(ThyBlackMan.com) Despite how Blackish the neighborhood appears, the local police department is usually dominated by white officers. Take the city of Baltimore for example: although the majority of residents are Black, their police force does not mirror the ethnicity of its population. The same holds true for Ferguson, Missouri and other small cities.
In major cities like New York, you have a vast number of minority officers, but most of the high ranking positions are held by white officers. In other words, whether you abide in a tiny town or a vast metropolis, you are going to be policed by white eyes, directly or indirectly.
In the early 1800’s, as physical slavery waned in the face of machinery and mass production, the country began to ponder the fate of no longer desired Negro slaves. Where would they go? What would they do? For certain, quite a few of the unlearned and unskilled minions would turn to crime. Constables became cops and some slaves morphed into crooks.
Perhaps former slave masters had another master plan for the geographically displaced Black and brown people. I don’t know. But, what I do know is the same mental disease that adversely affected Black overseers when it pertained to containing Black slaves seemed to have socially infected Black police officers and their subsequent maltreatment of Black citizens.
However, this is what troubles me. If slavery is a crime against humanity, and the overseer is aiding and abetting the enslavement, isn’t he just as guilty as his boss? Or, is he twice as guilty because he is a willing participant and conspirator of the inhumane crime, plus a traitor to his fellow slaves?
Almost immediately after slavery, Jim Crow policed and kept the Negro segregated from the liberties of white life. But, that wasn’t enough to quell the pangs of those Blacks who hungered for a fair slice of America’s pie. Therefore, many Blacks fought and died in an earnest effort to integrate into a burning house set afire by hate, greed and racism. As an unintended consequence, many Blacks were burnt and scorched with self-loathing, self-doubt, and inferiority complexes. To add insult to injury, many psychologically damaged brothers and sisters sought mental remedies from white psychiatrists and psychologists who knew nothing about the psyche of African descendants.
Nevertheless, the need for Black cops became imminent for the safety and security of white property. If Negroes kept Negroes in check, white power could flourish without much interruption. Thus, some hand-picked Blacks were welcomed on the first line of defense.
For example, one of New York’s finest first Black flat-foot was a brother named Samuel Battle. He was instrumental in quelling the Harlem riots of 1935. Harlemnites erupted violently when Harlem residents believed that a young Black boy was beaten and murdered by white men. After three days of rioting, “Big Sam” Battle circulated a flier of himself with the smiling young lad, alive and well, which in turn, quelled the hostility of Black rioters.
Then there was the first Black FBI agent. His name was James Wormley Jones. He was recruited by J. Edgar Hoover to bring down Marcus Garvey and infiltrate his organization, United Negro Improvement Association. And, because of his excellent police work, Marcus Garvey was convicted of mail fraud and subsequently exiled, forever.
It is the opinion of this writer, these psychological impediments are the reasons why, today, a large number of Black cops are overly aggressive with Black suspects, especially in front of their white counterparts. Examples of this are when a Black cop in the East New York section of Brooklyn tried to lynch a Black woman, Rosan Miller, by roping his arm around her neck and lifting her off her feet; or, when then NYPD officer Joel Edouard lifted a foot, draped in a filthy work boot, and stomped on the head of already subdued Black suspect, Jahmiel Cuffee.
And, if Black officers are this callous and apathetic when dealing with the Black public, how can we act surprised when a white officer attacks a Black woman like Sandra Bland, strangles a Black man like Eric Garner, or shoots and kills a 12 year old child like Tamir Rice?
I mean, if Black cops can’t serve and protect Black life, who are they serving and protecting? Perhaps the more things change, the more they remain the same.
Staff Writer; Saint Solomon
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