A few months ago while attending Netroots Nation 2016 in St. Louis, Missouri, I shared an Uber with former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner and Georgia state Senate candidate Tamara Johnson Shealey. Together, we visited the site where Michael Brown died at the hands of police officer Darren Wilson. Standing in the very place where the body of another human being died, a young black man who laid in the sun for north of four hours, had a profound effect on me. I am usually stoic and barely show outward emotion, but this one hit home. The same went for the two women—one of whom cried, visibly overcome with the fact that this was not some isolated incident. These women both have sons, including one who is a police officer.
Since the Michael Brown killing, police officers killed several more innocent black men. To be clear, the taking of innocent lives is not new to communities of color—it simply never got reported before. Cell phones with cameras have made everyone a citizen journalist. These citizen journalists simply brought to the forefront the violence with which some police officers treat people of color. Amateur cell phone videos also showed the frequency with which police officers lied in their official reports.
Retired police detective Marq Claxton appeared on MSNBC with some poignant statements.
"When you think about it," Claxton said. "You have to believe that time and time again, you have black folk—unarmed black folk, many times, sometimes armed black folk possibly—who are committing basically suicide by police, who are engaging in a course of conduct that is so abhorrent and abnormal that they are placing themselves at the mercy of a police force. And that just can't be the case. Instead of us looking and examining the realities in certain communities by certain police officers and police agencies, we choose to be dismissive of concerns of people. And that is where you find that the frustration is beginning to boil over. But you can't dismiss the reality of a history and a legacy of police violence toward black people. There is no way to dismiss that. It is time to now address it affirmatively."
But he was not done there. He expressed frustration that should affect us all. Why must one always preface the subject of cops with some statement of benevolence before identifying the problem, given all the innocent dead black men and people of color killed by police officers?
"First of all, I have a huge problem with some of the genuflection that goes on towards police," Claxton said. "It is time for us to stop this thing about lionizing police. And I am talking as from a professional police officer, retired now for several years. I was a volunteer. I wasn't a victim. I was a volunteer. I knew what my responsibilities were. I knew what the job required. I knew that there would be difficult times. I knew I was faced with extremely dangerous positions. I knew there was a possibility that perhaps I would not make it home to my family at times. But I volunteered for that because I felt that I could perform and do that job in a certain way. And I upheld those professional standards throughout my career. I think it's time for us to stop providing excuses and stop providing the disclaimer even when you criticize the police by saying 90 percent of police do a great job. These things are a given. It is time for us to really address the issues that concern a large segment of our society without having to lionize and bow down before police officers. These are volunteers and not victims, and they should be held to high professional standards. And it is time this country, this government does just that."
Police officers reflect society. They bring their prejudices into their job like anyone else. The difference is that those biases affect their judgment. Unless laws and rules are modified to jail them for instituting their prejudices, nothing will change. Nothing has changed because this is a problem the majority has deemed not their own. It is a national lack of empathy. Some people manage to find excuses when presented with videos showing overreaction at best and assassinations at worst, choosing not to believe their own eyes.
Charlotte Police Chief Kerr Putney made his priorities clear when he said the aim is to protect assets, properties, and buildings. He said nothing about the human problem within his department.
What will it take to correct failed policing in America? The lack of empathy by our society requires subjecting us all to some sort of discomfort. That is the importance of Black Lives Matter and other organizations bringing this issue to the forefront.
While any action taken must be peaceful, it must speak the only language that seems to effect change in this country: There has to be economic pain inflicted on those who hold the power to institute change.