Whites in denial over local police brutality By: Pauline Thomas Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 6/25/2003 Judges need to face realities of the Black Experience As you know from my last column, I sent a survey to all of the Hennepin County judges, and I already have some input that non-minority county judges do not believe that they have enough knowledge to understand the Black Experience — what it is like to grow up Black in Minneapolis. What a great place to start the exchange of information. I have been reading a very interesting report from the Minnesota Supreme Court Task Force on Racial Bias in the Judicial System, published in 1993. It says, “Whites, especially in more affluent communities, take for granted a certain level of benign service and protection. People of color, however, are confronted by a model of policing that police trainers and administrators themselves call ‘paramilitary’ in nature.” This is crucial to understanding the Black Experience in the courts. White suburbanites may see a squad car drive by now and then and feel safer because they are patrolling the streets. For most Blacks, particularly those of us who live in less affluent areas, the sight of a squad car causes instant alarm. Are we going to be hassled? Falsely arrested? Beaten? When the police interact with Blacks, they are verbally abusive, often using racist language. They are on a “power trip” to teach us who is boss, just like the plantation owners did many years ago. They often beat Blacks, even if the stop is only for a speeding ticket. Black men get the worst of it. Do you know that Black mothers have to teach their Black sons how to avoid being killed by police? Do you think White suburban mothers have to do that? Police pick up Black youths and take them under the bridges in Minneapolis to beat them. Now, can you think of any legitimate reason why police would ever need to do that? Black women are beaten, too. And we suffer daily indignities from police. They tell us to shut up when we ask a question, or threaten to arrest us. If we are so naive as to tell them we have rights, we are punished by beatings or arrests. We don’t have any First Amendment rights, not where police are concerned. Part of the Black Experience, part of what we know and live with every day, is that police regularly beat members of our community. Every day we fear getting in a car and driving. We fear getting pulled over for an expired license plate — and then getting beaten. We fear getting pulled over for a headlight being out — and then getting beaten. We fear getting pulled over for no reason at all and getting beaten. But we have to live our lives, so we have to drive. Now, this is something that happens in all major cities. If you think it isn’t happening in Minneapolis, you are naive. But there is a kind of “denial” in the dominant culture that Minneapolis has a worse problem than some of the biggest American cities. They just can’t believe these things are happening on a regular basis because it is so far outside their own experience. http://www.spokesman-recorder.com Shawn Lewis, Field Neighborhood -- __________________________________________________________ Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
