"Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome." - Rosa Parks
Over 50 years after Rosa Park’s historic protest against racism and the Civil Rights Movement, racial discrimination and tension are still major issues across the country. It’s almost an everyday occurrence in the news: a white police officer kills unarmed black men, teenagers, and children.
[caption id="attachment_5457" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Photo Credit: Debra Sweet (Flickr)[/caption]On December 3, 2014, a New York grand jury decided against indicting Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who put Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who had been selling “loosies,” or loose cigarettes, without taxes (which is a misdemeanor in New York) in a chokehold. This move is prohibited for New York police officers "because it was so easy to misapply it and put pressure directly on the throat, directly choking the person, cutting off air as opposed to making them faint,” said Tom Fuentes, a CNN law enforcement analyst. The haunting video (taken by a bystander) showed a quick escalation over a very minor crime, which lead to an unnecessary death. Garner’s last words were “I can’t breathe.”
“What we have learned from the killing of Eric Garner, lest we were unaware, is you can go to the videotape, but it still might not matter,” says David A. Love to The New York Times, adding, “Body cameras could lose their effectiveness when the decision makers in the criminal justice system lack a racial justice lens, and they interpret what they see based on their racial prejudice. If a chokehold is permissible because black people are criminals, beasts, and savages, then producing the videotape of a chokehold might not make a difference to certain individuals.”
This case is one of many resulting in protests, even riots and looting, across America. Just last week, a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri voted against indicting Darren Wilson, a white police officer, of murdering Michael Brown, another black, unarmed teenager. Brown’s case sparked outrage about police brutality and the use of force. Wide scale protesting, riots, and looting have not been seen on this scale since the case of Rodney King, a black man who was brutally attacked and beaten by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1992. The attack, which was recorded by a bystander, led to the trial and acquittal of all the officers in the case. The verdict lead to widespread looting, riots, and vandalism not only in California, but across the country, in major cities like New York and Chicago.
0 comments