And so it goes. Same as it ever was.
And I'm not simply talking about police officers getting away with killing (mostly) young black men but the incessant nitpicking of each and every case searching and not giving a damn about one dead black body piling up after another dead black body.
Of course, I know that each case is individual and argued on its' own merits but the pattern is clear.
American law enforcement seems to have no problem unleashing deadly force on black children and black people.
Samuel Jones at The Grio reminds us that as recently as 2006, The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a warning that white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan were increasingly seeking to "infiltrate" law enforcement.
The document that Jones refers to is a 7-page unclassified document published by the FBI.
White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement
White supremacists in law enforcement is nothing new of course; in part, the origins of organized police departments in America actually goes back to the slave patrols of colonial times.
One positively chilling aspect of this 2006 FBI report is the description of what white supremacists call "ghost skins."
Since coming to law enforcement attention in late 2004, the term "ghost skins" has gained currency among white supremacists to describe those who avoid overt displays of their beliefs to blend into society and covertly advance white supremacist causes.
I don't know who the white supremacists are in the police departments, DA offices, and judge's chambers of this country.
And neither do you.
They have assimilated.
And many of you--us--will be assimilated, at least if I am reading the comment sections of this supposedly progressive blog correctly.
I certainly do not (or should not) need to detail the history of white American police brutality against African Americans and other people of color.
But I do have to ask:
Is this the 21st century America that we want?
Is this the America that we want?
How about this? (yeah, Jon Burge is as disgusting as ever.)
Former convicted Area 2 Police Commander Jon Burge says he finds it “hard to believe” that Chicago’s “political leadership” could “even contemplate giving reparations to human vermin” like the “guilty vicious criminals” he tried to take off the streets.
Fucking animal.
Is this what America wants? Back to The Grio article.
This year, alone, at least seven San Francisco law enforcement officers were suspended after an investigation revealed they exchanged numerous “White Power” communications laden with remarks about “lynching African-Americans and burning crosses.” Three reputed Klan members that served as correction officers were arrested for conspiring to murder a black inmate. At least four Fort Lauderdale police officers were fired after an investigation found that the officers fantasized about killing black suspects.
Apparently so,
if this 2014 Gallup Poll is to be believed.
Or at least that what a majority of white Americans seems to want.
Remember, these are the cases that have simply come to light.
How am I supposed to make distinctions whenever I meet a police officer; assimilation is the goal of the "ghost skins," right (assimilation wasn't always necessary mind you but we are post-racial nowadays, right)?
I would think that a progressive community would be at least as concerned about fast tracking some solutions and legislation to halt the spread of white supremacist "peace officers" and police departments as it is about stopping TPP.
Or maybe not.
So...just remember that the next time you clutch your pearls about the next Shaun King diary or you lament about not able to get working, hard-working class white folks to vote Democratic because of a black President or a burnt out CVS...
Remember that you built this.
Remember that you have been (or will be) assimilated.
Because I won't forget it.
I can't afford to.
