Being Black in America Should Not Be a Death Sentence!

Crowds protesting the killing by police of a black man (Time)

America is not a racist country. Or is it? It’s almost hard to tell these days.

It is nevertheless my belief that America is not racist at the core. If it were Barack Obama would never have been elected President. Twice. It is clear to me that if the majority of Americans were racist, it would have been President John McCain. Not President Barack Obama.

And yet there seems to be an almost endless series of racist events in this country, some of which have been deadly. How is that possible? I have to believe that there is a substantial number people in this country that are racist, even if they may not realize it. 

(Although I am willing to bet that most people that have racist feelings know they have them deep down. They may not admit it publicly. But it comes out in other ways making it clear what they really think. I think the extreme animosity towards Obama by some Americans was in part a function of that racism despite vehement protestations to the contrary that was only about his liberal policies. That may have been why they opposed him. But it doesn’t explain the virulent animosity that often accompanied it.)

Racism has many expressions. Some are simply condescending feelings of superiority toward the black man - but with not malicious intent. For others those feelings will spiral into a deep and irrational hatred, For still others it might lead to persecution, violence, and even death. There is in fact an entire spectrum of racism extant in this country.

One of the more insidious forms of it is how a black man is treated by police when encountered in suspicious circumstances. They are often treated as guilty until proven innocent. This is not to say that all police react this way. But it happens far too frequently for it to be a coincidence. Black comedians have called this ‘Driving while black’. Although they don’t have to be driving to be treated that way.

Black men are far more likely to be treated like criminals by police than white men. That is just a fact. Not all police. Maybe not even most. But too many for it to be a rare exception.  I’m sure that those police officers that do this will say that racism has nothing to do with it. That they are just doing their jobs and following standard police procedures. But it is obvious to me that in far too many cases there is a difference between how black men and white men are treated.

I believe that is is very likely behind what happened yesterday in Minneapolis. Which resulted in black man being killed by a  police officer. There is little doubt in my mind about that because it was recorded on a smartphone. 

Two police officers were apparently looking for a man accused of forgery. They found a suspect and handcuffed him. But for some inexplicable reason he was next seen on the ground with one of those officers pressing his knee onto the suspect’s neck who was begging him to stop because he couldn’t breath. Meanwhile the other officer seemed to be standing guard to fend off onlookers who were trying to help that poor man. A few minutes later, he was unconscious. 911 was called, they came and shortly thereafter he was pronounced dead.

The mayor of Minneapolis had all the cops involved fired immediately saying that being Black in America should not be a death sentence!

That was a good start. But this was murder. Maybe not premeditated murder. That cop probably did not intend to kill him. But he did kill him. If that recording is an accurate representation of what happened (and there is little reason to doubt that it is) then this cop and his partner ought to be prosecuted accordingly. If found guilty – they ought to pay the maximum penalty allowed by law. 

Sure. They deserve their day in court. They have the right to present their side of the story. But I doubt they will be able to squirm their way out of this. They are probably as guilty as that video shows them to be. 

Would they have done this to a white suspect? I doubt it. They saw a black man and assumed guilt. And then treated him like dirt. I applaud the passersby who saw this happening, tried to help  - and one of them at least had the presence of mind to record the whole event.

I wish I could say this is an isolated incident. But just a few weeks earlier another video appeared where a former cop chased down an innocent black man. And during a scuffle with the ex-cop’s son over a gun - he shot him and killed him.

There have been many cases like this over the past few years. Innocent black men being killed by police who treated them as guilty. Using violent restraint that turned deadly. Or by shooting first and asking questions later. It is rare to find this happening to a white suspect.

By coincidence there was another racist incident yesterday captured on a smartphone.  A woman walking her unleashed dog in New York’s Central Park was asked by a black man to leash her dog as required by law. She started yelling at him and threatened to call the police and tell them that an African American man was threatening to kill her. Which she promptly did. 

This woman said she is not racist. She might actually believe that about herself. (Hence the use of the politically correct term ‘African American’.) But it was not beneath her to use racism as a tactic to get the attention of the police. She probably thought that describing him as black would be taken as a more serious threat than had she left out what his race was. (When her employer found out about that, he fired her immediately.)

So yes. Racism is alive and well in the USA. Not a pretty picture. But a real one. It permeates all segments of our society. And manifests itself in a variety of ways. Which once again turned tragic  yesterday in Minneapolis. I doubt that those two officers were white supremacists. I believe they are a part of  mainstream America. The same America that elected the first black President.

How is this contradiction even possible? Is it possible that a lot of white Americans are racist at some level?  Even if they don’t think they are. Even if they might have voted for a black man for President?

Aside from being guilty of murder, the damage those two cops did to our society is immense. They have reinforced the public perception of racism in police departments all over America. They have generated violent protest by people fed up with black people being treated as criminals. Black people  justifiably feel that if they are stopped for a simple traffic violation, their very lives are at stake no matter how innocent they might be. 

It’s not that I condone the violent protest against the police resulting from what those two cops did. I do not! Two wrongs do not make a right. But I can certainly understand the frustration that generated it.

Police are now suffering the consequences of racism that permeate so much of America. I do not believe that most police are racist. Many of them are in fact black. Including police chiefs in major cities. Like Chicago for instance.

But when a cop kills a black man under the pretext of subduing a suspected criminal, he has hampered the primary mission of serving and protecting the public. Good cops will now fear using violence even when it is necessary. Criminals will now have a bit more freedom to commit crimes knowing the reticence the police will now have to apprehend them. Which actually increases the danger to the police themselves. Instead of the public honoring their service, they will now be more alienated than ever and despise the very people whose mission it is to protect them. Especially in the high crime areas where they are needed the most

That is what those two cops have wrought. I wish I could say that things will change. But I doubt they will. Past incidents like this did nothing to save that innocent black man yesterday - kneed to death by a cop with a reckless disregard for human life.

I would hate to think that what happened in Minneapolis yesterday will keep happening.. But I guess it will. And the protests will surely become more intense and violent each time. 

Unless something is done and a solution is found.

What that might be seems to be as elusive as ever. I fear the consequences if we don't find one, though. I think it needs to start with us. We need to reject every last vestige of residual racism that some of us might have. And start treating all human beings  all of whom were created in the image of God with the dignity they deserve. That would be a good start.