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Cl'e JJortlanb (©bseruer Page A4 A p ril 6, 2005 Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f The Portland Observer O pinion Police Stun Guns Should Be Banned by J udge G reg M athis Since 1999 80 people have died and others have been severely injured by po lice using electrical stun guns on unruly suspects who need to be restrained. The stun gun is the newest development in the so-called nonlethal weapons used to sub due suspects. Previously, police used pepper spray and batons. Currently, more than 7,000 law enforcement agencies and police departments now issue the weapon to its officers. The hand-held weapon is used like a firearm. Officers aim at the suspect, pull the trigger and the weapon delivers a 50,000-volt electric jolt to its target. The electrical shot causes an uncontrollable contraction of the victim’s muscles, immobilizing them from any further move ment. The problem is that the stun gun shocks can cause fatal heart attacks. Studies in both Canada and the United States have shown conclusively that they increase the risk o f cardiac arrest, particularly in people with heart conditions. O f course we know that police officers don’t ask your medical history when they are trying to subdue and arrest you. The most deadly incidents and injuries involving stun guns occurred during the recent month of February. In Chicago, one man died and a teenager was critically injured in one week, both at the hands of police officers using stun guns. Both victims went into cardiac arrest suffering heart attacks after the device was used on them. It is not yet clear whether either had a history of heart problems. That same month, a 54-year-old Indiana man died after being shot with a stun gun by the police. Clearly, stun guns are sometimes lethal weapons and should therefore be banned from use when dealing with unarmed suspects. In the past two years, several law enforcem ent agencies have banned the use o f stun guns. The Im m igration and Customs Enforcement agency, a federal law enforcem ent organization ended their use o f the weapon after one o f its officers were injured during a stun gun training session. Several months later, the Custom s and Border Protection agency also banned the w eapons’ use because of safety concerns. M eanwhile, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) has called for a moratorium on the use of stun guns. Additionally, the International A ssociation of Chiefs of Police as well as several other law enforcem ent groups have all called for more extensive research into the safety of the police weapon. The Justice D epartm ent is also studying the w eapon’s use. As law enforcem ent officials study the dangers o f stun guns, more and more lives are at risk o f death or injury. It should be enough that tw o studies and several deaths have concluded that it may cause fatal heart attacks. As we mourn the loss of Johnnie Cochran our late and great defender of justice, let us remember that although we may know him best for representing celebrities, most o f his great victories came in representing those who had been victimized by police misconduct. If we want to honor his legacy, let’s start where he left off, holding law enforcement accountable to the people they are paid to protect. Judge Greg M athis is Chairman o f the Rainbow PUSH- Excel Board and a National Board M em ber o f the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Reflections on Cochran: The People’s Champion by T heodore M . S haw In a w ay , Jo h n n ie Cochran, Jr., who died re cently at 67, was reminis cent o f M uhammad Ali. Much in the way that Ali became the people’s cham pion in the boxing ring, Cochran held that title in the courtroom. He was colorful, dy namic, and charismatic; he was a su preme strategist; his language was memorable; he could walk with kings and common people with equal com fort; and, most o f all, as one of America’s best trial lawyers he was one o f the most feared opponents of his time. Important, too, was the fact that Cochran's success, like that of Ali, somehow made the African-Ameri can community feel stronger and more powerful, and its life possibilities broader and more attainable. While many white Americans casti gated Johnnie Cochran for his suc cessful representation of O. J. Simpson against murder charges because they dentsuccess.org objected to the introduction of race as an issue, most black Americans, regardless of the issue of Simpson’s guilt or in nocence, understood that race plays a part in our criminal justice system every day, with black people more often than not on the short end of the stick. Johnnie won that case against seemingly insurmountable odds and in the face of intense national hostility, by dint of his legal acumen. More than the “not guilty” verdict, African Ameri cans cheered Johnnie Cochran’s bril liant performance. Among Cochran’s formidable le gal skills was his ability to strike to the core of a case and connect with a ju ry ’s emotional center. Although his best-know n courtroom state ment— “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit” has become part of popu lar jargon, it crystallized the decision making process for the Simpson jury. It also helped to make Cochran fa mous. Cochran was not the first African- American lawyer to become a household name. That honor went to his idol, Thurgood M arshall, who founded the NAACP Legal Defense and / don't think we have been given our due, and as long as racism permeates this country, we have a long way to go. - Johnnie Cochran, Jr. Educational Fund and became the first African-American J ustice on the U.S. Supreme Court. C ochran’s name recognition went evenfurther. Simply, he was the best- known attorney, black or white, in the world. Although much of Cochran’s re nown rested on his representation of celebrities like Simpson, Michael Jack- son, and Sean (P. Diddy) Combs, he was most proud of his work for the poor as a civil rights lawyer. He was inspired to become a lawyer by Brown v. Board o f Education, the 1954 U.S. S uprem e C o u rt v ic to ry led by Thurgood Marshall that ended offi cially sanctioned segregation in pub lic schools. One of C ochran's early cases was a high-profile suit in which he repre sented the widow of a black motorist who was killed during a police stop. He lost, but he was determined to continue civil rights work. He said his happiest moment as a lawyer was getting the murder and kidnapping charges against Black Panther leader Elmer (Geronimo) Pratt overturned in 1997 because of prosecutors’ mis conduct. Initially, he had lost the case in 1972, but remained dedicated to gaining Pratt’s freedom. Later, he helped Abner Louima, a Haitian immi grant who was brutalized by New York City policemen, gain an $8.7 million settlement. Over the course of his career, de spite the glitter of celebrity trials, much of Cochran’s work was spent helping average people with everyday prob lemslike accident claims, job discrimi nation, and police abuses. His own words make it easy to believe that he saw himself primarily as a defender of civil rights. “I love being an African American in this country,” he said. “I don’t think we have been given our due, and as long as racism permeates this coun try, we have a long way to go. B utit’s exciting to think about the future, where we should be. And I want to have a hand in pushing us along that road.” Theodore M. Shaw is director- counsel and president o f the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Social Security and Black Folks: Don’t Be Fooled by Find College Planning a Bit Overwhelming? We can. help! Start with out free college ^nd careei planning services. *l From choosing the right college, developing a winning college appli- i ation' to fin d i^ p n v a te scholarships ..i I ■ n a n ^ ^ ^ fc ro g ra m s — you ' ' '' ■; k " U ^ ^ H e e college planning classes offerW this spring. Or call os or visit our Web ^te rofind out ■ ore .¡trotit our services, NCtA F-C*..., Center for Student Success I f M arian W right E delman President Bush has chosen to try to fix the Social Security “crisis” - by allowing Ameri cans to invest some o f their benefits in private accounts. The president has even claimed this change would be especially good for Black workers. The argument goes like this: On av erage, Blacks - especially men - still have shorter life expectancies than W hites, which means we d o n 't collect Social Security for as many years. So if we received some of our benefits early to put into private accounts, we might be able to get more use from them. Is it true that Blacks don’t ben efit equally from the current Social Security system? Are private ac counts agood idea for Black Ameri cans, or most Americans? Is Social Security facing a crisis? Many ex perts agree the answer to these questions is no. As Princeton scholar and New York Tertes columnist Paul Krugman explains it, when President Bush claims ‘“ African-American males die sooner than other males do, which means the system is inher ently unfair to a certain group of people’... [his remarks | perpetuate a crude misunderstanding about what life expectancy means. It’s true that the current life expectancy for black males at birth is only 68.8 years- but that doesn’t mean that a black man who has worked all his life can expect to die after collecting only a few years’ worth of Social Security benefits. Blacks' low life expectancy is largely due to high death rates in childhood and young adulthood. Afri c a n - A m e r ic a n men who make it to age 65 can ex pect to live, and collect benefits, for an additional 14.6 years - not that far short of the 16.6-year fig ure for white men.” Sadly, that m isunderstanding comes about partly because Black males are so much more likely to die young. The tragedy is not that they are more likely todie before they’ve had a long time to receive Social Security benefits, but that they are much more likely to die before they’ve even had a chance to work. This misunderstanding - or de liberate confusion - obscures an other key fact: Social Security isn’t just a protection against poverty in old age. O f course, its support for older Americans has been one of the greatest success stories in our n ation’s social policy. Poverty a m o n g o ld e r A m e ric a n s has dropped from about 50 percent in the 1930s to around 10 percent to day. The program currently lifts 13 million seniors out of poverty. But Social Security also protects millions of workers and their fami lies in case of untimely death or disability. After all. it's a social in surance program - not an invest ment - and some of the things it insures against are being disabled, having a disabled child or dying while your family is still young. Approximately one-third of w ork ers today are disabled at some point in their working lives, so no one should take these current protec tions for granted. And all o f these circumstances land more heavily on Black families. A child may receive a monthly check if misfortune strikes. In 2004, three million children under 18 were direct beneficiaries because they were dependents of a deceased, disabled, or aged worker. Another one million children were direct re cipients o f Supplemental Security Income because of their own dis abilities. A child also may be an indirect beneficiary when a member of the household receives a Social Security check that frees up family income for use on the child’s be half; the most common case is a grandparent living in the child’s parent’s home. One in every six Black children lives with someone who received a Social Security or Supplemental Security check. Social Security has always been designed to provide the greatest help to low er-w age individuals. This, too, is more likely to benefit Black w orkers, who still earn less on average than W hite workers. Studies show that under the cur rent system , there is alm ost no difference by race in the benefits per dollar of Social Security taxes paid. The idea that the current system is unfair to Blacks is sim ply untrue— and when the presi dent and others frame the debate this way, it becom es a scare tac tic. M arian W right E delm an is president o f the C hildren's D e fe n se Fund and a w orking com m ittee m em ber o f the Black C om m unity C rusade fo r Children.