No doubt images from Bloody Sunday are as indelibly seared in America’s national consciousness as those from the JFK assassination. And, in each case, a picture is truly worth a thousand words.
In fact, adding yet more words seems superfluous, if not presumptuous. Therefore, I shall suffice to reprise excerpts from a few commentaries.
The first is from “Killing of Michael Brown: as much about Resisting Arrest as Police Brutality,” August 12, 2014. Especially because many consider this killing as much a tipping point for the new civil rights movement as Bloody Sunday was for the original.
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Not every fatal shooting by the police of an unarmed (Black) man is a case of police brutality. We’ve all seen far too many incidents of people resisting arrest – even wresting away a policeman’s gun and killing him…
Indeed, you’d be hard-pressed to cite a case that resulted in fatality, where the victim followed the few general rules we should all follow when dealing with the police. Those rules, which form the acronym ‘Dodge’ (as in bullets), are:
Do not run;- Follow instructions calmly (i.e., no sudden moves that might spook a nervous or trigger-happy policeman);
- Wait for the police to explain why you’re being stopped before politely posing any objections, concerns, or questions you may have;
- If instructed to turn around to be frisked or handcuffed, comply without uttering a word; and
- Save any disagreements or arguments you may have for the courtroom or your civilian complaints review board, which is the only time and place to resist arrest…
No case of police brutality justifies looting and vandalism. Period. The cause for anger and frustration among Blacks today pales in comparison to that which Blacks endured during the Civil Rights Movement. Yet the only barbarism on display during protests back then came not from Black marchers looting and vandalizing stores, when they weren’t taunting the police, but from white cops willfully attacking them as they marched peacefully and non-violently.
Is there any wonder that people (Black and white) have as much contempt for these marauding Black protesters today as they had for those mauling white cops back then? …
There would be fewer of these fatal encounters between Black men and white cops if more (unemployed) Black men became cops to police their own communities. I mean, am I the only one who was struck by the contrast between the Black men looting and the predominantly white cops trying to restore law and order in this predominantly Black community…?
In fact, this suburb of St. Louis, Ferguson, is almost 70 percent Black, yet it’s being served by a police force that’s over 95 percent white. Perhaps, instead of leading St. Louis blacks in hackneyed chants of ‘No justice, no peace,’ Reverend Al Sharpton should turn and shout at them ‘Stop looting! Start policing!’
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The next is from “Why Chastise the Times for Describing Michael Brown as ‘No Angel?!” August 26, 2014. Especially because, with all due respect to protest slogans like “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot,” and “Black Lives Matter,” nothing will do more to save Black lives than drumming the following message into the heads of Black kids. But also because of the killing in Wisconsin, just last night, of yet another unarmed Black kid, Tony Robinson (19), by yet another White cop … after this kid, like Michael, reportedly not only resisted arrest but attempted to wrest the cop’s gun away:
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It cannot be overstated that, instead of doublespeak that would make him a saint, those eulogizing Michael would honor his death far more by admonishing young Black men against the deadly hazards of resisting arrest and defying authority … merely as a misguided badge of honor or rite of passage.
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I hasten to add the following, which duly recognizes cases where, even when Black men do the right thing, white cops still shoot them.
Mind you, I readily concede that, in one percent of these encounters, obeying commands will not guarantee survival. The viral video of the killing of Philando Castile demonstrated this … in black and white. But this is the exception, not the rule. Which is why it’s plainly foolhardy to resist arrest because obeying commands only offers a 99 percent chance of survival.
(“Three White Cops Kill Two Black Men…,” The iPINIONS Journal, May 3, 2017)
Finally, here is how I vented an abiding dismay in “Re Stephon Clark and Alton Sterling — Police Killing Blacks (Sometimes) Justified,” March 27, 2018:
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I have nothing but contempt for lawyers and activists who rush in to make dubious martyrs of them. This, instead of admonishing other Black men to do the right things to avoid ending up like them. Nobody wanted Clark dead. But I’m sure none of the (Black) people whose cars he vandalized and burglarized considers him a martyr for any worthy cause.
Not to mention that, for those lawyers and activists, justice is more about getting their cut from civil settlements than getting any cop thrown in jail. And that’s not me just being my cynical self:
Al Sharpton is all about the Benjamins, a daughter of police chokehold victim Eric Garner claims in a bombshell videotape.
(New York Post, February 24, 2015)
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We shall overcome? Yes we can …
Related commentaries:
Black Lives Matter et al…, John Lewis… Three white cops kill black man…
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