All we're doing now is counting the bodies.
This week there was another one. Another black teenager, unarmed, innocent, shot to death by mistake/malice/ignorance/deception. Whatever the reason, another boy is dead. And the dark wheel of death spins on.
At a press conference Wednesday in Pasadena, California, police announced that they have arrested a man who called 911 earlier this week, claiming he’d been robbed a gunpoint by two black teens. Police responded to the incident with deadly force, killing 19-year-old college student Kendrec McDade after he fled from officers.
The 911 caller, Oscar Carillo, allegedly admitted under questioning that he lied about the firearm to trigger a faster police response.
Police claim that once they cornered McDade, he reached for his waistband. Believing he was armed, two officers opened fire and hit the teen multiple times. He died a short time later at Huntington Hospital.
Speaking to reporters, Pasadena Police Chief Philip Sanchez insisted that the 911 call had “set the minds of the officers,” who were then looking for someone matching McDade’s description
Someone put in a bogus 9-11 call about a "suspicious black teen with a gun" and as a result a "suspicious black teen" ends up dead. He didn't have a gun. He didn't have any stolen items on him. He had
nothing to do with it.
The Evil Wheel just keeps turning.
Just what were the Police to do, eh? Someone called for help. Someone ran. Someone reached for their pocket - BANG!
It's not hard to imagine why Kedric McDade would have run. It's not hard to understand the fear that might have gripped him, not hard to him to panic and overreact in the wake of the death's not just of Trayvon Martin, but also this, the shooting of Oscar Grant.
But also this...
If you've ever spent any time in L.A. and watched local news (I refuse to), this kind of live police chase coverage - commercial less, for hours if necessary until the driver/runner is caught or killed - happens all the time.
They say the police fired because 22 year old Shonchy Thaopraseuth was armed. Uh huh. Ok. What about this kid?
Or here in 2003 where a 39-year-old unarmed man is shot twice in the head by officers during a traffic stop.
We've seen this story so damn many times before. We saw it with the shooting of Patrick Dorismond, with the shooting of Amadour Diallo while he was reaching for his wallet, the torture and sexual assault by Police on Abner Luoima. The shooting of Eula Love. The strangling via choke-hold of Ron Settles. Many point to the shooting of Leonard Deadwyler by police in 1966 while he was taking his pregnant wife to the Hospital as being the first point where this War truly began. Others might say that the near Century of Lynchings which took place before the Civil Rights Act should count too. Maybe the Lynchings never stopped, they just became "Officer Involved Shootings/Chokings" instead. The circumstances of these cases are all unique. The locations are unique. The behavior of the "suspect" is unique. The results, with the exception of Diallo who survived, are the same.
Are these isolated cases? Well, here's a list, just from Los Angeles, of the Officer involved shootings from 2007-2009. Those under 21 are in bold.
Homicides by cop in Los Angeles – January 2007 through December 2009
NAME AGE DATE NEIGHBORHOOD CAUSE
Emmanuel Alvarez 27 12/17/09 West Covina Gunshot
Daniel Carlon 23 11/12/09 Mid-Wilshire Gunshot
Julian Nolasco 25 11/4/09 Florence Gunshot
John Fulchiero 50 10/17/09 Palms Gunshot
Efrain Lara Gutierrez 31 10/2/09 Citrus Gunshot
Noe Escobar Reyes 41 9/22/09 Pomona Gunshot
Leopoldo Huizar 24 9/20/09 Norwalk Gunshot
Felipe Valdovinos 27 9/20/09 Compton Gunshot
Darrick Collins 36 9/14/09 Athens Gunshot
Robert Brown 84 9/6/09 Green Meadows Gunshot
Wilson Victorian 59 9/4/09 Carson Gunshot
Oran Douglas III 37 8/9/09 Vermont-Slauson Gunshot
Ezequiel Jacobo 33 8/8/09 Carson Gunshot
Guillermo Saucedo 23 8/7/09 Lynwood Gunshot
Jessie Long 19 8/6/09 South Park Gunshot
Howard Gross 57 8/1/09 Rosemead Gunshot
Jose Jimenez 16 7/24/09 El Monte Gunshot
Woodrow Player III 22 7/10/09 Westmont Gunshot
Pedro Fernandez 24 7/6/09 Sawtelle Gunshot
Richard Cabrales 20 6/5/09 East Los Angeles Gunshot
Mitchell Marien 23 5/28/09 Bellflower Gunshot
Wilford Hunton 18 5/28/09 Long Beach Gunshot
Socrates Siqueiros 21 5/24/09 Long Beach Gunshot
Marcus Smith 31 5/17/09 Inglewood Gunshot
James Tuggle 29 5/3/09 Long Beach Gunshot
Raul Castillo Razo 15 4/27/09 Norwalk Gunshot
Gene Valdez 18 4/26/09 Compton Gunshot
Erik Garcia 18 4/16/09 Florence-Firestone Gunshot
Ernesto Castaneda 22 3/15/09 Rosemead Gunshot
Sammie Richardson 59 3/12/09 Downtown Gunshot
Leroy Barnes Jr. 38 2/19/09 Pasadena Gunshot
Steven Hernandez 23 2/7/09 Huntington Park Gunshot
Saul Soriano 41 1/1/09 Arleta Gunshot
Salvador Zepeda Alarcon 18 11/30/08 East Los Angeles Gunshot
Omar Garcia 24 11/17/08 West Covina Gunshot
Alejandro Erazo 25 11/8/08 Venice Gunshot
Abraham Sanchez 33 10/18/08 Lynwood Gunshot
Joshua Stephenson 25 10/1/08 Rosemead Gunshot
Eddie Franco 56 8/31/08 Inglewood Gunshot
Gerardo Arvallo 32 8/10/08 Lynwood Gunshot
Eric Lewis Liebowitz 35 8/5/08 Encino Gunshot
Jesse Moore 56 7/31/08 Downtown Gunshot
Christian Portillo 34 7/24/08 Lennox Gunshot
Kevin Wicks 38 7/21/08 Inglewood Gunshot
Ruben Walton Ortega 23 7/1/08 Inglewood Gunshot
Bryan Moore 26 6/26/08 West Compton Gunshot
Ilda Grasso 52 6/10/08 Alhambra Gunshot
Frank Filomeno Alejo 28 5/20/08 Boyle Heights Gunshot
Carlos Rivera 17 5/17/08 South Park Gunshot
Roketi Mosesue 46 5/17/08 Long Beach Gunshot
Glenn Rose 25 5/13/08 Covina Gunshot
Samuel Om 21 5/13/08 Westlake Gunshot
Michael Byoune 19 5/11/08 Inglewood Gunshot
Marco Gomez 31 5/2/08 Central-Alameda Gunshot
Richard Dale 54 4/19/08 Torrance Gunshot
Fernando Cortez 21 4/12/08 Watts Gunshot
Jonathan Taylor 24 4/11/08 El Segundo Gunshot
Sergio Sedillo 26 4/2/08 Wilmington Gunshot
Mohammad Usman Chaudhry 21 3/25/08 Hollywood Gunshot
Rodney Sandberg 24 3/15/08 Torrance Gunshot
Marco Ernesto Avila 33 3/13/08 Wilmington Gunshot
Sergio Rojas 21 3/12/08 East Los Angeles Gunshot
Lawrence Smith 24 3/4/08 North Hollywood Gunshot
Byron San Jose 25 2/27/08 Van Nuys Gunshot
Daniel Leon 22 2/21/08 Glassell Park Gunshot
Carlos Castillo 22 2/16/08 Westlake Gunshot
Edwin Rivera 20 2/7/08 Winnetka Gunshot
Ronald Boone 20 1/29/08 Hyde Park Gunshot
Glen Boldware 47 1/4/08 Sawtelle Gunshot
Kami Stevens 40 12/26/07 Long Beach Gunshot
Luis Salinas 23 11/21/07 North Hills Gunshot
Jovon Talley-Ford 27 10/4/07 Inglewood Gunshot
Elaine Coleman 21 9/9/07 Hawthorne Gunshot
Alonso Cardenas 41 9/2/07 Pasadena Gunshot
Brent McKinney 45 8/14/07 Boyle Heights Gunshot
Peter Rodriguez 23 8/14/07 South El Monte Gunshot
John Rico 30 8/9/07 El Sereno Gunshot
Anita Delgado 39 8/9/07 Sylmar Gunshot
Arturo Guzman 29 8/4/07 Unincorporated Santa Monica Mountains Gunshot
Mark Gregg 25 7/24/07 Hollywood Gunshot
Deshawn Adams 24 7/22/07 Gardena Gunshot
Victor Garcia 14 7/19/07 Mid-City Gunshot
Charlie Wilson 20 7/14/07 Torrance Gunshot
Shaun McCoy 22 7/14/07 Torrance Gunshot
William Vasquez 43 7/2/07 Torrance Gunshot
Aaron Borden 26 6/26/07 Vermont Square Gunshot
Detrick Ford 20 6/13/07 Broadway-Manchester Gunshot
Jamar Witherspoon 18 5/28/07 Broadway-Manchester Gunshot
Ronald Ball 60 5/19/07 Historic South-Central Gunshot
Carlos Ornelas 42 5/16/07 Lake View Terrace Gunshot
Ventura Saenz 19 5/12/07 Compton Gunshot
Juan Velasco 30 5/11/07 East Los Angeles Gunshot
Andrew MacEarchern 52 5/10/07 El Segundo Gunshot
Richard Tyson 20 5/9/07 Inglewood Gunshot
Pedro Renteria 21 4/26/07 Harbor Gateway Gunshot
Javier Chavez 30 4/14/07 Jefferson Park Gunshot
John Goudeaux 45 4/9/07 Lake Balboa Gunshot
Edmund Wong 40 4/6/07 Downey Gunshot
Jaime Flores 29 4/2/07 Lennox Gunshot
David Weisman 34 3/13/07 Toluca Lake Gunshot
Antonio Bland 25 3/4/07 Exposition Park Gunshot
Marcellus Wright 25 2/24/07 Historic South-Central Gunshot
Francisco Mondragon-Saucedo
24 2/11/07 Highland Park Gunshot
Jose Millan 27 2/11/07 El Monte Gunshot
Jose Carlos Perez-Hernandez 36 2/8/07 South Gate Gunshot
Philip Miller 43 1/10/07 Green Meadows Gunshot
Are all of these legitimate and fair uses of the officer safety protocol, or are any of them truly cases of
extrajudicial murder?
Who can tell? It's so many cases, in such a short time frame in a restricted area, that it's practically Mind Numbing. It's hard to wrap your mind around this Slow Motion Holocaust taking place right before our eyes.
There are people who fervently argue that since the Civil Rights Act there is no such thing as "White Privilege" in this country, yet if the idea of you or your child being included on a list like the above is foreign to you, then that's your privilege. If you've never had to consider explaining to your child how to get arrested without getting killed - then that's your privilege. Some of us aren't so lucky.
Why is it that black (and latino) men, young and old, are deemed "suspect" until proven innocent?
Maybe it has something to do with this data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics long standing report on the Lifetime Likelihood of Going to Prison by Gender and Race.
Using standard demographic lifetable techniques, and assuming that recent incarceration rates remain unchanged, an estimated 1 of every 20 persons (5%) can be expected to serve time in prison during their lifetime. The lifetime chances of a person going to prison are higher for men (9%) than for women (1%) and higher for blacks (16%) and Hispanics (9%) than for whites (2%). At current levels of incarceration newborn black males in this country have a greater than a 1 in 4 chance of going to prison during their lifetimes, while Hispanic males have a 1 in 6 chance, and white males have a 1 in 23 chance of serving time.
...
Based on current rates of first incarceration, an estimated 32% of black males will enter State or Federal prison during their lifetime, compared to 17% of Hispanic males and 5.9% of white males.
These stats are baked into the cake of how our law enforcement functions. According to this if you're black then your
chances of being a "criminal" are about 5 1/2 times higher than if you are white. (They're also about 6 Times Higher if you're a Man rather than a Woman, yet you rarely see people arguing that Men are dysfunctional because they don't keep their incarceration rate down to that of women)
So it's only "natural" that police are willing to stop and detain a black or latino suspect far more times than a white suspect. And when those stops happen, tragedy may ensure for more often for non-whites. It's doesn't have to be "racism" per se. It's just numbers. It's just data. It's just profiling. It's just pre-judging individual people on a generality that may in fact not apply to them specifically. However, if you simply look at it another way, if 32% of Black Men are likely to be imprisoned in their lifetime - then 68% of them Aren't!.
In my world "68%" comprises and overwhelming majority, but apparently that's not the world some other people live in. To them that's a "scary" world. A dangerous world.
The exact same numbers that people use argue we should "fear the negro" also indicate that more than 2 times out of three, the "Scary" Black Male you may encounter is Perfectly Law Abiding and Innocent. Simple logic says that the majority of honest, innocent men shouldn't have to pay the price for the minority of the guilty, anymore than the majority of honest diligent police shouldn't have to pay the price of mistrust for those who've failed in their duty to protect, and to serve all the people.
Yet, time and time again - that's not how people look at it. They repeatedly buy into the "Suspicious Dark Man" meme, even if only subconsciously, sometimes even whey they're Black too. It's a virus that's even stronger than race.
All of this may be why case studies of Police Profiling of motorists, there have been clear cases where non-whites are stopped and searched for drugs far more frequently but the "Hit Rate" of actually finding drugs is the same or less.
Racial profiling is based on the premise that most drug offenses are committed by minorities. The premise is factually untrue, but it has nonetheless become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because police look for drugs primarily among African Americans and Latinos, they find a disproportionate number of them with contraband. Therefore, more minorities are arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and jailed, thus reinforcing the perception that drug trafficking is primarily a minority activity. This perception creates the profile that results in more stops of minority drivers. At the same time, white drivers receive far less police attention, many of the drug dealers and possessors among them go unapprehended, and the perception that whites commit fewer drug offenses than minorities is perpetuated. And so the cycle continues.
This vicious cycle carries with it profound personal and societal costs. It is both symptomatic and symbolic of larger problems at the intersection of race and the criminal justice system. It results in the persecution of innocent people based on their skin color. It has a corrosive effect on the legitimacy of the entire justice system. It deters people of color from cooperating with the police in criminal investigations. And in the courtroom, it causes jurors of all races and ethnicities to doubt the testimony of police officers when they serve as witnesses, making criminal cases more difficult to win.
Add to this huge disparities in racial sentencing which frequently send non-white offenders to prison for much longer while accused of essentially
the same crime.
Changes in sentencing law and policy, not increases in crime rates, explain most of the six-fold increase in the national prison population. These changes have significantly impacted racial disparities in sentencing, as well as increased the use of “one size fits all" mandatory minimum sentences that allow little consideration for individual characteristics.
So if you go back to the original view, that a higher number of blacks and latinos in prison is actually a
self-fulfilling prophesy that is impacted by great disparities in policing and sentencing - you have to wonder how can this cycle be broken?
Are all these cops "Racist" or are most of them just trapped in a cycle of statistical presumption that feeds back onto itself?
And who does all of this benefit?
Well, I think I know that answer to that last question. It benefits the Security and Prison Industrial Complex. When I worked as a consultant with the State of California on a project to analyze and document their State Licensing System, which I later helped place online - I discovered something interesting. Doctors have to be licensed, Nurses have to be licensed, building contractors have to be licensed, people who operate furniture stores and funeral homes have to be licensed. We had a lot of Doctors and Nurses documented in the Licensing Database.
Yet, the largest portion of that database by far is Bureau of Security and Investigative Services. Every Plant Protection Officer, every Security Specialist, Locksmith, Private Investigator. Alarm Manufacturer, Installer. Repo Man or anyone associated with the Security State was included - and they outnumbered all the other databases combined. And that's not counting the Cops or the Prison Guards.
It's not a coincidence that Darrel Issa, the 2nd richest man in Congress, made his fortune with the Viper Car Alarm company. It's not an accident that the U.S. incarcerates a higher percentage of it's population than any other nation on earth. Those prisoners are the product of the criminal justice system. We do have a manufacturing base in the U.S., we make Convicts!
There are enormous, massive, huge profits to be made in promulgating fear.
Fear of the Scary Hooded Black and Brown man.
If people aren't afraid, there's no demand for the services of alarm companies, securities firms, surveillance camera installers or gun manufacturers.
Ultimately what it's going to take to break this cycle is exactly what Eric Holder pointed out we've been missing for a long time. Courage.
It takes courage to take the risk that your worst fears about someone, might be true, but you're not going to act on them because they just might also be wrong. It takes courage to err on the side of probable innocence rather than guilt. It takes courage to take a chance that person in front of you might be one of the majority of the "good ones", not one of the minority of the "bad".
And this country is a long, long way from making that courageous leap. We're a long way from breaking the yoke of fear, paranoia, hatred and recrimination.
Not all Cops are Bad, Evil, Corrupt, Bigoted or Racist.
Not all Black or Brown people are potential criminals.
But a whole lot of us are afraid.
Maybe someday we'll start to realize that and act on it. Courage is the only way to put a dam on the river of blood flowing down our streets.
Vyan