TheLoop21.com

By: devona walker (follow this member)
Mon, 11/30/2009 - 22:13

 When I heard this story I had -- what I call -- a Momma moment. Anytime a horrific crime story is reported on television, my mother watches breathlessly, and if she misses the mug shot, she will ask "where they black?" "They weren't black were they?" If the perpetrator was not black, she breathes a sigh of relief. If they are, she sighs and shakes her head.

This story, I'm sure, probably nearly made dear Momma stroke out. It went hand in hand with a few other senseless tragedies, like here and here. Instead of home for the holidays, it was more like home for the homicides.

But this one hit me particularly hard, not simply because all of the officers involved were white and the suspect is black, not because he was a career criminal who had raped a child. But, well, because of the long-standing issues between law enforcement and the black community. You see this one guy. And it is a little interesting that no one really wants to describe him as insane even though he clearly was, in a way has been more effective at negating our issues on that level than anything since O.J.'s dumb ass.

Here we are, living in the aftermath of the Jena 6, Heather Ellis, Henry Louis Gates and Oscar Grant's senseless death at the hands of a transit cop in Oakland. But all it takes is one homicidal idiot, and we're right back at zero -- which is cops must be given great latitude and so be it if that latitude comes at the expense of poor blacks and latinos because this is the kind of crap they have to deal with daily. There are barbarians at the gate, and we've put law enforcement on the front lines. They are our only buffers, our only protection, and this is the sacrifice they make to keep us safe.

Here, we have four cops who were apparently arbitrarily chosen, sitting down for coffee and donuts and a crazed lunatic walks in and straight up executes them. Nine children between them. All with more than 10 years on the job. It's even got me to thinking about the demands we make of them. 

The media wants to pin this on the chest of former Arkansas Governor and former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. It's his Dukakis moment in their eyes. I am no fan of Huckabee, but I don't think the root cause of this problem is the fact that he granted clemency to a career criminal, but yet the fact that we have a whole host of severely mental ill, criminally insane folks in this country. Don't get me wrong. Huckabee messed up. This guy, of all people, should not have been released. But, what about the many prisoners who are incarcerated on nonviolent offenses? What about, for once, not trying to treat the criminal justice system with a blunt instrument but the careful wielding of a scalpel? How about, for once, not allowing one crime that shocks and horrifies us to affect how we treat millions? 

This will likely ruin Huckabee's hopes of ever running for national office. He will probably even end up losing his little gig over at Fox News. I really couldn't care less about that. What I am thinking about, once again, are those age-old and sometimes life-ending rifts between law enforcement and the black community. I know the risk officers run in patrolling the roughest communities in our society, but I am thinking about the innocent that often get caught in the crossfire between the criminals and cops. The fact that good, honest poor folks live in those same neighborhoods, and they are often left with law enforcement that mistakes them for the criminals as well as living amongst the criminal who prey on them. Ask yourself this, how do you tell the difference between a violent gang member and just a teenager? Then think about the brothers who have been shot or killed over the years because a cop mistook a cell phone for a gun. 

When one among us acts like a savage it unfortunately gives law enforcement license to treat us all like potential savages, because if they get caught slipping, get caught with their defenses down, this is what could happen.

This horrible, unfortunate tragedy, will be the calling card for folks on the far right who believe we, as a society, should shoot first and ask questions later and that we, as a society, should lock folks up and throw away the key. Hell, they are already at it.

It's a sad day for the Lakewood Police Department and the family of those officers killed. But it's also a sad day for poor folks everywhere.