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Opinion Cops Lied about ‘Suicides’ of 2 “Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now” B ERNIE F OSTER Founder/Publisher B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER Executive Editor J ERRY F OSTER Advertising Manager L ISA L OVING News Editor H ELEN S ILVIS Multimedia Editor P ATRICIA I RVIN D AVID K IDD Graphic Designer M ONICA J. F OSTER Seattle Office Coordinator J ULIE K EEFE S USAN F RIED Photographers The Skanner Newspaper, established in October 1975, is a weekly publica- tion, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc., 415 N. Killingsworth St., C aught cheating by his wife, comedian Groucho Marx asked, “Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?” In case after case, when police are caught killing an unarmed African American – and trying to cover it up – they expect us to sus- pend our sight and our common sense. This is particularly true in the case of 22-year-old Victor White, III in New Iberia, La., about two hours south of his fami- ly home of Alexandria, La. and more than two hours west of New Orleans. Authorities want us to believe that White, who died March 2 in the back seat of a police cruiser, shot himself in the back while his hands were cuffed behind his back. Even the nimblest among us couldn’t pull off such an acrobatic feat. In a press release issued March 3, Louisiana State Police said, “The initial investigation indicates that last night at about 11:22 p.m., deputies with the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office were responding to the report of a fight in the 300 block of Lewis Street. Upon responding to the area, deputies located [Victor] White and discov- ered he was in possession of illegal narcotics. White was taken into custody, handcuffed behind his back, and transported to the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office for processing. Once at the Sheriff’s Office, White became uncoopera- tive and refused to exit the deputy’s patrol vehicle. As the deputy requested assistance from other deputies, White produced a handgun and fired one round strik- more implausible that he could have shot himself in the right chest T HE C URRY while in police handcuffs. R EPORT NBC said the forensic patholo- gist found gunshot residue in the wound, but not the kind normally George E. associated with a close-range Curry shooting. White’s hands were never tested for gunpowder residue. Two lacerations were found on the left side of White’s ing himself in the back. White was face. Still, Dr. Carl Ditch, the transported to a local hospital by Iberia Parish coroner, declared ambulance where he was pro- White’s death a suicide. nounced dead from an apparent The Louisiana case is strikingly self-inflicted gunshot wound.” similar to that of Chavis Carter in According to the coroner’s Arkansas. Carter also supposedly report on White, “A small caliber committed suicide July 28 while pistol was found and a projectile in the backseat of a Jonesboro was found within his shirt.” How- patrol car. Authorities want us to believe that White, who died March 2 in the back seat of a police cruiser, shot himself in the back while his hands were cuffed behind his back ever, two separate police searches of White prior to his being placed in a patrol car produced no weapon. An investigation by NBC News revealed that the Iberia Parish coroner’s report found that White was shot in the front, not the back as police had contended. The bul- let entered White’s right chest and exited his left armpit. That White could have shot himself in the back while handcuffed behind the back is difficult to fathom. White was left-handed, making it even A crime lab report obtained by the Associated Press under a Free- dom of Information Act request said, “In consideration of the cir- cumstances of death and after autopsy of the body, it is our opin- ion that Chavis Carter, a 21-year-old black male, died of a gunshot wound of the head. The agencies responsible for the inves- tigation of his death were the Jonesboro Police Department and the Craighead County Coroner’s Office. They reported that he was detained during a traffic stop. “He was cuffed and placed into a police car, where apparently he produced a weapon, and despite being handcuffed, shot himself in the head.” Like Victor White, III, Carter was Black and left handed. Also like the Carter debacle, authorities want us to believe that he man- aged to conceal a pistol – in Carter’s case, a 380-caliber semi- automatic – during two police pat downs. Despite being left handed, police would have us believe he used his right hand to shoot him- self in the right temple. The Associated Press reported, “Carter’s death came after police stopped a truck in which he was riding. The driver and another pas- senger eventually were allowed to go, but police said Carter had an outstanding arrest warrant. Court records show it had to do with a drug charge. “Carter was searched twice and police said they found a small amount of marijuana, but no gun. After the first search, an officer put Carter into a patrol car without handcuffing him. He was later searched again, handcuffed and returned to the same car. “Officers a short time later saw Carter slumped over in the back- seat and covered in blood, according to the report, which concluded he had managed to con- ceal a handgun with which he shot himself. He later died at a hospital, and the report listed his death as a suicide.” Unlike Grouch Marx, you don’t have to worry about your lying eyes. Instead, we need to worry about lying police. P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228. Telephone (503) 285-5555. E-mail: info@theskanner.com World Wide Web site: http://www.theskanner.com Fax: (503) 285-2900 The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Associ- ation and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re - spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. © 2014 The Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED. To see The Skanner News on your smart phone go to theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. • • • • • • • • Local news Opinions Jobs, Bids Sports Entertainment Music reviews Bulletin board RSS feeds The Lessons of Ferguson, Part I: Economics “T he ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of chal- lenge and controversy.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I am haunted by the words spo- ken by Lesley McSpadden immediately following the shoot- ing death of her son, Michael Brown, at the hands of Ferguson, Mo. police officer Darren Wilson almost a month ago. She said, “Do you know how hard it was for me to get him to stay in school and graduate? You know how many Black men graduate? Not many. Because you bring them down to this type of level, where they feel like they don’t got nothing to live for anyway.” Lesley McSpadden’s words reflect more than her own deep anguish. They have been echoed by many of Ferguson’s citizens and civic leaders who have rallied for justice since Brown’s killing. They also expose the pervasive problems of joblessness and hope- lessness fueling so much of the anger and tension in communities of color across America. Michael Brown’s death was the spark that ignited a long-smolder- ing fire in Ferguson; and while the immediate goal of the National Urban League and our affiliate network is the arrest and indict- ment of Officer Darren Wilson, T O B E E QUAL Marc Morial this column represents the first in a three-part series that aims to examine some of the root causes and identify solutions that must be implemented to avoid crises simi- lar to Ferguson in the future. Let’s begin with the lack of jobs chasm of misunderstanding and distrust that is behind much of the violence that has erupted between police and citizens. Four years out of the recession, America’s private sector is expanding, but too many people have been left behind. In fact, many communities like Ferguson are worse off. According to a recent Brookings study, “Between 2000 and 2010-2012, Ferguson’s poor population doubled.” The National Urban League has long been leading the charge for targeted federal and state action to bring jobs and opportunity to ‘We’ve got to be here for the long haul and turn our chants into change, our demonstration into legislation’ and the epidemic of unemploy- ment in Ferguson, a city that is 67 percent Black. The National Urban League’s 2014 “State of Black America Report” found that the St. Louis metro area, which includes Ferguson, had a Black unemployment rate of 19.6 per- cent and a White unemployment rate of 6.9 percent – resulting in an unemployment Equality Index of 35.2 percent on a 100-point scale. This level of economic inequali- ty reflects a glaring disparity of opportunity and has created a Page 2 The Portland and Seattle Skanner September 3, 2014 hard-pressed communities across the nation. Our “Jobs Rebuild America” campaign is a $100 mil- lion, five-year effort to engage federal government, business, and nonprofit resources to create eco- nomic opportunity in 50 communities across the country through the Urban League affiliate network with a special emphasis on vulnerable youth. In response to the crisis in Fer- guson, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders sent a letter to his Senate colleagues calling for both a thor- ough federal investigation of the shooting death of Michael Brown and targeted legislation to bring jobs to Ferguson and similar strug- gling cities. Sanders points out, “There is an economic crisis fac- ing our nation’s youth, particularly young African-Americans. Nationwide, the youth unemploy- ment rate today is more than 20 percent and African-American youth unemployment is nearly 35 percent. The legislation would provide $5.5 billion in immediate funding to states and localities to employ 1 million young Ameri- cans between the ages of 16 and 24.” At Michael Brown’s funeral service, Rev. Al Sharpton called on the nation and our community to task: “We can’t have a fit, we’ve got to have a movement. We’ve got to be here for the long haul and turn our chants into change, our demonstration into legislation.” One of the big lessons of Fergu- son is the importance of investing in jobs, education and other tools to combat poverty in our commu- nities instead of militaristic weapons for use against our com- munities. We hope that Washington and America are lis- tening – and preparing to act. Marc H. Morial, former mayor of New Orleans, is president and CEO of the National Urban League.
