After every incident of extrajudicial execution by police we are quickly reminded that most police officers are good. That statement, however, has to be qualified with the question: Why then do these incidents keep happening across the country?
There have been so many of these incidents, and they are so chronic that it is reasonable to conclude that there are more than just a few rotten apples in the barrel. The barrel isn’t just spoiled, it is getting to where no one trusts that any apples are good anymore.
Police forces are typically tight-knit groups, so they should know which are the bad apples among them. Yet, they tolerate the rot. The fact that the three other Minneapolis police officers present at the murder of George Floyd did nothing to stop it is indication of how widespread the rot is.
We have a problem with police in America. Too many of them are thugs with badges or bullies looking to push someone around.
The blatantly, sadistic, arbitrary and unnecessary use of force by police during the protests that erupted after the video of Floyd’s murder went public is disturbing not only in and of itself but also because in the age of ubiquitous video cameras, the police don’t seem concerned that they can easily be videoed and livestreamed being thugs. They apparently believe their criminal brutality is sanctioned and will go unpunished.
That is great cause for concern because it is indicative of a systemic poison that spreads all the way up the chain of command in more than a few police departments around the country.
When you see a cop car following behind you, do you feel safe and secure or apprehensive — even if you haven’t done anything wrong? Now, imagine being a black person, if you are not.
And, although the available data show that numerically most of the lethal force by police is not incurred by black people, it also reveals that black people are by far more subject to suspicion, stops, shakedowns, handcuffing, guns drawn, nonlethal force and general harassment by police than are white people. Frustration, anger and distrust over this can and does provoke violent confrontations.
And, if you are not black, don’t think for a moment that you will be spared. The data tell us that while blacks are disproportionately subject to police lethal force and confrontation, the majority of citizens who are — are not black. Yeah, it can happen to you.
All in all, if police power abuse and racism are not overtly sanctioned neither are they effectively discouraged. Fixing this won’t be easy.
Complaints brought against police are typically investigated by the police departments themselves and rarely result in findings against those officers charged.
And, even when they do, the fired cops can often move on to a different police department. When departments won’t give a bad reference about fired former officers, and there is no national database of offenders that can be accessed to vet applicants, the rotten apples just roll into another barrel.
Police unions are powerful public employee unions that have not only extracted generous compensation and retirement benefits from taxpayers, but have also demanded that official police records be kept hidden from the public and destroyed after five years or less — so, records of misconduct by officers can vanish from public scrutiny.
With limited exceptions, “qualified immunity” laws protect police from suits for discretionary actions performed in their official capacity. Successful suits against cops are few. Prosecutors decline to charge them, and juries are reluctant to convict them.
Police power abuse and brutality have been exacerbated by the militarization of police forces, many of which are all too eager to employ the regalia and weapons of war that have been donated to them by the Defense Department under the 1033 program. That program requires the receiving law enforcement agencies to return the equipment if not used within a year. So, call the police to rescue a cat from a tree, and a SWAT team may show up with an armored vehicle.
There is much to fix, but it can be done.
Now, back to America’s race issue. It is more than tiresome and immoral; it is outright stupid.
The fundamental underlying presumption of racism is that people differentiated by certain traits, especially skin pigmentation, can be sorted into a hierarchy from subhuman to master race. It is a highly arbitrary, dangerously destructive concept that has been used throughout human history to justify oppression, larcenous conquest, presumptuous privilege and horrific acts of violence.
Although black people are only 13 percent of America’s population, FBI data indicate they commit 38 percent of the violent crime. These are troubling statistics and likely explain white fear and suspicion of blacks, but does not justify police brutality or the pervasive social/economic discrimination against them. After all, 62 percent of violent crimes are not committed by black people.
Chronic, hopeless poverty perpetuated by systematic discrimination is the underlying cause of black crime — not racial propensity.
If anyone believes that race determines ability, intelligence or positive achievement, they are willfully ignoring that while blacks make up a small minority of the population and have been seriously disadvantaged, they have nevertheless made pervasive positive contributions to society. Black high-achievers can be found in business, science, art, athletics, literature, law, politics and the military.
In fact, much of American culture, admired and imitated around the world, derives from the black experience — from black creativity, perseverance and flat-out coolness. Our music, art, language, cuisine and athletics have all been enriched and elevated by black Americans.
Personally, I am forever in their debt for blues and rock ’n’ roll — although, not so much for hip-hop and rap.
When you consider all the of obstacles that have been placed against them for generations, this segment of American society is clearly extraordinary.
From their ranks have come virtually incomparable excellence, singular virtuosos like Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jordan, Camilla Williams, Muhammad Ali, Barry Sanders, Simone Biles, Misty Copeland — I could fill this page with their names and still not name them all. And this is just in the arts and athletics.
America wouldn’t be nearly as cool without black Americans. That so much potential talent and brilliance is wasted by discriminating against them is stupidly self-destructive.
Yet, in spite of amendments to the Constitution, in spite of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, in spite of Barack Obama twice elected president, in spite of admissions and hiring quotas, in spite of draconian political correctness that censures and punishes for the mere utterance of racial slurs, in spite of Martin Luther King Jr., racism still persists in America, maybe more subtly now than overtly, but enough so that black folks can be murdered by police with impunity.
When skin color is regarded with no more or less importance than eye color in America, the nation will have made appreciable progress toward equality.
— Randy Alcorn is a Santa Barbara political observer. Contact him at randyaalcorn@gmail.com, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.