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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 6, 1992)
e • • ♦ * ** < “The Eyes and Ears of the Com m unity’ V o lu m n X X II, N u m b e r 1 9 Ci e n 9 ‘~iri l- i b r ®ite ^flnrt laith 250 Civic Leaders Outraged Civic Leaders Unite With Community In The Aftermath Of Rodney King Verdict The Crime... The Victem... The Accused .. & The Verdict! As a police professional I was both angered and embarrassed by the jury's decision. The actions of those police officers reflect on all police. The Rodney King beat ing will be a landmark for police in America, and is causing many communities, including Portland, to examine police policies, prac tices, and the overriding issue of police accountability. -Chief Potter No Remorse? Equal Justice Under Law Must Be Blind To Race 'Read about it in the book* The King Verdict and the Los Angeles riot expose the Problem O f Racism System O f Justice. Taken fro m USA Today, M ay 1,1992. To treat the Rodney King case as an isolated incident would be a tragedy. It must be seen as a symptom of an illness that runs through the nation. The charge that created the explo sion in Los Angeles was planted by a society unable to bridge its racial divi sion. That division is econom ic, with black males earning only 57% as much as white males. And it includes a vile system of unequal justice. A quarter o f black males ages 20-29 are under the supervision of the criminal justice system. That compares with a 6.2% rate for whites. Why? It comes down to on whom we focus our crime Fighting. Federal studies show whites consti tute 80% of the U SA ’s drug users; Afri can-A m ericans, 12%. Y et43% o f those convicted o f drug trafficking are black. And not only conviction rates but penalties differ, too. In New Y ork in 1989, 92% of those arrested for drug offenses were m inorities. Y et w hites, who accounted for only 7% o f the offenders, took up 47% o f state-funded drug treatm ent slots. T h at’s not equal justice under the law. N either is it equal justice when a black w ho m urders a w hite is likely to g et the death penalty, w hile a black who m urders a black, or a w hite who m urders a black, is not. President Bush prom ises to pur sue justice in the King beating, possibly through prosecution of potential civil rights violations by the officers. But he must not miss the reality that a nearly all-white ju ry ’s acquittal of white police officers represents soft jus tice for whites vs. harsh justice for blacks. The nation can put the Los Angeles riot in perspective by looking at its system o f justice through the eyes of blacks. The president and Congress must completely review how police, courts and laws deal with minorities in order to fix the inequities that so frustrate and anger minorities. T hat’s the only way this nation can ever deliver on its fundamental promise o f justice for all. KOON ...Police Bureau recommits itself to becoming accountable for all itdoes'... Declined to comment As that relationship strength ens, we are increasing the training out officers receive in such areas as cultural sensitivity and respon sible use of force, including the use o f tactics that defuse situa tions and minimize the need to use force. C h ie f Potter, M a y o r C lark -Mayor Clark If we allow this opportunity to pass, the entire incident-the beat ing, the trial, and the bloody after- math--will only serve to widen the gulf between African-Americans and white Americans, not just in Los Angeles but in Portland and cities all across America. -Commissioner Bogle BRISENO O ne thing was sure...,w e had cap tured this racist act o f brutality on video tape. C h ie f Potter, C om m issio ne r B ogle and *1 know I'm innocent* POWELL W ill the bloody riots change a sick America? Too many feelings* to express WIND Don’t Believe Your Eyes The Rodney King Travesty plaints alw ays fell on deaf ears. The Since Daryl Gates has become Police BY JIMI JOHNSON whole world saw what happened to C hief some 14 years age, the city o f Los On March 3rd, 1991 Rodney King, Rodney King that night in M arch, and Angeles has paid out millions o f dollars a 25 year old African am erican male many African Americans were saddened in settlem entclaim s for police brutality. was pursued and stopped by the Los by the stark reality seen so often in our The majority o f this brutality has been Angeles Police. W hat followed in the com m une cities. H ow ever, through perpetrated against people o f color. aftermath m ade N ational and W orld Rodney K ing’s pain and the lens o f a As internal investigations began to wide news. freelance photographer we had indis look into the King beating four officers W hen King stopped his car and got putable proof o f police brutality. It was including one sergeant were indicted for out he was viciously assaulted by sev obvious to the most ignorant viewers assault by the Los Angeles Grand Jury. eral L.A. “Peace” officers. This outra thatsomehow, somewhere geous beating was captured Mr. Kings Civil and Hu on film by a freelance p ho *A nation was stunned, and the African American man Rights were violated. to g r a p h e r w ith o u t th e community was told once again that The Rodney King in knowledge o f the officers Human Rights are not for you.' cident brought police bru adm inistering the beating. tality against people of In a matter o f hours this color to the fore front o f our national They would later have a trial of their inhumane beating o f Rodney King was consciousness, much like the Rosa Parks “peers” in Semi V alley, California. But seen around the world. Montgomery bus incident showed the if a picture is worth a thousand words, M any U n ite d S ta te s c itiz e n s world how racist America was nearly 40 there was really no need for a trial watched in horror as officers o f the law years ago when she was arrested for because the video tape o f the beating repeatedly beat an unarm ed man with refusing to give up her seat to a white showed Rodney King getting hit 56 night sticks and stunned him with elec man. After 365 days of boycotting buses times. That Video Tape Is W orth 56 tric “Cattle Prods”. A ccording to re by African am cricans, people were al Thousand W ords! The video showed ports, Rodney King was struck over 50 lowed to sit where ever they pleased. the world blatant police brutality against times. He was hospitalized with num er Many African am cricans became bus an African am erican by w hite “Peace ous fractures and lacerations, including drivers and civil leaders. O fficers”. A scene repeated far too often a broken eye socket. Citizens from across The King incident aroused thecon- in the United States o f America. the Nation began asking for the resigna scicncc of this nation and put the whole One thing was sure however, we tion o f Los Angeles Police C hief Daryl American judicial system on trail as it had captured this racist act o f brutality Gates. Gates refused to quit, staling that pertains to equal protection under the on video tape. The police officers were the king beating was an “aberration” not law. “busted” in front o f a nation o f eye the norm in the L.A. Police departm ent. Many U.S. citizens felt that the trial witnesses. For years African Americans However, it is a well docum ented fact was simply a formality as the video and other peoples of color have com that Los Angeles has one o f the most plained of police brutality but the com- Continued on Page 3 racist police departm ents in the nation. C o m m m issio n e r B lu m e n a u e r Uniformed Savages Acquitted In Televised Rodney King Beating: Many Feel Tone was Set in 1988 by Bush Administration’s Willie Horton Election Ploy BY PROF. MCKINLEY BURT E ffe c tiv e law en fo rc e m en t in A merica has been dealt a terrible blow. The police departments o f this nation have suffered a major deterioration o f that m antle o f respect, influence and authority necessary to the maintenance o f law and order in a civilized society. The prim e culprit in this debacle, L.A. C hief o f Police Darrell G ates, quite rightly (and deliberately) predicted both the verdicts o f “not guilty” and the resulting riots. As the officials, leaders and politi cians o f this mortally w ounded city gather to assess, plan and plain com miserate (along with the rest o f the nation), it is o f critical importance that they realize one salient fact. This in credible verdict o f acquittal and the ensuing rage o f the populace that pro voked m assive civil disorder m ust be exam ined within a context that encom passes far more than the immediate events. A rational and meaningful inquiry must take us beyond the fact that the deliberately orchestrated CHANGE OF VENUE placed the trial in a suburban com m unity, Simi V alley, which is fo ndly known as the RETIREM ENT VILLAGE FOR LOS ANGELES PO LICE OFFICERS. It is also known as a prime direct mail target for scores o f propagandizing right wing organiza tions ranging from the John Birch Soci ety and typical Nazi-leaning groups to arms dealers, soldiers-of-fortune re cruiters (South Africa), and the N a tional Rifle Association. I am sure that the readers o f the P ortland Observer remember the a r ticle I wrote when the Rodney King beating took place. I described a period, 1954-1964, when I was on the streets and freew ays of Los Angeles almost daily, making the rounds of my public accountant clients. I assure you that the traumatic social conditions and events of today are not one bit different than were experienced at that time. I left just one year before the W att’s Riots, which centered in the very same section o f town as this conflagration. Ironically, that fierce civil disturbance was also triggered by renegade police who, again, assaulted a black m otorist in a barbaric fashion. Twentieth century lynchings begin in the fast lane. I described, too, an incident that occurred there when I was a m ember o f Twentieth century lynchings begin the fast lane. Prof McKinley Burt the N A ACP when a black maid at an “E 1 Rcy H otel” on East Sixth Street (dow n town) alerted several o f us to the suspi cious occupant o f the third-rate hos telry. By means not to be noted here, several of us gained access to this character’s room while he was on a business trip-contacting police depart ments and unions in several outlying counties. An inspection o f the room and its paraphernalia proved to be my first encounter with the despicable Right W ing purveyors of hate and violence who prey upon and recruit within the major police departments o f this coun try (my last was at Portland State U ni versity where my offices in the Urban Studies Department were directly be neath the classroom s for the Criminal Justice Programs attended primarily by Portland Police and Multnomah County Sheriffs). This man was a sales representa tive for several small arms m anufactur ers, suppl.ers o f handcuffs and other restraints. But the chilling factors were the stacks of hate m agazines and sub scription fo rm s-th e typical Nazi dia tribes against blacks, Jews, Latinos, and Asians. There were lists of possible and vulnerable organizations and instruc tions on infiltration and recruitment. These revelations proved not to be o f much avail when used by citizen groups and Human Relation groups. Nor have they since as w itness the recent Rodney King affair. The system was, and is, too entrenched. Will the bloody riots change a sick America? I m entionedPortlandState Univer sity Administration of Justice Program because, interestingly. Dr. Lee Brown, the forem ost black law enforcement officer in the country, was chairm an of the program at the lime (also the Sheriff o f M ultnomah County, and now, Chief o f Police for the City of New York). I doubt if even he could have had any influence over the white officers with the prejudiced mind set of several I had in my class on the Economic E xperi ence of Urban African Americans. Some made childish faces, others scrawled racist insults across their term papers. The C IV IL IZ E D O N ES had no influ ence. I took the time and space to cite this very serious problem in law enforce- mcntbccause, as I expected, the nation’s m edia is not dealing with it at all. It will have to be faced if the first line purvey ors o f civil peace and jusuce are to be enabled to interact effectively with the c itiz e n ry -if the concept o f CO M M U NITY TOLICING has any chance of implementation. There is no doubt that there is some degree of that type o f overt racism going on within the Portland force today—it needs to be dealt with. The brainwashed elem ent needs to be rem oved, not reprim anded, and the UNION cannot be allow ed to interfere. We should hope, too, that the City o f Portland and Metro will sec the hand writing on the wall and deliver us a functioning, working Human Relation C o n tin u e d o n p a g e 3
