Page 4
B la c k
March 1, 2000
H M
¡ste n
ondi
A s w e enter the 21 “ century, despite
m ore than 50 years o f econom ic
and social progress, civil rights
le g isla tio n and S u p rem e C ourt
d e c is io n s to g u a r a n te e e q u a l
protection o f the laws to A frican-
A m e ric a n s an d o th e r m in o rity
groups, the crim inal ju stice system
in the U nited States still reflects
system atic biases and persistent
inequities in its treatm ent o f people
o f color, as w ell as deeply rooted
r e s is ta n c e
to
m e a n in g fu l
institutional reform .
As the nation celebrates the first
Black History m onth o f the New
M illennium , it also confronts two
o f the w orse police scandals in
recent history: excessive force or
b r u ta lity to w a r d tw o b la c k
im m igrants in N ew Y ork C ity and a
w id e n in g s c a n d a l o f p o lic e
m isconduct in Los A ngeles. W ithin
the last year w hite police officers in
New York have been defendants in
tw o trials accusing them ofbrutality
in s e x u a lly a s s a u ltin g A b n e r
Louim a, a H aitian im m igrant, and
o f w ro n g fu lly k illin g A m adou
Diallo, an im m igrant from G uinea.
In the current investigation o f police
misconduct in Los A ngeles, District
Attorney Gil G arcetti had throw n
out over 40 w rongful convictions
by m id-February and his office is
expected to investigate over 3,000
cases, involving 70 o r m ore police
officers, to determ ine if there is
w idespread evidence o f w rongful
a rre sts, d e lib e r a te p la n tin g o f
evidence, coerced testim ony, or
oth er form s o f unlaw ful police
behavior.
These police scandals in N ew Y ork
and Los A ngeles are only the latest
incidents o f pervasive and persistent
police m isconduct and abuse that
have characterized m any urban and
r u ra l p o lic e d e p a r tm e n ts fo r
decades. In the research for m y
book R ace a n d Justice: R odney
K ing a nd O.J. Sim pson in a H ouse
D ivided (1966), I interview ed 144
young people, ages 15-30, and 67
A frican A m erican, Latino, Asian
an d w h ite c o m m u n ity le a d e rs
serving the South Central area o f
Los A ngeles, and found nearly
unanim ous agreem ent that the Los
A ngeles police officers frequently
used excessive force, intim idated
w itn e sse s , m a n u fa c tu re d false
evidence and harassed m inority
youth in th e ir com m u n ity w ith
threats o f arrest and derogatory
OCUS
• ' ----------------------------
ïlie
ni* ©beemer
Race and Justice:
racial epithets.
p la n tin g f a ls e e v id e n c e an d
stations; in N ew O rleans, where
U n f o r tu n a te ly , th e s e conspiring to deprive blacks o fth eir
p o lic e o f fic e r s h a v e b e e n so
“ Racial profiling,” the practice o f
shocking incidents o f m isconduct civil rights in num erous cases; in
ro u tin e ly in v o lv e d in crim in al
p o lic e s to p p in g , a r r e s tin g o r
and brutality are not new in the N ew Y o rk , w h e re th e M o llen
activities and abusive treatm ent o f harassing m inority m ales w hile
annals o f the Los A ngeles Police C om m ission identified extensive
m inorities and the poor that The driving, has been highlighted in
D epartm ent, w hich has a sham eful corruption and m isconduct against N ew York Times has called it “one
recent m edia accounts o f high-
history o f seven decades o f
m inorities in at least three precinct
o f the w orst police forces in the p ro file cases. F req u en tly th ese
violating the civil rights o f
people o f color, dating back
to the “dragnet” tactics o f
C h ie f Jam es D avis from
1933-1938.
P o lic e
A b u se
and
M isconduct
In 1991, when the n atio n ’s
se n ses an d se n sib ilitie s
w ere shocked by view ing
the videotape o f the police
beating o f Rodney King,
m a n y w h ite A m eric an s
believed that this brutality
w as an a b e rra tio n , n ot
typical p o lice b eh av io r,
w h ile
m ost
A fric a n
A m ericans felt vindicated
in their know ledge that this
w as sta n d a rd o p e ra tin g
procedure not only in the
Los
A n g e le s
P o lic e
D epartm ent, but in police
departm ents throughout the
nation. In fact, after more
than three m onths o f public
hearings and an extensive
investigation o f L.A.P.D.,
the report ofth e Christopher
C o m m is s io n
(1 9 9 1 )
c h a r a c te r iz e d th e L os
A ngeles Police D epartment
as steeped in a “culture o f
v io le n c e .” T h e re p o r t
docum ented a pattern o f
p o lic e
m is c o n d u c t,
harassm ent, and brutality
th a t w as e x te n siv e and
pervasive, perm eating all
levels o f the departm ent.
bv Pearl Cleaee
The
C h r is to p h e r
C o m m is s io n ’s fin d in g s
r e a ff ir m e d th e c r itic a l
conclusions o f the earlier
M c C o n e C o m m is s io n
report after the W atts Riot
in 1965. A fter 26 years, the
Call for tickets
LA PD
w as
s till
u n c o n tr o lla b le
an d
Tickets atso through
unaccountable.
Ticketmastei 503.790.ARTS
H ow ever, the Los
A ngeles Police Department
does not stand alone in its
culture o f violence against
m in o rities, for th is is a
p e rv a siv e an d sy stem ic
p a tte r n
in
p o lic e
P o P T I. A N i>
organizations, both urban
production
and rural, throughout the
AC CORP FOUNDAIIUN
sponsors
B PACIFIC P U W I »
U nited States. Since the
early 1990’s th e re have
A *» »
been m ajor police scandals
in Philadelphia, w here six
officers w ere convicted o f
5O3.274.6588
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