Black and White Justice

Question: How does one achieve justice for any black male, gunned down by white police officers? The answer is “elementary, my dear Watson”: call for an outside review of the case by outside law enforcement and judicial agencies. Such a strategy seems quite logical, at first blush. But that logic quickly pales (pun intended) for the black victims, like Tamir Rice.

Twelve year old, Tamir Rice, was shot to death November 22, 2014 in a Cleveland, OH park by Officer Timothy Loehmann. The fatal shooting occurred shortly after police responded to a 911 call that cited “a man with a gun”. There was no man, only a boy who happened to have a toy pistol. Video surveillance video reveals that within seconds of arrival, rookie Officer Loehmann had gunned down the boy, shooting him not once but twice. Was this excessive use of force? – Not according to the retired FBI agent and Denver Prosecutor (the “outside”, “objective”) reviewers of the case. Ohio Prosecuter McGinty released their findings yesterday evening and stated that “The gathering of evidence continues, and the grand jury will evaluate it all.”[i] I wonder: can justice truly be served by what seems to be a very racially biased judicial system?

History has a nasty habit of repeating itself. Eric Garner lost his life in July, 2014 at the hands of NYPD officers. In spite of the NY city medical examiner ruling his death a “homicide by chokehold”, the grand jury issued no indictment of the white officers. Instead, NY City paid Eric’s family $5.9 million in an out of court settlement. Justice? After Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, was gunned down by Ferguson, MO police in August of 2014, the grand jury did not indict the white officer. Justice? The “jury is still out” in the Freddie Gray case. Freddie died in April of this year from a spinal cord injury, resulting from the brutal transport by Baltimore police. Six officers have been indicted but I have to wonder whose justice will be served in the end. 

Too many young, black men are targeted by (white) police, many times without justification. All too often these targeted young men wind up imprisoned. Is it any wonder that Freddie Gray (per police reports) “fled unprovoked upon noticing a police presence”? I would advocate that the provocation to flee for any black man lay in the history of racial targeting, police brutality, and a corrupt judicial system that are all stacked against them. The writing is on the wall for “black and white justice” and it does not favor the African American population. We live in a racist society.

The only difference between racism in America today versus that of pre-Civil Rights times is that racism today tends to be less overt. Black lynchings at the hands of white mobs are left to the annals of American history. Yet, one by one, blacks in this country fall prey to legally-sanctioned racism. No, racism did not end with the Civil Rights Movement. Racism did not end with the election of a black President. Racism is persistent, pervasive, institutional and insidious. Racism is alive and well in America and because of that white “justice” prevails. Blacks still find themselves “enslaved” by the powers of injustice and oppression.

So, I echo the cry: “Black lives matter!”  I weep for Tamir, Freddie, Michael, Eric, Trayvon and countless others who remain nameless. We cannot permit the deadly, infectious diseases of racism and hate to go unchecked any longer. I pray that one day the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr’s dream will be realized, such that hate and racism will be no more … such that all Americans will stand in solidarity ‘loving our neighbors as ourselves’[ii]. Let us stand united in demanding justice - true justice - for ALL Americans ... especially the "least of these"[iii]. May it be so.

 

For information on how you can work toward justice go to Black Lives Matter!

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[i] Associated Press, Columbus, OH, October 11, 2015

[ii] Luke 10:25-37; 10:27 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

[iii] Matthew 25:35-36a & 40 “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me.” …”Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”