Those of us of a certain age remember well the 41 shots cops fired at unarmed Amadou Diallo on the stoop of his building in 1999. They mistook him for a serial rapist; but then tried to cover up their mistake by accusing him variously as a suspected mugger and a drug dealer. None of it was true.
There have been far too many incidents like that since then…
But I hasten to declare that I’ve been in the vanguard of blacks pleading with black men to comply with police commands – no matter how justifiably afraid or aggrieved they might be; or, indeed, how acute their consciousness of guilt.
There is no denying, though, that the Diallo case is a constant reminder that, even when black men do the right thing, cops might still shoot them.
Nevertheless, I stand by the following admonition, which I offered in “Three White Cops Kill Two Black Men…,” May 3, 2017:
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.
This brings me to Jayland Walker.
It’s arguable that he would be alive today if he had simply complied. But his failure to do so pales in comparison with the failure of the cops chasing him to show any regard for their duty to protect and serve, let alone for his life.
In short, they opened fire like it’s 1999…
Mind you, it’s not just that the barrage of bullets betrays a troubling instinct among cops for overkill when it comes to arresting black men – even those complying with their commands (Castille).
It’s that this instinct to kill so often disappears when it comes to arresting white men – even those they know just killed children in a school (Pagourtzis), people praying in a church (Roof), or even fellow cops like them just trying to protect and serve (Storz).
Incidentally, some are making hay of the fact that a black cop has been among those opening fire in some of these notorious cases – as if that alone justifies or excuses them. But that makes no sense to anyone even remotely familiar with the psychological phenomenon of Stockholm Syndrome.
Because one of the truly perverse effects of systemic racism in America is that black cops often assume the attitudes toward black suspects that prevail in the predominantly white culture of policing. And they do so not just to thrive in their careers but to survive on the streets.
That said, don’t get me started on the breaking news reports that prompted this plainly disingenuous apology:
I mean, is there really any wonder black men and cops are like oil and water…?
And God help us when black men start carrying AR-15s like white men…
Related commentaries:
3 white cops, 2 black man… George Floyd… Podcast white cops killing black men…
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