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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2018)
Page 8 The Skanner January 10, 2018 Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Nielsen Chicago Police Shooting Data May Reveal New cont’d from pg 6 Ways to Reduce Deaths and Racial Disparity White women. Further, 14 percent of Black women have an- nual incomes of $50,000 or higher with ages 35– 49 enjoying the highest income within the Black female cohort. For millennial wom- en, 81 percent have nev- er been married, up from 71 percent in 2005 and, with an average household size of 2.47, 29 percent of total Black American households contain a married cou- ple. Black women also have embraced the so- cial media movement #BlackGirlMagic, a term that describes a cross-platform gather- ing of empowered Black women who uplift each other and shine a light on the impressive ac- complishments of Black women. According to the re- port, Black women “over-index by 29 per- cent for spending three to four hours each day on social networking sites and by 86 percent for spending five or more hours each day on social networking sites.” Especially adept at us- ing technology and so- cial media to trade opin- ions and offer recommendations, Black women 18 and older, more than any other demographic group, have taken so- cial media and adopted it for higher purposes, the report found. Whether they are buying cars, jewelry, smartphones or beauty products, the advice, re- ferrals and feedback they receive from friends and community play an important role in Black women’s pur- chases, the report said. Forty-three percent of Black women say they like to share their opin- ions about products and services by posting reviews and ratings on- line; 47 percent agree that people often come to them for advice be- fore making a purchase. “The trend of Black women becoming in- creasingly educated and driving the buying power of Black house- holds, means that they are making pur- chase decisions that his- torically they didn’t make,” said Bianca Blake, a marketing spe- cialist. “Couple that with trends of the mil- lennial generation mar- rying and starting fami- lies later, the Black woman becomes an in- dependent decision maker for much more of her journey through life, as opposed to abid- ing by decisions made by her parents, hus- band or heavily influ- enced by her children.” Nirej Sekhon Georgia State University (THE CONVERSATION) The De- partment of Justice (DOJ) is cur- rently investigating the Chicago Police Department. The high-profile police shooting of teen Laquan McDonald — com- bined with the city’s efforts to prevent the public from learning about it — prompted the investiga- tion. Given that the Justice Depart- ment is playing hardball with Fer- guson, Missouri — suing the city following its refusal to voluntarily enter into an agreement to reform its police department and courts _ advocates in Chicago may also expect something important to change as a result of DOJ involve- ment. In a recent paper, I analyzed 259 Chicago police shootings that oc- curred between 2006 and 2014. These are all of the incidents for which Chicago’s Independent Po- lice Review Authority had made a completed report of investigation publicly available as of last month. My analysis of these incidents suggests that police reform in Chi- cago, like that in Ferguson, must include a critical examination of the enforcement tactics that police departments use in poor, minority communities. Better discipline and training are part of the solution, but they are unlikely to make dramatic difference by themselves. To cre- ate meaningful change, we must look beyond officer shooters in high-profile cases like that of Mc- Donald and Michael Brown. We shouldn’t just ask how offi- cers might best manage suspects during an encounter, but why cer- tain police-civilian encounters oc- cur at all. Police Shootings in Chicago There is no such thing as a “typ- ical” police shooting, but many share common features. For ex- ample, in nearly 50 percent of the 259 incidents I reviewed, police of- ficers shot during or immediately following a foot chase. In my view, not all of these chas- es were necessary. We expect offi- cers to chase and subdue a murder “ In reality, it is hard to know how many bad apples there are in any given department suspect who fires shots at officers as was described in one of the re- ports I read. But we ought to feel differently when officers chase and shoot a young Black man whose only offense was “looking in the officers’ direction” or “grab- bing his…waistband and turning away.” Egregious high-profile shootings like McDonald’s too quickly lead us to the conclusion that the prob- lem is “bad apples” – cops who use their badges as cover for racist ag- gression. The implication is that there are relatively few “bad apples” as compared to “good cops.” And that those “good cops,” with the right training, will only shoot when nec- essary. Discipline and training are not enough. In reality, it is hard to know how many bad apples there are in any given department be- cause neither police departments nor unions are keen on divulging that information. This is just one of many obsta- cles to punishing police officers for misconduct. The public was rightly frustrated, for example, when it emerged that Chicago Po- lice Officer Jason Van Dyke, who shot Laquan McDonald, had a long history of civilian complaints for excessive force and racist slurs. Had Van Dyke been appropriately disciplined for any of his earlier brutality and racism, perhaps Mc- Donald would be alive today. But in a city like Chicago where there are tens of police shootings every year, it is hard to argue that every cop involved with a shooting is a “bad apple.” My review of the available cas- es reveals that it’s not just racist cops who shoot. In the shootings I examined, the demographic pro- file of officer-shooters looks much like the demographic profile of the department as a whole. Police shootings cannot be reduced to a simple story about White-on- Black racism because many of the police officers doing the shooting are Black. Most police shootings in Chicago are unlike the Laquan McDonald case in that officers typically claim a firearm threat prompted them to shoot. In nearly 80 percent of the See CHICAGO on page 9
