Racists circle their wagons

As the furor escalates around the shooting and killing of unarmed black males around the country, white people have decided to circle their wagons and focus us on the “real” problem. What do you mean, the “real” problem?

Well, you and I may not realize that the “real” problem for the black communities is that 93% of killings of black people are committed by other black people. Who better to promote this notion than America’s mayor, Rudy Giuliani, while a guest on Meet the Press on Nov. 23. Responding to the issue of white police killing black men, Giulliani stated, “White officers wouldn’t be there if you weren’t killing each other.”

America’s mayor then repeated this statistic on Fox News, America’s misinformation center. Of course, he got a wonderful reception at Fox.

Now, what has that got to do with the arbitrary killing of black men by police.? I really don’t know. Does that mean that the remaining 7% are perpetrated by the police? Please help me understand how that explains the rash of killings of black men and boys by white cops. This particular issue has become a national epidemic only because of Internet social media revealing what has been evident for decades.

No one seems concerned that 84% of white people who are murdered, are murdered by other white people. Should we then organize commissions to study and investigate crime in white communities and judge white communities in the same manner as we continue to do with black communities?

The reality is that people, more often than not, commit these crimes in their own neighborhoods. These acts of murder are most often committed by people who know one another either in an act of passion or in the execution of criminal behavior.

What these “excusers” are not considering is that the police are agents of the state who are paid to protect us, the people. They are given badges, guns, Tasers, clubs, tear gas, and more recently armored military vehicles. One might say that under those conditions, it is incumbent on the police to behave themselves and use discretion when resorting to force. It might be a serious problem when large segments of our society fear the police more than the criminal element in their neighborhoods.

Nearly two times a week in the United States, a white police officer killed a black person during a seven-year period ending in 2012, according to the most recent accounts of homicide reported to the FBI.

The reports show that 18% of the blacks killed during those seven years were under age 21, compared to 8.7% of whites.

About 750 agencies contribute to the database, a fraction of the 17,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States. Therefore, over 16,000 law enforcement agency’s data is not included in the above statistics. How interesting.

The following is from an article by Jeff Kelly Lowenstein in 2007:

This summer (2007) ColorLines and The Chicago Reporter conducted a joint national investigation of fatal police shootings in America’s 10 largest cities, each of which had more than 1 million people in 2000. Several striking findings emerged.

To begin, African Americans were overrepresented among police shooting victims in every city the publications investigated.

The contrast was particularly noticeable in New York, San Diego and Las Vegas. In each of these cities, the percentage of black people killed by police was at least double that of their share of the city’s total population.

It is evident that the killing of black males by police is not a new phenomenon.

Let’s look at some of the anecdotal records:

• 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who was fatally shot while handcuffed on Jan. 1, 2009, by Bay Area Rapid Transit Police.

• 26-year-old Duane Brown, was shot on Jan.12, 2012 in East, N.Y., He had called police for assistance in stopping a robbery.

• 17-year-old Atwain White, was shot on Jan. 29, 2012 in Bushwick, N.Y., An off duty detective stated that White attempted to mug him near a subway station around midnight. The detective shot him in the chest. Atwain had a cane in his possession.

• 18 year old Remarley Graham, was shot and killed on Feb. 3, 2012 in the Bronx, N.Y., after the Narcotics Task Force chased him into his home. He was not armed.

• Timothy Russell and his friend, Malissa Williams, were killed in Cleveland after police fired 137 rounds into their car after a chase in December 2012. They had been driving above the speed limit when noticed by the police. Police claim they saw a possible weapon, but no weapons or shell casings were found.

• Ervin Jefferson, 18 years old, was shot and killed by 2 security guards outside his home trying to protect his sister from several people threatening her.

• And then, we have John Crawford from Ohio. Mr. Crawford was shopping in Walmart and was seen by April and Ronald Ritchie, a married white couple, walking through the store holding a toy air rifle. They called the police claiming Crawford was acting like he might do something wrong. When the police arrived, they found Mr. Crawford standing and leaning against the butt of the rifle talking on his cell phone with his back to them. They ordered him to drop the gun and as he was responding by stating, “It’s not real,” they shot him 10 times, killing him.

• On November 25, 2006, three men were shot at a total of fifty times by a team of both plainclothes and undercover NYPD officers, killing Sean Bell on the morning before his wedding, and severely wounding two of his friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman. This shooting took place in Queens, N.Y. Sean was black and unarmed.

• The Shooting of Amadou Diallo occurred on February 4, 1999, when Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old immigrant from Guinea, was shot and killed by four New York City Police Department plain-clothed officers who fired a combined total of 41 shots, 19 of which struck Diallo, outside his apartment at 1157 Wheeler Avenue in the Soundview section of The Bronx. He was unarmed and black.

• The latest killings of unarmed black men by police include Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Rumain Brisbon (not widely known, but dead just the same) who was shot and killed in Phoenix, Arizona. He was 34 years old, unarmed and was the father of 4 children. He was in his car, a Cadillac SUV, when the police approached. According to his friend, he was delivering dinner to his children. Brisbon exited his car to deliver the food when the police approached. His friend, Brandon Dickerson, claimed that he had no idea the police were there until he heard the fatal shots.

  According to police, they were there because of a reported burglary. They thought Brisbon was dealing drugs from his car and had a gun in his pocket. But it turned out to be a container of pain pills. They did find marijuana in his car, but it was medical marijuana.

This is merely a sampling of what occurs in this country from coast to coast. I could add many other examples of excessive force by police, but I think the case has been made. Yet, America’s mayor is focused on black on black crime in order to justify police presence and their brutality of African-Americans.

We have to remember that the police, historically, have been the storm troops of the powers that be. We are taught that they are there to protect us but, the reality is they are there to protect the rich and powerful from us. It’s time to surrender our illusions and delusions about the police and the “goodness” of this country.

We cannot continue to apply Band-Aids to a corrupt and violent system. Body cameras and sensitivity training will not make our society less racist and reduce the war being perpetrated on the poor and working class. The goals of the lords of the manor include keeping working people divided and competing with one another. So far, they’ve been very successful.

Dave Alpert has masters degrees in social work, educational administration, and psychology. He spent his career working with troubled inner city adolescents.