April 15, 2015
Page 7
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O PINION
Why the South Carolina Cop May Walk
Video doesn’t
guarantee a
conviction
E ARL O FARI
H UTCHINSON
Former North
Charleston Po-
OLFH RI¿FHU 0L-
chael
Thomas
Slager has been
charged
with
murder in the
shooting death of Walter Scott.
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slam dunk to nail Slager on the
charge.
There’s the clear as a bell vid-
eo shot in broad daylight which
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toward but away from Slager.
There’s Slager clearly drilling
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equivocal, even outraged re-
tort by North Charleston Police
Chief Eddie Driggers that he was
“sickened” at seeing the video.
North Charleston Mayor Keith
Summey and Driggers visited
the slain man’s family and com-
BY
miserated with their “suffering.”
But that doesn’t mean that
he’ll be convicted of murder, or
for that matter any other charge
in the Scott killing. The reason
for that tells much about the way
th over use of deadly force
the
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E\
th criminal justice system.
the
E
Even
in the rare cases, such as
S
Slager
where cops are hauled
in a court docket for overuse
into
o deadly force, they routinely
of
w
walk
free. Their defense law-
y are top guns, with lots of
yers
experience defending police of-
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Police unions bankroll their
defense and spare no expense.
Slager is the even more rare ex-
ception in that he was actually
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placed on administrative (paid)
OHDYHSHQGLQJWKHVWDUWRU¿QLVK
of a pro forma promised investi-
gation. And when they do serve
pre-trial jail time, they are quick-
ly released on ridiculously low
bail. We’ll watch closely to see
what Slager’s bail is set at.
When the cops are tried by a
jury, police defense attorneys
seek to get as many middle class
people, whites and even blacks
and Latinos, on the jury as possi-
ble. The presumption is that they
are much more likely to believe
the testimony of police and po-
lice defense witnesses than black
witnesses, defendants, or even
the victims. It’s a presumption
that has been born out in police
misconduct trials time and again.
George Zimmerman even got
WKH EHQH¿W RI WKDW SUHVXPSWLRQ
when he walked in the shooting
death of Trayvon Martin.
It’s an uphill battle for prose-
cutors to overcome both pro-po-
lice attitudes and negative racial
stereotypes. Stanford University
researchers recently found that
even when many whites are pre-
sented with evidence that the
criminal justice system is loaded
with racial bias toward blacks
they are more likely to support
tough, draconian laws such as
three strikes, tough sentencing
and increased incarceration.
Scott is a near textbook example
of that problem.
Before the video surfaced,
WKH SUHVV KDG D ¿HOG GD\ KDS-
pily playing up Scott’s criminal
record. The implication always
being that he was a bad guy who
got what he deserved and that
WKHRI¿FHUZDVWKHSXWXSRQYLF-
tim that had no choice but to use
deadly force.
The negative perceptions of
blacks, especially black males,
by much of the public are not
the only problem in effecting
effective legal measures against
police violence. There is no iron-
clad standard of what is or isn’t
an acceptable use of force in po-
lice misconduct cases. It often
comes down to a judgment call
E\WKHRI¿FHU
In the Rodney King beat-
ing case in 1992 in which four
/$3' RI¿FHUV VWRRG WULDO GH-
fense attorneys painted King as
the aggressor and claimed that
the level of force used against
KLP ZDV MXVWL¿HG 7KLV SDWWHUQ
has been evident in a number
of celebrated cases since then.
Police claim that they feared for
their lives in confronting civil-
ians and they use deadly force
solely in self-defense.
Then there’s the supposed-
ly smoking gun video that will
prove beyond a shadow of a
doubt that Slager overused dead-
ly force. The King case proved
this to be bunkum. The attorneys
twisted, turned, dissected, re-dis-
sected, analyzed and reanalyzed
it from every earthly angle. They
claimed it didn’t show what led
up to the King beating, didn’t
fully show King’s resistance,
GLGQ¶W VKRZ WKH RI¿FHUV JLYLQJ
instructions to him to comply,
and was too limited in the angle
that it was shot. The jury bought
the claim.
This tact has been used repeat-
edly in other instances where
videos and cell phone footage
catches a cop committing an
abuse against an unarmed non
resisting citizen. It’s still a mat-
ter of what you see is really not
what you see in these cases.
Slager may indeed wind up
being the even rarer still case
of a cop convicted of murdering
in cold-blood an unarmed black
man. If past history is any guide,
though, just don’t bet on it yet.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an
author and political analyst.
Power of Education to Renew, Begin and Grow
PCC Cascade
Job fair sets
example
D R . K AREN
E DWARDS
Springtime
has
arrived,
a season that
underscores
messages of re-
newal, beginnings and growth.
Such concepts can be applied
personally or professionally and
at Portland Community Col-
lege’s Cascade Campus they
have meaning for our students
in both realms. Our faculty and
staff strive to positively impact
the lives of our students – to
affect them on a personal level
DQGQXUWXUHWKHLUFRQ¿GHQFH±DW
the same time they’re educating
students to best prepare them for
future professional opportuni-
ties.
An example of this will be
seen at the PCC Cascade Job
Fair slated for Tuesday, April 28.
Now in its 18th year, the event
is open to the general public in
BY
addition to our students.
The job fair brings together
local employers – more than 70
±LQQHHGRITXDOL¿HGHGXFDWHG
personnel, with approximately
1,000 talented and skilled indi-
viduals
proactively scouting for
v
employment.
e
In the case of our students,
they’re
able to demonstrate, with
th
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KRZ WKHLU SHUVRQDO
F
and
a intellectual growth through
contributes to the economic, cul-
tural and social development of
its immediate locale and region.
It also showcases two integral
parts of the college’s three-
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academic skills and to prepare
students for direct entry to the
workforce.
Both aspects can be seen in
other ways at the Cascade Cam-
pus. In only two years here, a
The job fair illustrates
the ability of PCC to serve
as a community resource
education successfully translates
into professional aptitude that
EHQH¿WV D EXVLQHVV +LUHV VWHP-
ming from the job fair create a
win-win scenario for both the
employer and the employee, and
from a larger perspective, these
kinds of results bolster Port-
land’s economy.
The job fair illustrates the
ability of PCC to serve as a
community resource, one that
student can fully prepare for a
career in the skilled trades, or as
a medical laboratory technician,
or a paramedic – all of them
in-demand jobs that offer good
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$QGLQPDQ\¿HOGVRIVWXG\
a student can earn profession-
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less. An example of this trajec-
tory is the three-month Career
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in heating, ventilation and air
conditioning installation, a pro-
gram associated with the Cas-
cade Campus at the college’s
newly established Swan Island
Trades Center. So far, 20 HVAC
students have graduated this
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some of these students plan to
continue their studies; for one
recent graduate, the HVAC
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along in PCC’s two-year fa-
cilities maintenance technolo-
gy program, and she hopes to
eventually earn a journeyman
electrical license.
The third part of PCC’s mis-
sion caters to students looking
to pursue a four-year degree. By
enrolling in the college’s Asso-
ciate in Arts Oregon Transfer
degree program – which can be
done at Cascade Campus, right
here in your own backyard – stu-
dents are guaranteed to have met
all lower division general educa-
tion requirements. This enables
them entrance to a public univer-
sity in Oregon as a junior . . . and
saves them thousands of dollars
in tuition.
Portland Community College
is a smart choice, and as we en-
ter the “season of college deci-
sion-making” – April, May and
June – I would strongly encour-
age would-be college students
to consider PCC as a top choice.
Over the next couple of months,
you’ll see billboards and out-
door advertising throughout the
city, advocating for students to
“Think PCC First.” I support
this ambition wholeheartedly;
high quality education combined
with access and affordability
simply makes sense.
Education has always been
one of the foremost means for
people to effect positive change
in their lives. Education is fuel to
a thriving workforce and econo-
my, as well as power to the in-
dividuals who partake in it. This
is especially true at community
colleges, at PCC and at the Cas-
cade Campus. Stop by for a visit
– I welcome having you as our
guest, so you can see for your-
selves the transformative power
education offers.
Dr. Karin Edwards is pres-
ident of Portland Community
College’s Cascade Campus in
north Portland.