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MARCH 4, 1998 AUGUSLA rUCUD
CIVILRIGHTS JOURNAL By Bernice P. Jackson
New York police brutality:
When is enough enough?
just can’t imagine what it will
take. I just can’t imagine what
it will take before the New
York City Police Department
takes real steps to end the police
brutality which seems to be ac
ceptable tot he police brass and
the Mayor. Any other city, faced
by two high profile cases of police
brutality like the cases of Abner
Louima and Amadou Diallowould
be in high gear, doing investiga
tions, setting up citizen commit
tees with real power to subpoena
and make real recommendations
and would be working to actively
weed out the “bad apples.” But it
seems that in New York, the
nation’s largest city, nothing
much is really happening.
In the latest case, Amadou
Diallo, was a young street vendor
who came to New York from
Guinea in West Africa to make
his fortune. Like millions of im
migrants before him, Mr. Diallo
came to the Big Apple with the
intention of making his place in
the world. But his life was ended
in the vestibule of his apartment
building in the Bronx a few weeks
ago when he was shot 19 times by
police officers who were report
edly looking for a serial rapist. It
issaid that 41 bullets were shotin
a barrage of bullets fired by the
two officers, who claimed that
Diallo had put his hand in his
pocket. Mr. Diallow, who had
never been in trouble with the
law, was unarmed.
Thousandsof New Yorkershave
marched in the aftermath of the
shooting, protestingthe excessive
force shown by the police officers.
Nearby residents, both black and
white, have questioned the police
tactics and have pointed out that
this quiet and unassuming young
man was not belligerent or vio
lent. NAACP President Kweisi
Mfume and other national lead
ers have called for a Justice De
partment investigation. Rev. Al
Sharpton has called it a “police
slaughter” not a “police murder.”
And still, the only reply from
the Mayor Guilani and the police
commissioner has been to wait
for the process to work. But the
history of what happens when
the process “works” is New York
does not give on confidence that
justice will be served. Justice
wasn’t served in the case of the
black teenager who was shot in
the back in Brooklyn probably 20
years ago now. The officer who
shot him used the excuse of epi
lepsy for why he pulled the trig
ger and was acquitted despite the
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fact that he had never experi
enced and epileptic seizure prior
to that one, and probably has not
had one since either. Justice was
not done in the Eleanor Bumpers
case, probably 15 years ago in the
Bronx. Mrs. Bumpers was killed
by a police officer’s shotgun, If I
remember it correctly. Justice
has not been done in the case of
Abner Louima who was brutally
and sadistically beaten by police
officersin the Brooklyn police sta
tion itself after Mr. Louima tried
to stop a fight in front of a night
club. And justice has not been
done in the hundreds, probably
thousands, of cases of harassment
of African Americans and Latino
men who have been subjected to
unnecessary searches and arrest
in New York over the years. Cases
of people just being at the wrong
place at the wrong time, of “fit
ting the description” of someone
the police are looking for, of people
who are gainfully employed and
good citizens who are frisked,
pushed, shoved and sometimes
beaten by the police. The New
York City police department has
paid out tens of millions of dollars
in settlements for such behavior,
but it seems that it would rather
pay the money than clean up its
act.
Instead the Mayor and Police
Commissioner making strong
statements against police brutal
ity and the enforcing a one strike
and you're out policy about such
behavior, the Mayor chooses to
remain silent and the Police Com
missioner appears to be unrepen
tant. Instead of the city immedi
ately trying to change the police
union contract clause which pro
tects police officers from having
to talk to anyone, including in
vestigators, about police brutal
ity cases for 48 hours, it chooses
to ignore this blatantly protec
tionist clause. Instead of the city
making a real effort to clean out
those officers who it knows are
perpetrators of violence, it turns
a blind eye.
It’s no wonder that Amnesty
International is looking closely at
police brutality in the nations’
largest city to se if it is a human
rights violation. It’'s no wonder
that many average New Yorkers
are wondering if the price they
are paying for a “clean, civilized”
city is too high if the large num
bers of its citizens are harassed,
beatenorkilled. How many Abner
Louimas and Amadou Diallos will
it take before there is justice in
New York City?
Charles W. Walker
Publisher
Frederick Benjamin
Managing Editor
Dot T. Ealy
Marketing Director
Lillian Wan
Copy Editor
Samuel Daniels
Production Assistant
- Joshua Gura
Production Assistant
Vonda Butler
Account Representative
Tonya Evans
Office Manager
Opinion
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Busingss 17 N\ ey
TO BE EQUAL By Hugh B. Price
The president must take action
merica must take heed.
The anger among African
Americans and Hispanic
Americans over the lack of
respect, the indignities, and the
physical abuses, and deaths they
endure from some -- too many --
white rogue police officersis close
to the boiling point.
That is the clear message of the
fierce and widespread public an
ger provoked by the killing early
this month of Amadou Diallo, an
unarmed, law-abiding immigrant
from West Africa, by four white
New York City plainclothes po
lice officers.
From Riverside, California to
New York City, blacks and
Latinos are being victimized by
the police. The names of some of
these victims have made head
lines because of extraordinary
violence involved: Jonny
Gammage, Rodney King, Abner
Louima, and now, Amadou Diallo.
Indeed, recently in Pittsburgh,
a white poiice officer was arrested
for the December shooting death
of a black motorist who had
slowed down to gaze at a drug
arrest. Apparently, the police
man had decided that rubber
neckingis a capital offense if your
complexion is black or brown.
Horrific cases like these cap
ture headline coverage. But day
in and day out, there are volumi
nous low-profile encounters that
undermine trust and foment ten
sion as well.
J. Philip Waring © Guing Places
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ith reports coming on
the air and in the daily
and weekly press and
with scores of political planning
meetings and “Get Out the Vote”
projects being held prior to the
November elections, the question
is now being raised: “What is
happening in our Augusta sec
tor?” :
I discussed this matter with an
old friend whom we will call Old
Timer (0.T.), who asked what did
I know about this situation.
Phil: In 1976 I flew down from
St. Louis as part of my vacation.
Its mission was three-fold,
namely: 1) to help publish the
third Bicentennial edition of the
News Review (Mallory was still
up at Columbia University); 2) to
promote a public Historical Bi
centennial meeting featuring an
outstanding family. Dr. Julius
Scott was speaker; and 3) to ob
serve how our Black community
In New York City in the after
math of the officers’ ferocious as
sault -- Diallo was struck by 19 of
the 41 bullets fired at him as he
stood at his door in a narrow hall
way -the stories of the abuse
residents of the city’s predomi
nantly black and Latino neigh
borhoods routinely endure have
come flooding forth.
This month several columnists
in the 'city’s newspapers have
chronicled the often wrenching
experiences of adults and teenag
ers in black and Latino neighbor
hoods who were stopped and
frisked by the police on the streets
on nothing more than “suspicion.”
In the past two years, officers of
the city’s elite street crimes unit
stopped and frisked 45,084 people.
But that action resulted in only
9,546 arrests -- meaning that
35,000 people were stopped and
frisked on the streets because
these officers guessed, wrongly,
that they were carrying guns.
Of course, it is not only in New
York City, nor only to a few, un
fortunate individuals that these,
at the least, infuriating and hu
miliating, at worst deadly, racial
encounters with white police of
ficers happen.
These patterns of police mis
conduct, including the notorious
practice of the racial profiling of
black and Latino motorists, have
plagued people of color for years.
They are not unconnected, iso
lated incidents; and their cumu
Plan voter turnout now
would function in the Carter
presidential campaign.
1976 was a model
0.T.. What happened? Did
they have unity?
Phil: All objectives were at
tained. Our business, political,
civic and church sectors meshed
together, organized and carried
out an extremely successful “Get
Out the Vote” project in Augusta-
Richmond in 1976.
0.T.: How did it help Jimmy
Carter?
Phil: Our local Black vote
helped carry Richmond County,
which in turn aided in putting
Georgia into the winning column.
0.T.: All that recitation of 1976
history is good, but how will that
help us now? They say Bush is
locking up the South and leading
the Duke in Georgia by almost 10
points/coupled with much local
indifference within higher ranks
lativeimpact on constructive race
relations all across the country is
devastating.
African Americans and His
panic Americans read newspa
pers, watch television and tune
into radio like everybody else.
Word of these senseless encoun
ters and systemic abuses spreads
like wildfire throughout our com
munities. They claim victims all
across the socioeconomic spec
trum.
Silence will not soothe those
who experience, see and hear of
these acts of instant injustice.
Inaction fuels mistrust and anger
along racial and ethnic lines, and
undermines the credibility of our
criminal justice system and the
legitimacy of civil authority.
As the all-too-frequent victims
of crime, we African Americans
want to rid our communities of
crime. But surely we also have
the right not to be preyed upon by
our protectors.
That’s why I've appealed to
President Clinton to become di
rectly involved in this issue.
In discussing his One America
initiative, he’s made it clear that
he sees racial reconciliation as
the centerpiece of his legacy.
Moreover, having presided over
a welcome decline in national
crime statistics and havingled an
increase in federal assistance for
local law enforcement, he has the
credibility to force this needed
dialogue and forge a balanced
The following memorial column by the late J. Philip Waring was first published for
Augusta Focus on October 13, 1988. We are republishing it so that Mr. Waring's
admirers can reminisce and those who missed his columns can get a glimpse of
recent black history.
of Democrats.
Phil: You areright, Old Timer,
but the situation in our Black
community today is more im
proved over that excellent 1976
performance.
0.T.: What do you mean more
improved?
Phil: There are now more good
elected and appointed public offi
cials. There’s been expansion in
our business community. On the
religious front we now have three
viable groups: The Baptist Min
isters Conference, day and
evening, and the Black Methodist
Alliance. We have well over 100
churches here. Fortunately, since
1976 there is on hand probably 50
or more retired educators who also
are skilled in working with people.
There are many health care pro
fessionals as well as thousands of
good solid church-going citizens,
who if called upon, would help as
they did in 1976.
solution. 1
We at the National Urban:
League believe that, among other
things, the President should: .
- Utilize his office to draw na-,
tional attention to this crisis and |
urge that elected officials, law .
enforcement officials and commu
nity leaders work together to de-:
vise genuinely effective solutions. ,
- Convene a White House sum
mit this spring; and pressthose;
invited -- mayors, police chiefs,
civil rights and community groups,
young people, and others -- to findg
constructive answers. )
- Instruct the Justice Depart-:
ment to conduct public hearings
around the country to ferret out |
evidence about the patterns of|
police misconduct, excessive use!
of force and abuse of civil liber-}
ties. !
- And, direct the Justice De-}
partment to form a task force toi
devise guidelines for state and}
local law enforcement agencies
that employ tactics like New
York’s elite street crimes unit. The
purpose would be to prevent the
offensive practices and protect
civil liberties without undermin
ing effective law enforcement. ‘
In President Clinton’s -- and
America’s -- quest for improved!
race relations, there is no way to
sidestep the searing issue of po-g
lice misconduct and abuse. f
There simply cannot be One|
America if law enforcement officials|
have license to split America apart. {
0.T.: What about civic groups?;
Phil: Yes, today we are wells
endowed with them. Our NAACP,
is larger and stronger. It now has:
an office headquarter (thanks to
attorney Jack Ruffin in 1979), we
have an ongoing Augusta-Rich~
mond County Community Action:
Committee, the Forum, the East!
Augusta Neighborhood Associa
tion, (and others). Then there are
some one dozen Greek-Letter|
units, the Masonic Order, the
Stoney MDP Society, Women’
Civic Club, Links, our nursin%
associations, etc. We have tw
excellent newspapers. {
And aboveall, the local GABEO;
(Georgia Association Blac%
Elected Officials) which also in<
cludes current and former ap+
pointed persons. ARCCAC, thel
Forum,MinisterialAllianoes,andz
local GLBC leaders should give
the major leadership in getting
this special project together. |
There are three full weeks left.
A speaker for a public mass meet-g
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