisions not to indict police
officers Darren Wilson for the killing of Mike Brown in
Ferguson and Daniel Pantaleo in New York for the death of
Eric Garner, are lamentable. I mourn, along with the
families of Brown and Garner, the heartbreaking decisions of
a criminal injustice system, which viciously heaped pain
upon the unbearable sorrow of losing a loved one.
I
am also outraged.
Statistically, unarmed black men, women and children are
brutally killed by police at extraordinary rates compared to
others. Often, like Brown and Garner, these executions
evolve out of police harassment and occur as a result of a
minor or fictitious offense, such as selling loose
cigarettes or because “you fit the description.”
The irony is, while unarmed blacks are dying violently in
great numbers, seldom if ever, are their killers held
accountable in courts of law. This frequent and regular
obscene devaluation and disrespect of black humanity “makes
me wanna holler
and throw up both my hands.”
Tens of thousands of others are also “mad as hell” and are
participating in multi-racial, multi-cultural and
intergenerational protests throughout the country, including
a National March Against Police Violence in Washington, D.C.
on Saturday, December 13, 2014.
Could civil unrest come to Toledo?
It seems that local residents are more outraged by recent
police shootings of dogs than the killing of Brown and other
blacks, but unrest is certainly a possibility. The
“skeletons of unarmed or nonthreatening blacks killed by
police” lie in the closets of both the Toledo Police and
Lucas County Sheriff’s departments.
However, local relations between the community and police
have greatly benefited from the work of former Toledo Police
Chief Derrick Diggs.
Despite dwindling resources and manpower, Diggs was able to
ease tensions in the community, lower crime rates and reduce
internal affairs complaints by wedding together data-driven
and community policing strategies. Diggs was also highly
visible in the black community. Currently, Sergeant Anita
Madison is doing a great job working in community affairs as
are Officers Flo Wormely and Ben Tucker, the highest-ranking
black police officer on the force.
Since the chief of police generally sets the tone for the
quality of police – community relationships by the way he or
she responds to police misconduct or lack of
professionalism, it will be interesting to see how TPD moves
forward under the leadership of George Kral, incoming chief.
Some describe Kral as an “administrative chief” rather than
a “chief that has rapport with and can reach out to the
community.” Other insiders complain that the “real” police
chief is Mayor D. Michael Collins, who is “trying to run
both TPD and the City of Toledo but has no clue.”
We shall see. George Kral is a man of integrity and an
“honorable person” according to his peers.
Nevertheless, there are eye-opening lessons revealed by the
failure-to-convict grand jury decisions of the police
officers involved in the killing of Eric Garner and Michael
Brown.
First, prosecutors are elected officials who partner with
police in a system designed to “mete out justice.” For that
reason, it is highly unlikely that prosecutors will ever
make a serious attempt to get a criminal conviction on a
police officer.
Also, as an “elected” official, prosecutors are beholden to
those who fund their political careers. Therefore
punishment, in the criminal justice system, is judged on the
basis of market-based decisions and money rather than by
social equity outcomes.
Additionally, an efficient mechanism of enormous peer
pressure is deeply embedded in the culture of police
departments. This culture uses psychological and even
physical intimidation to maintain a blue wall of silence
concerning wrongdoing by police officers.
Yet, rather than responding with violence and destruction
of property, there is a bright path out of the dark criminal
injustice in Ferguson and New York. It is a road that can
lead the black community forward to equal protection under
the law and affirmation of the dignity of black humanity.
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We can introduce police accountability legislation and
demand that the same systems that preach personal
responsibility for African Americans are held accountable
for their inhumane practices and the desecration of black
lives.
·
We must deplore the demonization and criminalization of our
own, which we perpetuate when we readily accept media and
police versions of killings. Stop believing that if a person
was killed under the cover of law that they “deserved it.”
·
We must strenuously advocate for the Department of Justice
to open a local office and become more involved in police
and criminal justice matters. This takes biased
decision-making out of the hands of local officials who may
be connected socially or economically to police or have
other unapparent conflicts of interest.
Finally, if we are going to achieve equality and fairness in
our social, political, and criminal justice systems, we
MUST:
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Demand that the politicians we elect represent our
interests rather than the interests of the marketplace or
raise the holy hell of righteous indignation.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
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