Why We Have Lost Trust in Our Law Enforcement
The no. 1 killer of our black youth is quickly turning from black-on-black crime to the police officers who have vowed to protect and serve. The case of Bronx native 18-year-old Ramarley Graham, gunned down in the bathroom of his home in February by a police officer who “thought” he was carrying a gun, caused a familiar, painful, and unnerving stir within the black community. What has now caused that stir to turn into an outrage is that the officer is only being charged with first and second degree manslaughter, according to NY1.com. To add insult to injury, Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said,
“Several members of the officer’s team had confirmed the presence of a gun and that constituted a grave danger to the officers and the community. We believe that this officer will be exonerated at trial.”
Really?! This officer should be cleared of all charges due to the fact that he thought this young man was carrying a gun? The mere suggestion is a slap in the face to the victim’s family and the justice system as a whole.
The loss in trust with the law enforcement stems more from our discontentment with the fact that many officers are protected by the blue wall of silence or seem only to be put on “modified” duty or get suspended with pay when they kill one of our own. Justice should be dished out the same for everyone, regardless of their career of choice. If wrongful acts by officers that lead to fatalities continue to go unpunished or get just a slap on the wrist, then African Americans will start to fear the cops more than the vigilantes they are supposed to be protecting us from. They should fear the same repercussions any other pedestrian fears if they commit a crime. The lackadaisical attitude of some of the higher ups in law enforcement can cause one to believe they feel they are above the law.
I am in no way saying all police officers are corrupt or out to assassinate the black community, but they need to be held accountable for all of their actions. The fact that they are trying to feed us that it is OK to gun down someone they “think” could be armed is a travesty. What happened to shooting a person in the arm or leg to prevent them from doing harm? Aren’t fatal gun shots supposed to be a last resort?
Graham was found to have had marijuana on him that he was trying to flush down the toilet before he was killed in his home. There was no gun and no reason for his parents to come home to the corpse of their son in the bathroom.
The word exonerated is one that should not be used in this case. Too many officers operate out of fear instead of tactical judgment. Shoot to kill is not supposed to be their first line of defense, but all too often it is, especially with our black males.
The fact that Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said there is no need for the creation of an inspector general to oversee the police department (proposed by council members Jumaane Williams and Brad Lander) is another slap in the face. This proposal came due to the disparity with the “stop and frisk” policy in New York. Due to the amount of bad press the NYPD has been getting lately, I would say a general to oversee the everyday duties of our officers is needed.
Our trust in those who wear those blue uniforms is beginning to fade more and more. Stop trying to get off when you have done an injustice to the people you took an oath to serve. We are not animals who must be taken out back and put down because you have decided our lives need to end for one reason or another.
I have friends who are cops, and they are great at what they do. Unfortunately the same way the entire black race gets a bad rap due to the actions of a few is the same way all officers start to be viewed negatively by the community when their fellow men and women in blue violate the law. If anything, they should be held to a higher standard than everyone else.
I have to agree with some of the comments. As a young Black woman, for the most part I do trust the police. BUT I can see how a Black man may not trust officers because Black men are typically treated a little different than females are.
I don’t trust police generally. They patrol my block looking to fulfill their monthly quotas. My friend parked once in front of my home for 5 minutes while waiting for me to come out. They gave him a ticket for being too far from the curb (he was not, he was parked right outside my driveway). While he was in the car. Throughout the cops’ interrogation, they talked to him in a condescending, superfluous manner. The judge threw the case out because they knew it was ridiculous.
I don’t distrust the police either. Maybe it is because I have never had to deal with the law on a personal level. Like the others have said, I am more likely to be hurt by a Black man/boy than by a police officer.
You’re being dramatic. I was just having a conversation about this yesterday. Yes there are bad cops. We hear about them mostly. It is similar to how there are many African Americans that are productive members of society, but the media only shows the idiots. People simply like bad news. They do’t want to hear about people doing what they are supposed to do.
This f*** the police stuff and stop snitching stuff and fear of the police is stupid. If these police officers weren’t around, black neighborhoods would be war zones. There is a BWE blogger who said that these WHITE police officers are the only thing that stands in the way of mass rape in these neighborhoods. She’s right. The only reason these neighborhoods aren’t war zones is because these thugs that live amongst you are afraid of law enforcement and prison time. It’s not because they’re decent human beings. That’s a very scary situation to be in. People don’t act right because it’s the right thing to do. They do it because they don’t want to go to jail.
It’s like some of you live in an alternate universe where black people live in unity, and all bad things that happen to you are caused by de evil white man. Black people in the past definitely had a reason to hate law enforcement. Now people use the historical distrust of cops and RARE incidents like these as reasons to not work with law enforcement. It’s crazy. You are only helping criminals. They want you to do this stuff. Sometimes I wonder what happened to people’s common sense. I get so tired of black people using a shared skin color as a reason to support a criminal. Some of y’all need to buy a clue. It doesn’t help black people. These criminals come back to our neighborhoods and hurt more BLACK people. White people could care less about these criminals and the crazy black people who fight for them. They just think we’re crazy. You see R. Kelly probably won’t molest any white girls. He isn’t stupid enough to think white people will fail to fight to protect their daughters.
So in summary, cops are like all human beings. Some are good. Some are bad. They shouldn’t be above the law. But they do much more good than bad. You simply don’t hear about the good. Also your claim that cops are moving to become the number one killer of black males is dramatic and misleading. It’s just more black community propaganda that tries to paint all black men as the poor, oppressed black man vs. the evil white man. Just about everyone reading this knows what the number one killer of black boys is, and it ain’t car accidents. Death by white cop isn’t it either. I can’t believe black people actually believe the black community lies.
You’ve lost trust in law enforcement? That’s sad. The black community shows time and time again that it doesn’t care about justice. It only cares about keeping black men from going to jail. When you fight against law enforcement and depend on the BC’s version of justice, you will likely come up short especially when you are a black woman. Where was the justice for R. Kelly’s victim? What about Mike Tyson’s rape victim? Why did the NAACP go to Dunbar village and fight for a bunch of rapists? While I appreciate black organizations’ fight against racism, I don’t appreciate their sweeping black on black crime under the rug.
@my reply
I hope these WHITE police officers are there to stand between decent people and indecent people. Its their job. Its what tgey get paid very well to do. It certainly isnt out of love for black women and children because if push came to shove they wouldnt protect a black women above a white one. Let one of your black children go missing. You better hope there arent any white kids.missing at the same time. White people make up 80% of tge US population. They will comprose the majority of police officers.
@GeorgieEndz ” Its their job. Its what they get paid very well to do”. No, not really. Your average beat cop doesn’t make sh*t. And that itself should be a crime since they’re the ones in the most danger when on patrol.
a@Curly Sue
In Los Angeles out of high school they make 45,000. Name jobs with just a high schoool diploma that makes that much. They education the more money. The more experience the more money. They also get a lot of benefits that will make their cost of living cheaper.
@GeorgieEndz – Well like any other group of people on this Earth, white Americans care more about each other than outsiders. This is natural. They police themselves for safety and don’t let other people get away with crimes because the criminal looks like them. African Americans strive to be different. African Americans destroy each other and make excuses. They fail to protect their daughters. I mean that R. Kelly incident showed that we would rather stick up for a sick child molester rather than put his disgusting behind where he needs to be: a jail cell. How can people like you complain about white people not caring about black people as much as they care about each other? If black people don’t think their daughters and sons should be protected from sick men, why should white people care?
It is OUR job to protect and police ourselves within the extent of the law. Where are all the good black people condemning the R.Kelly’s and drug dealers? They kept quiet. Yes. These white officers are doing their job, but at least I can count on that. I can’t count on the black community’s version of justice. Like I said, you won’t be supported if the suspect is a black man.
People in LA tend to make a bit more than other places, like NYC, because of cost of living. But take your average small town and your first year cop is making less than 30k.
@my reply
Im not going to get in a match with you about who has it worse. I happen to think the courts are more in favor of women than men. Women get a lesser setence than men. If memory served me correctly R.kelly was arrested tried and found not guilt with a gaggle of black women waiting outside for him so you tell black women to care about eachother first. In domestic situation women have the upper hand.
Unlike you I am not debating the police vs black people. Ive had a lot of experiences with the LAPD and they were professional and transparent albeit a bit lazy. Im a regular paid contributor to their K9 units.
@GeorgieEndz -I was not comparing men and women. I’m saying that the black community is to quick to support black criminals because of the “can’t send another brother to jail” idea. I bring up R. Kelly’s case because sexual abuse of black women is often pushed aside by black people to protect image. These are usually the types of cases where black people decide to support a criminal instead of demanding justice for the victims. The black community is also quick to blame the victim. Look what they said about Mike Tyson’s victim. *She knew what she was doing.* Look at R. Kelly’s victim. *She was up to no good*. Look at Rihanna. *She must have done something to deseve it.* These are usually the cases when black people hold hands to support criminals. There are also other cases such as Michael Vick. The black community thought the dogs’ suffering to not be worth sending Michael Vick to jail. There was a case a couple years back where a judge abused his power to have sex with prisoners for lighter sentences. Black people had his back. To me, this says that the black community thinks that black women, dogs, and prisoners don’t deserve justice especially if it involves punishing a black man. The only time the black community cares about what happens to black women is when the perpetrator is white.
The fact that a gaggle of black women had R.Kelly’s back is precisely my point. Here they are wanting to overlook this child molester’s actions. This isn’t about black women or black men. It’s about black people as a whole trying to cover things up so white people can’t lock another black person up even if he/she deserves it.
I have never seen so much white love/blindness in one post. I can’t believe I took the time to read so much that I did but I stopped when you claimed blacks support pedophia while apparently whites don’t. Foolery!
@MySistersKeeper -Where am I showing my white love/blindness? I am not naive or stupid enough to think that I can depend on all white people to have my back or do the right thing. I stated that I don’t distrust the cops. I also stated that that black people sticking up for R. Kelly was wrong and disgusting. Do you think a bunch of white people would sit around and make excuses if Justin Timberlake had sex with some underage white girl? No. They didn’t make excuses for Jerry Sandusky or Joe Paterno. I never said black people support pedophilia. I said that they try to cover up these things when they happen and blindly support any black person because of black solidarity. I don’t care if it sounds like white love. I’m not going to stick up for criminals just because they’re black. They deserve to go to jail.
I am not saying white people do everything right. I am saying that in every group of people, leaders should do everything in their power to protect weaker people whether that be women, kids, old people, disabled people, or other men. In my opinion, the black community has fought against getting justice for these weaker members several times because they didn’t want to hurt image.
I think there may be some reading comprehension here. The question was if you trust the police more than black criminals. It was whether you trust the police to do their job. For the record I happen to trust them like I would trust any other trained professional. Let the record show regardless of the community the men have a higher rate of crime. Thats changing in the black community though as the women and girls become more violent.
Lastly while black men admire big time drug dealers black women have no problem making themselves romantically available creating yet another lost generation.