NO USE IN
DENYING THAT FACT
NYPD
Officers on vertical patrol in a South Bronx housing project.
TAGS:
NYPD, LEC, RACE RELATIONS, BLACK LIVES MATTER,
ALL
LIVES MATTER, URBAN POLICING, LEC CRITICS,
TOWARDS
A MORE POLARIZED SOCIETY
(Tuesday July 12, 2016, NYC) The
President proclaimed today in his rambling speech at the Memorial Service for
the five Dallas Police Officers slain last Thursday night in a brutal ambush
that, “We are not as divided as we seem”.
Perhaps it is easy to believe that from the secure bubble of the White
House. By any measure available our
racial tensions are approaching the same virulent level that crested in the
late 1960’s with the formation of the Black Panthers and other militant
off-shoots of the Civil Rights movement.
There were those activists unsatisfied with the Reverend Dr. Martin
Luther King’s approach of passive protest, of peaceful resistance.
While the Black Lives Matter “movement”
of today, members of the Congressional
Black Caucus, politicians and pundits of every liberal stripe as well as the President himself are clamoring for an
honest open “debate, a “national conversation” (whatever the hell that is) to
address all matters of a Police nature. They call for wholesale changes in the way candidates seeking to pursue a career among
the ranks of the Law Enforcement Community (LEC)are selected, screened, vetted
and trained as well as “examining” various methods employed by Law Enforcement
Officers (LEO) in areas from Patrol to response, use of force and “de-escalation”
techniques. These very same people refuse to have the same rigorous debate and
conversation about some of the ways young Black men invite Police scrutiny in
the first place; how they present themselves in public and the reasons why many
White citizens perceive them as “threats” of one kind or another. Yes, we all live on a broad two-way street
and both sides of our racial divide, in the talk about Black men and Police
Officers, must acknowledge certain truths or we’ll never get beyond where we
are now as a society.
If the Black Lives Matter
movement and their supporters expect large-scale changes in Police Departments
and policing itself, is it not fair that some changes are not in order for
those young men most likely to have an interaction with the Police? Law Enforcement critics decry the “militarization”
of Police forces and the MOS of the LEC confront young Black men wearing the “ghetto
chic” dress that must include pants worn so low that most of a man’s boxer
shorts covered ass is exposed, hats worn cock-eyed, and common street behavior
meant either to intimidate some of their peers or the residents at large. If you do not want to attract the attention
of the Police, then present yourself in a more acceptable manner. Yes, the comeback to this is not only that
this is an ignorant, “racist” comment but also a suggestion that a change would
stifle the free expression of young Black men.
Dressing and comporting oneself as a “thug” is a choice and it is a
choice that carries consequences if an innocent young Black man happens to be in the
wrong place at the wrong time.
The rapid-fire volatile events
broadcast live into our homes over the past week have once again starkly
illustrated some of the most long standing divides in our Country. The week after marking our 240th
year of Independence had many of a certain age harkening back to the tumultuous
days of the late 1960’s. It was
difficult not to make that comparison although, after stepping back from the
raw emotion of the week’s events, the comparisons are not as valid as they were
at first blush. While there were no
doubt similar sentiments given voice regarding race relations and, in
particular, Black American’s alleged systematic abuse, aggressive and often
lethal tactics and brutality perpetrated by “unaccountable” Law Enforcement
Officers in predominately Black and Latino Communities, we are nowhere near a
return to the widespread civil unrest that came to define a year such as
1968. This is certainly not to suggest
that many of the same social pathologies, attitudes and behaviors plaguing the
Black Community are mere relics of a not too distant past. Not at all.
Not just yet.
For New Yorkers of a certain
age it might be illustrative to think back to the late 1980’s and early ‘90’s. In 1993, as a point of reference, our City
was in its third consecutive year of 2,000 plus homicides a year. NYC led virtually every major crime category
from arson to assault, from rape to robbery and everything in between. The quality of life had deteriorated so badly
that businesses were fleeing and taking their much needed tax money with
them. Tourism was at an all-time
low. Morale in the ranks of the NYPD was
awful. NYC had indeed become a rotting
apple. It took Mayor Giuliani, NYPD
Commish Bill Bratton and their by in to the “Broken Windows Theory” of policing
to begin to turn the tide. With the implementation of CompStat and rigid
accountability at the Command level, bit by bit, block by block, the City began
to be reborn. Those with short memories
are the very same people who have come to decry the Broken Windows approach
and, due to their incessant complaining have made the tried and true practice
of “Stop, Question and Frisk” (STQ) a relic of the past. Rudy Giuliani, a “Liberal” Republican was
given an electoral mandate in this oh so Liberal, Left-wing City. Even the most far left resident of the five
boroughs had had enough. They wanted the
City “cleaned up” and that is precisely what the new Mayor set about
accomplishing. In no neighborhoodsmore than
the most poverty stricken and crime infested precincts was the stepped up Police
presence and more aggressive tactics more welcome. Commuters
felt safe on the subways and platforms, Times Square was on its way to a future
without pornography houses, drug dealers, wall to wall prostitutes, con-men of
every ilk and an omnipresent criminal element.
SQF was reaping rewards, was actually getting criminal off the
streets. You know it was highly
successful because as soon as the changes were clear and obvious, the critics
crawled out of the shadows again portraying the Police as racists, an “occupying
force” in their neighborhoods, mistreating and criminally profiling young Black
and Latino men at an unacceptable rate. Yes,
how pitifully short memories can be.
WHERE WE ARE
What may be frustrating to the
White majority of Americans are the proffered arguments from the Black
Community regarding these issues. After
all, since the Voters Rights Act and Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1965
respectively, the federal government has spent, conservatively, $22 trillion on
measures to redress past wrongs suffered by Black Americans including a host of
laws, policies, procedures and legislative initiatives aimed to erase racial
boundaries in housing, education, employment, poverty, and all the myriad ills
still affecting much of Black America. If the “400-year legacy of slavery in
America” is still touted as a reason for the disparities between White and
Black America, there is no room for discussion or debate; no common ground can
exist.
As human beings living in our
hyperactive, complex, open and diverse society, we seek context for all we
encounter. It is as much an inherent
element of our nature as is pattern recognition or the “fight or flight”
response. Each of us functions with our
own unique operating system comprised of our experiences and memories,
attitudes, opinions, perceptions, perspective, and all the cognitive/analytical
capabilities that define us as humans.
The older we are the more expansive is our neural database. We attempt consciously and unconsciously to
incorporate new stimuli into our pre-existing categories and classifications;
so much of what we are exposed to be it new and novel or familiar, is
automatically shunted into the internal file that seems most appropriate. It is by this process that old ideas are re-enforced,
attitudes and opinions solidified thereby allowing us to make judgements of all
stimuli that crosses our path.
White people view all aspects
of American life and its institutions very differently than Black
Americans. Of this there is no question. Both are shaped by the
realities of their own existence, the circumstances and particulars of their
personal lives. We are all shaped by
these very same factors. That we can be
so far apart on even the most basic facts is testament to the gaping divisions
and divergences of perception. President
Lyndon B. Johnson appointed The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders
or Kerner Commission in 1967 after a rash of destructive “race riots” burned
across America in cities from Los Angeles (Watts) to Newark, NJ. In many
specific and profound areas of life, little has changed for the Black Community
since the release of the Report of the Kerner Commission in 1968. The most famous summary the Commission
produced was expressed in the statement, "Our nation is moving toward two
societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal."
Indeed. Despite 50 years of legislative efforts
designed to redress some of the most profoundly negative social pathologies
endemic in much of the Black Community, we remain a “separate and unequal”
Nation. Whose fault is this? What is to blame for this retched truth? There may be some partial answers of a
reasonable, objective nature but even they cannot be given voice without be
shouted down as “racist”. For all the
angst expressed by liberal politicians and commentators, they have no real
experience of spending time in one of our inner city, predominately Black
neighborhoods. What they would see if
they ever ventured on such an excursion (of course, accompanied by Police
Officers) might open their eyes a bit.
It is in these neighborhoods that perception shapes reality, that
familiarity with the environmental conditions shape instinct and response. And, oddly enough, it is in these very same
neighborhoods that Black residents call upon Mayor de Blasio and Police
Commissioner William Bratton to keep a robust Police presence in their
neighborhoods. Many Black residents live
in fear of their own neighbors and the denizens of their streets who occupy
stoops and corners day in, night out.
Their “Black lives” matter as they try to raise their children properly
while laboring long hours in low paying jobs.
The fact of the matter is 10% of the population are responsible for 90%
of the crimes committed in all categories.
This is no urban myth or fudged statistical trickery. It was towards a measured approach to getting
that 10% off the streets that the now abandoned tactic of “Stop, Question and
Frisk” was initiated and proved to be successful despite the erroneous facts
and figures its many opponents have bandied about.
The angry masses and
self-appointed “activists”, “leaders” and, perhaps most insidiously, the pompous, self-righteous, self-designated denizens of academic ivory towers, “Black
Scholars” call for better screened, vetted and trained Police Officers as the all in
solution to our current turmoil. To the
credit of the LEC writ large, that is precisely what they have been doing for
the last 20 years. No matter the level
of training, be it in standard Police tactics or “de-escalation” and
“sensitivity” training, Policing will always involve the element of potential
violence of a situationally varying degree.
The short answer is, “it’s
hard to say”. The yawning rifts laid
bare over the last few years between young Black men and LEO will persist for
the indefinite future. We seem to be
entering a mode of a civil “Cold War”, a perilous regrouping into warring
factions; “Us versus Them”, Black versus White, young men of color versus the
Police; a polarized society that will creep along locked in a binary conflict
that will only ossify with time.
Electing and re-electing our first Black President did nothing to move
race relations forward. If anything, the
last eight years have seen dramatic schisms tear at the fabric of our
society. This is in no way meant to
assign blame to President Obama, not at all. He just so happens to be in Office at this time of social media fueled
protest, video cam clips of events that transpire when Cops and criminals
clash, when the 0.1% of bad Cops are screen-captured improperly using force…or
worse. That the 99.9% of the LEO are
doing their jobs within the limits of the law as professionally as can be
expected is a fact worth mentioning just as is the fact that the majority of
young Black and Latino men are trying to “do the right thing” often working
against a deck that is not stacked in their favor. These are complex and complicated issues that
we have apparently not yet been able to solve.
What will it take? Who can begin
the hard work of finding common ground and consensus towards identifying
solutions on both sides of the divide?
It is certainly not anyone in elected Office. Changes must begin at the micro level, in the
family, the community, the individual Sheriff’s Office or Police Department.
There are no easy answers or
readily available solutions. As long as
the debate remains as virulent and heated as it is today in the wake of all of
this recent bloodshed, we will remain, as a country, as a people, as a society
on a collision course that will only exacerbate our divides. Our society is predicated on the rule of law
and it falls on the men and women of the LEC to keep order. The absence of order is anarchy, chaos, and
the continuance of senseless violence.
There is a self-perpetuating nature to this cycle of action and reaction
that rips at any semblance of cohesiveness that makes for orderly society. There are choices to be made on both sides of
the debate and, if we know one thing for certain we cannot count on our
political “leaders” to step into the breach and work towards equitable measures
that could ease the tensions. We simply
do not have such elected officials; our politicians and politics are as toxic
and noxious as the mood on far too many of our streets.
Yes, the sun will come up
tomorrow and likely the day after. It is
incumbent upon all of us, the citizenry and the LEC to take a reasoned,
measured approach as we work through these troubled times. The alternative is too fraught with peril to
consider.
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