Volume II No. 17
 12-05-03
 Good Policing Begins At Home
 author: Vance Cureton
 © Copyright 2003
 

 "D'ey really having a hard time of it in Cincinnati these days."

 "Who?"

 "Why the Cincinnati Police Department, of course. The neighborhood 
 black boys d'ere won't behave themselves, so they just keep gittin' dead."

 "Who is killing d'em black boys in Cincinnati?"

 "The Cincinnati Police Department. Like I told you..."

 "Oh, ok..."

 "If 'dis keeps going on people 'cross the nation are going to start
 takin' notice."

 "Notice of what?"

 "Are you stupid. Pay 'tention to what I'm sayin'. I'm trying tell you 
 something...."

 "Go ahead then...why you fussin.'"

 "Well then. When little black boys run away from the police...they's
 end up in a dark alley somewhere's with a bullet in the back. -- On 
 d'other hand when d'em little white boys d'un run away from the same
 policemens...they don't die. -- D'em white boys just get 'rested instead."

 "How come is that?"

 "Well maybe d'em police folks just don't like be seein' black boys 
 wandering 'round d'em streets in Cincinnati."

 "I's wonder 'bout that at 'times my'self."

~~~~~

 The fictional conversation above never actually took place. But in 
 Cincinnati and the surrounding counties, many similar to it probably 
 have. 

 What a mess they have in that city with a mostly white police 
 department, and a black population that doesn't trust the men 
 in uniform who are supposed to be providing neighborhood 
 security.

 And what makes the situation so terribly unstable is that in the 
 last ten years, 20 black men have died at the hands of the Cincinnati
 police department in questionable circumstances. -- Questionable
 in the sense, as to whether lethal force was necessary.

 You know the kind of "situations" when white police officers 
 encounter intimidating black offenders. The officers observe a 
 shoot first, and ask questions later protocol. After the death of
 a usually unarmed, misidentified, or hopelessly cornered suspect,
 the police department investigates itself. Or either a powerless 
 civilian review board does the investigating instead.

 And then, guess what!

 Nothing happens!

 Not good. Not good.

 The latest black man to get himself killed was a severely obese
 forty-one year old, named Nathaniel Jones. He was but 5'6' tall 
 and weighed 350 pounds.

 Now that was a heavvvvvvyyyy man.

 This time maybe the Cincinnati PD lucked out. Because it is very
 obvious on the police video that's been repeatedly broadcast 
 on nightly newscasts this last week, that Nathaniel Jones was 
 acting real crazy, and was most likely under the influence of 
 some pretty nasty chemicals. As he wasn't being personable 
 at all to the police officers who were trying to place him under 
 arrest.

 This was from the start, a different kind of encounter than the
 one Rodney King endured. This time the police didn't surround
 Jones laughing and joking amongst themselves as if the beating
 of a black man was some kind of a joke.

 The police officers weren't trying to bash in Jones' skull, or
 bust his head up. They were just trying to get him to place his 
 hands behind his back. -- A reasonable request. And apparently 
 were quite lawful in continuing to bash, clobber, and jab at 
 the enraged Nathaniel Jones, until he complied.

 Sounds painful nontheless. And the blows on the video that
 Jones endured certainly looked painful.

 But not illegal.

 The unfortunate thing is that Jones did comply. Only problem 
 was.... He died later in the hospital. The coroner's report blames 
 the beating he took from those police officers as the official
 cause of death.

 Tough luck. And our prayers go to Mr. Jones' family.

 We really must do something to help unfortunate bad luck
 police departments like the one up in Cincinnati. Something
 to stop them from killing black folk when they should only 
 be arresting 'em.

 Where were the tasers, stun guns, rubber bullets, foam spray,
 ANYTHING that could have incapacitated the chemically
 intoxicated Jones? Incapacitated him so that he could have lived 
 a long life, and enjoyed his old age. Instead of dying at the hands 
 of those bad karma police officers who were only trying to arrest 
 him.

 Here's an idea. Remember that bulbous appropriations bill that
 both houses of Congress recently passed to help Cowboy Bush 
 out of "his" mess over in Iraq?

 Well, instead of sending 87 BILLION dollars to police a nation 
 where the people don't like us. Don't respect us. And don't 
 appreciate anything we've done for them. And would just prefer 
 to see us gone at the very first opportunity. So that they can 
 return to their ugly, miserable, prewar lifestyle. 

 Sheesh!

 Why not keep some of that 87 BILLION dollars at home. Then
 maybe dollar conscious police departments like the one in 
 Cincinnati could receive a larger department budget so that 
 they would have the tools at hand that would prevent them 
 from accidentally killing people whenever difficult "situations" 
 arise. After all, tasers and stun guns aren't that expensive. In 
 fact, such items are readily available at spy shops that sell to 
 the general public.

 Rubber bullets don't sound terribly expensive, either.

 And as for foam spray. Well chemically, the kind of foam 
 that can be used to disable suspects is not so very different 
 from your average concentrated soap and water mixture.
 { try to fight police officers when you're covered in some
 slimy, slick, -- and sometimes sticky -- mixture }

 87 BILLION dollars can buy a lot of buckets of soap and 
 water!

 Too bad for the late Mr. Jones. His family described him as 
 a loveable guy. A man full of the joy of life, and eager to help 
 a friend. And we're sure he was when he could stay away from 
 the illegal drugs. -- You know, cocaine, marijuana, PCP, that 
 kind of thing.

 And surely Mr. Jones would  have preferred a rubber bullet 
 to the butt. Instead of losing his life over a "situation." 

 And the Cincinnati police department would surely be most
 appreciative at not having to explain away the death of yet 
 another black man in the kind of  incident that never, ever, 
 seems to end up with the loss of a white life.

 87 BILLION dollars.

 Who can even imagine that kind of money? -- Wonder how
 many suitcases it would take to hold 87 BILLION dollars?

 Probably a lot.

 Do you hear us George Bush?

 Some of those precious greenbacks need to stay in the U.S.

 After all, good policing begins at home.
 

 ReadingPost.Com
 © Copyright 2003

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