I have seen young Black men immediately spread-eagle against their car after a traffic stop without having to be told. I have heard that in certain neighborhoods when asked to exit their vehicle they know to immediately lay down on the ground. I suppose it is possible that this NE side family, age ranging from 3-67, resisted the police when they entered to give them a loud party fine, and physically assaulted these well-armed, well built officers. I suppose it is possible, and I am sure that at some point in the history of the Western World some such event has actually occurred. It is simply unlikely.
I would like to speak generally of white response to reports like this recent NE Side raid, without referring specifically to list members whose race I do not know, nor care to speculate on. I do know from repeated and frustrating experience that many white people simply never credit a victim's account of police brutality when it contradicts the police account, no matter how unlikely that account seems. The victim is always either lying or deserved it, even when no charges against them are filed or when the often frivolous obstructing the legal process charge is thrown out. Some police in these neighborhoods use racial epithets freely, racially profile, throw drivers licenses and proof of insurance back at drivers when they prove to be legal, and generally express all the contempt they feel for the communities they serve.
I am simply unsure of how to deal with this syndrome. Perhaps a visit to the City Council the evening of Aug. 29 when 20+ members of the community spoke of their experiences of police brutality, would have convinced some, and perhaps it did, but I'm not sure, particularly when words like "frenzy", normally reserved for animals, are thrown around to describe people's behavior in an interaction with police.
There is talk of installing cameras in police cars or even in officers belts. I think that might in fact be useful, but my fear is that as in the Rodney King case white identification with the police runs so deep that when confronted with incontrovertible evidence of police viciousness white response will simply move from denial to justification.
Bill Cooley, CUAPB
E. Hennepin Av.
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