In 1903 W.E.B. DuBois wrote in The Souls of Black Folk, “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line, –the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea.” In 1968 the Kerner Commission determined "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—-separate and unequal."
In 21st Century so-called “post racial” America the problem is still race. African American’s like Derryl Jenkins are still being brutalized by the police in north Minneapolis, MN; shot in the back of the head while handcuffed like Oscar Grant in Oakland, CA; and mistaken for perpetrators and killed by fellow officers like Officer Omar Edwards in New York City.
Many questions still need to be answered about these latest tragedies. What leads these officers to perceive people of color as a threat? Why do the police feel the need to use excessive force first and ask questions later? This takes me to the continual discussion about racism (white supremacy), its perceptions, and emotional responses that people of color deal with all too often.
Dr. Francis Cress Welsing defines racism (white supremacy) as the local and global power system structured and maintained by persons who classify themselves as white, whether consciously or subconsciously determined. This system consists of patterns of perception, logic, symbol formation, thought, speech, action and emotional response, as conducted simultaneously in all areas of activity (economics, education, law, etc). Even though some of the officers involved in these types of incidents are African-American, the analysis still applies.
There is a recent history or context in which these most recent tragic events must be examined. On February 4, 1999, an unarmed Amadou Diallo was shot and killed by four plainclothes New York Police Department officers. On January 28, 2000, a 29-year-old, off-duty, plainclothes African-American police officer named Cornel Young Jr. was shot to death in Providence, RI while coming to the aid of fellow officers. The officers mistook officer Young as a perpetrator and shot him in the chest, head and stomach. On the evening of January 11, 2001, in Oakland, CA Detective William Wilkins Jr., a veteran narcotics undercover officer, was shot and killed by two rookie officers in another tragic case of mistaken identity.
These are just a few examples of police abuse and mistaken identity. Rodney King, Sean Bell, Patrick Dorismond, the record is replete with example after example.
It’s not that the officers intentionally shot Officer Edwards or the others, or beat Derryl Jenkins because of the color of their skin. The recent history and context in which these events occurred force one to ask – if the perceived perpetrators had been white, would the police officers who shot them have felt so threatened? Would the police officers’ patterns of perception, logic and symbol formation have been different reacting to a White suspect or threat vs. an African American/Hispanic suspect or threat? Would this difference in perception have resulted in a different emotional response? Would that different emotional response have given those individuals one more moment, one more instant of consideration, bringing about a different result – perhaps resulting in their lives being spared?
Why is it that the victims of these mistaken-identity shootings and excessive uses of force are disproportionately people of color? Why, as Mayor Bloomberg of New York stated in the Sean Bell case, "officers had reason to believe an altercation involving a firearm was about to happen" and the suspects are non-White, do the officers kill first and ask questions later? When the police arrive on the scene and find a white plainclothes officer effecting an arrest, do they kill first and ask questions later? When white plainclothes officers arrive on the scene as back-up, do other officers shoot first and ask questions later?
Again, in most instances intent in not in question; it’s patterns of perception, logic, symbol formation, thought, action, and emotional response, resulting in death. How many times have police officers mistaken the identity of white individuals, resulting in their deaths? It’s disproportionately African American cops and African-Americans armed with wallets that are getting killed and brutalized.
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