Holding police to a higher standard

“I’m tired of having protests to mark the anniversary of more police killings.” (Photo: Dan Drew)

Modern technology has revealed to Americans for the first time the brutal and violent treatment of black citizens by the police. Smartphone and dash cam videos as well as police body cameras provide real time evidence of police encounters that cannot be easily rebutted by official mendacity. Now the whole world is able to see that policemen across the country are quick to kill unarmed African Americans.

There often is a brief protest after each police killing, but there usually are no remedies. Occasionally the events are so outrageous that they attract national attention. Last August, the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. generated countrywide concern. He was shot by a police officer in an encounter over jaywalking. Brown was an 18-year-old unarmed youth.

Even committed law and order advocates thought that execution was an excessive penalty for jaywalking. But recently a police officer in Cincinnati shocked the nation by imposing capital punishment for an even milder offense. Samuel DuBose, an unarmed black man, was gunned down for failing to have the front license plate attached on his car.

As outrageous as these incidents are, they could be ignored if they were anomalies. But according to The Counted, a project launched by The Guardian that tracks people killed by the police in the U.S., 54 unarmed black men have been killed this year as of August 9, 2015.

The outspoken protest of the “Black Lives Matter” campaign can hardly be criticized.

America is a violent place for everyone, and the frequency of police killings of unarmed blacks indicates a lack of value for the lives of African Americans. In fact, the United States has the highest murder rate of any industrialized country. It is almost four times higher than Britain’s, and is almost 12 times higher than Japan’s murder rate.

While most whites are just discovering that unarmed blacks often are the victims of police brutality, blacks have known this from the days of slavery. The disrespect and hostility of whites that foment the police violence have undoubtedly had a psychological effect on African Americans for a considerable period of time. Blacks have been made to understand by the dominant culture that they are inferior and need not be respected.

When the denigration is complete and a young black male is made to feel worthless, it becomes relatively easy for him to shoot another individual who is believed to be of equally little value. Query whether the common use of the n-word by young blacks indicates their acceptance of a demeaned status.

The police have been storm troopers for the oppression of blacks. It is time for society to work aggressively to change the culture of the police all across the country. The emerging bipartisan effort to improve the quality of justice in the nation’s law enforcement and court systems will fail without holding police officers to the highest standards. They are Americans’ first contact with the criminal justice system.

Insulting, hostile and violent police supported by oppressive criminal justice systems have had a devastating impact on urban black communities. It is no wonder that the slogan “Black Lives Matter” has gained such acceptance and support.