Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2016)
Page 8 The Skanner July 20, 2016 News DIVIDED AMERICA: Bridging the Gap Between Police, Policed NEW YORK (AP) — On an unusually cool night for summer, Mike Per- ry and his crew thread the sidewalks running through Staten Island’s Stapleton Houses, tracked by police cam- eras bolted to the apart- ment blocks and posi- tioned atop poles. “The better the weath- er, the more people will be out,” Perry says. “Ac- tivity — not all good, nei- ther.” Perry’s group, ive black men and one Lati- no, all acknowledge past crimes or prison time. Perry, himself, used to deal drugs around anoth- er low-income housing complex, two miles away. Now, though, their Cure Violence team works to defuse arguments that can lead to shootings and match people with job training and counseling. Their goals are not so dif- ferent from those of the police. EDITOR’S NOTE — This story is part of Divided America, AP’s ongoing ex- ploration of the economic, social and political divi- sions in American society. While Perry gives cops their due, he keeps his distance. Two years ago, within walking distance of this spot, a black man named Eric Garner died in a confrontation with police oicers. Garner was suspected of sell- AP PHOTO/SETH WENIG By ADAM GELLER AP National Writer Police oicers talk with community activist Cynthia Davis in the Staten Island borough of New York, Tuesday, May 24, 2016. The recent highly publicized deaths of black men in encounters with police in Minnesota, Louisiana and across the country, and now the sniper killing of ive Dallas oicers, have focused new attention on the chasm between police and minorities, one of so many divides in this contentious election year. Years of tension have left people wary in both the policing community and in minority neighborhoods, with many yearning for one another’s respect. ing loose cigarettes; an oicer wrestled him to the ground by his neck. His last words — “I can’t breathe” — were cap- tured on cellphone video that rocketed across the internet. “I know those oicers did not mean to kill Eric,” says Perry, a 37-year-old father of two who knew Garner. But, “you need to look an oicer in the eye who doesn’t understand and go, ‘Brother, I want to get home, too.’ They’re de- fending these communi- ties that they don’t know.” As Americans strug- gle with the highly pub- licized deaths of black men in encounters with police in Minnesota, Louisiana and across the country, and now the sniper killing of ive Dallas oicers, Perry and his fellow Staten Islanders have the dubi- “ town though it’s part of the nation’s biggest city, police and the policed have had to coexist. The events of recent weeks have focused new attention on the chasm spect. It’s not simple, though, to change the way people see each other. “What we have to bear in mind is that when a particular culture has been created, or when people sense a certain culture is operating, it takes time in order to change that culture,” says the Rev. Victor Brown, a pastor of one of the larger African-Ameri- can churches on Staten Island’s North Shore. Brown, a spiritual ad- viser to Garner’s family who criticized the grand jury’s decision not to in- dict the oicer involved, serves as a part-time po- lice chaplain. The challenge was cap- tured in a nationwide poll last summer by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Afairs, in which 81 percent of black Americans said police are too quick to use deadly force, com- pared with 33 percent of whites. A third of blacks said they trust police to You need to look an oicer in the eye who doesn’t understand and go, ‘Brother, I want to get home, too.’ They’re defending these com- munities that they don’t know ous distinction of being a step ahead. Since Gar- ner’s death in July 2014, they have confronted a measure of the anger, pain and alienation that the nation now shares. On this 58-square-mile island that residents say oten feels like a small between police and mi- norities, one of so many divides in this conten- tious election year. Years of tension have let peo- ple wary in both the po- licing community and in minority neighbor- hoods, with many yearn- ing for one another’s re- work in the best interest of the community, less than half the percentage of whites. The voices of Staten Islanders speak to atti- tudes and experience that are oten more com- plicated than might be relected in polling num- bers. Like the white retired oicer who credits a longtime black partner for much of his success in patrolling poor neigh- borhoods, and worries today’s cops are not street-wise enough. Or the black street ven- dor who rails against po- lice for Garner’s death, but says oicers are needed to clean up the street where that death occurred. “I think the divide is worse than it should be and more than people think it is,” says Joe Bran- deine, a retired NYPD detective who helped or- ganize a 2014 pro-police rally. “I believe there’s truth in both sides, that each side needs to see each other in a little dif- ferent light.” On Staten Island, po- lice-community relation- ships have long been per- sonal. About 3,000 police of- icers, scores of retired cops and their families live here, many in the heavily white neighbor- hoods on the southern two-thirds of the island. In those neighborhoods, protests that followed Garner’s death in July 2014 were met with “God Bless the NYPD” yard signs and pro-police ral- lies. The tensions inten- siied ater a grand jury decided in late 2014 not to indict the oicer for Garner’s death. Read the rest of this story at TheSkanner.com