May 1, 2008
The Color Line and the Sean Bell Verdict
Police in America Can Kill Some People With Impunity
By CYNTHIA McKINNEY
"[T]he legislation and histories of the time, and the language used
in the Declaration of
Independence, show, that neither the class of persons who had been
im****ted as slaves, nor
their descendants, whether they had become free or not, were then
acknowledged as a part of the
people, nor intended to be included in the general words used in that
memorable instrument. . .
.. [A]ltogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social
or political relations;
and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound
to respect."
And with that, the United States Supreme Court ensured that the 20th
Century would be defined,
as W.E.B. DuBois wrote, by the color line. So, while we might be outraged
at the Sean Bell
decision itself, it comes directly from the flawed jurisprudence that gave
us the Dred Scott
Decision in 1857, Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, Bakke in 1978, Croson in
1989, Adarand in 1995,
Gratz in 2003, and all of the Ward Connerly-inspired attacks on the very
same affirmative
action hard won by students facing water hoses and dogs; men and women
facing jail, lynch mobs,
and death.
Interestingly, according to Attorney Roger Wareham of the December 12th
Movement's
International Secretariat, the criminal justice system in this country
"always finds a
rationale for letting off cops who kill black and brown people." Indeed,
police officers seem
to know that they can kill certain people with impunity.
Just in New York City alone, Wareham rattles off the murders that have
defined
police-"communities of color" relations over two generations:
Clifford Glover, 1972
Louis Baez, 1978 shot (22 times)
Randolph Evans, 1979
Eleanor Bumpers, 1985 (a grandmother)
Amadou Diallo, 1999
Patrick Dorismond, 2003
Sean Bell, 2006
Sadly, New York City isn't the only city, with this plague. In 2001, the
Dayton Daily News
re****ted that Cincinnati topped the list of police killings of Blacks,
having had 22 people
shot, 13 fatally. All black men. Three unarmed. Plus two additional deaths
due to police use of
chemical irritants.
The 2001 "Cincinnati Intifada" lasted for three nights after a white
police officer murdered an
unarmed black teenager. Timothy Thomas was the fifteenth black male killed
by Cincinnati police
over a six-year period. I traveled with Ron Daniels and others to
Cincinnati to sup****t the
call by black residents, including Reverend Damon Lynch III and 36 other
ministers, for a
boycott of that city. Still reeling from the effects of the boycott,
Cincinnati made headlines
again in 2003 when the world watched as one black and five white police
officers repeatedly
beat Nathaniel Jones with batons and then left him in the parking lot of a
fast food
restaurant, only to be pronounced dead later at the hospital.
The "Benton Harbor, Michigan Intifada of 2003" lasted two nights after the
murder of an unarmed
black motorcyclist by white police officers. Adding insult to injury, the
residents of
majority-black Benton Harbor are reeling under an attempted takeover of
the last "undeveloped"
beachfront property on Lake Michigan. The residents are under attack by
the Whirlpool
Cor****ation, that wants to develop "Benton Shores" and move all of the
residents completely out
of the town. The pur****ted goal of the development is to turn Benton
Harbor into one of the
"hottest vacation destinations in the country," to include a members-only
indoor water park,
and a Jack Nicklaus golf course. According to Reverend Edward Pinkney, the
valiant leader who
is trying to save Benton Harbor for the people, Harbor Shores will result
in a complete
takeover of Benton Harbor, a city that is 96% Black. Reverend Pinkney has
been in jail since
December 14, 2007 on trumped- up charges including violation of probation,
for writing an
article calling the chief judge racist. Mrs. Pinkney called the Office of
Michigan Congressman
John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee to ask for justice
for the residents of
Benton Harbor and for her husband. Shockingly, Chairman Conyers refused
Mrs. Pinkney's plea to
get involved in this heroic struggle of a 96% Black community in his own
state. When I visited
Benton Harbor, it was clear to me that Reverend Pinkney has the full
sup****t of the area's
residents, black and white, as they struggle to maintain the character of
their community.
Reverend Pinkney is recognized by the people as true hero and occupies a
jail cell because of it.
Finally, however, someone broke the silence and admitted it. Former
Seattle Police Chief Norm
Stamper wrote in his book, "Breaking Rank," that white police officers are
afraid of Black men.
He develops this theory in a chapter of the book entitled, "Why White Cops
Kill Black Men."
Finally: a hint of truth coming from the other side. In a June 16, 2005
interview with the
Looking Glass News, Stamper says that he personally believes "that white
cops are scared of
black men. The bigger or darker the man, the more frightened the white
cop. I can't shake that;
it's a belief I will take to the grave."
So while the cor****ate press would have us believe that re****ting on what
a former Vice
Presidential nominee says about a Presidential candidate is a discussion
of race, the prospects
are that black and brown men and women will continue to be murdered by
police officers who,
fundamentally, seem scared of black people. That fear apparently extends
to the larger
community because juries construct ways to let murderous police officers
escape just punishment.
Roger Wareham, and the December 12th Movement International Secretariat
raise, inside the Human
Rights Council of the United Nations, the details of the type of police
abuse in which a
92-year old grandmother, Kathryn Johnston, is murdered by police in
Atlanta, Georgia and her
family still has not seen justice or been made whole. Or where a young
black male, also in
Atlanta, can be sitting in his mother's car and is murdered because the
police presume that the
car is stolen.
The December 12th Movement has asked for United Nations Rap****teurs to
come to the U.S. on
fact-finding missions so that the U.S. can finally be listed as a major
human rights abuser and
a Rap****teur assigned to this country.
Already, the Special Rap****teur on Racism and Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance is coming to the U.S. from May 18 - June 6 and will be in New
York City on May 21st
and 22nd. The December 12th Movement is scheduled to have a hearing for
him at the Schomberg
Center where the issue of police killings will be raised. The Rap****teur
is also scheduled to
visit DC, Chicago, Omaha, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Miami, and San Juan.
The United Nations Special Rap****teur for Summary and Arbitrary
Executions, Mr. Phillip Alston,
is conducting a Mission to the U.S. in June. The Convention on the
Elimination of Racial
Discrimination is also interested in re****ts of police abuse. If a
consistent and systemic
pattern of abuse exists (which it clearly does in the United States), the
United Nations
General Assembly can pass a resolution which helps creates international
public opinion and
perhaps the political will to stop it.
Certainly, doing the same thing--a cycle of protest without
punishment--will net the same
results. Something different must be done. That's why I authored
legislation to deny federal
funds and the use of federal equipment to any law enforcement unit found
to have violated the
civil rights of the people it is organized to protect and serve. Imagine
if we had the laws on
the books and the apparatus of enforcement. Imagine if juries wouldn't
grant impunity to killer
cops.
Some of you have written to me suggesting that we do something different:
perhaps a full-scale
boycott. Perhaps a full-scale, all-out political response--something many
in this generation
have never done before.
Bobby Kennedy always said, "Some men dream of things that are and say why.
I dream of things
that never were and say why not."
It is not impossible for us to have justice. We don't have to lose any
more people to police
abuse, brutality, or murder. But, in order to change things, we're going
to have to do some
things we've never done before in order to have some things we've never
had before.
Are you willing to entertain that idea? Today? Right now? If we demand
more of our elected
representatives, I'm convinced we will get it. And it should be clear
exactly what is needed if
we don't get what we demand.
Cynthia McKinney is seeking the Green Party's nomination for president.
She can be reached
through her website.
http://www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com/
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