"If black folks weren't breathing, we wouldn't have to kill them."

That's the message I got today from former NY Police Commissioner Ray Kelly as he participated on Katie Couric's Yahoo News show. I was watching the show for the first time ever because my son W. Kamau Bell was part of a panel along with Dion Rabouin, a writer for The Root and Kelly discussing the non-indictments of police officers who kill unarmed black males. Except Kelly's recurring theme, as has been the case for all apologists for these travesties, is that these police murders are our own fault, meaning blacks, of course. He was quite satisfied "explaining" these police murders by perpetuating the myth that there are "more crimes in the black community." That's why the police have to do a lot of stopping and frisking in black neighborhoods which sometimes leads to the need to kill somebody. Oh well....

For those of you who may not understand, please know that crime does not occur when the police aren't looking. However, when the police are around ALL THE TIME, they see every little thing, like Michael Brown's jay-walking, for example. Or, they make a thing out of something like Eric Garner standing quietly on the sidewalk. I live in a town and a neighborhood that is predominately white. I have lived on this street for twelve years and seen a police car here TWO TIMES in 12 years. They were called in because of domestic situations. The police do not patrol. I suppose this means no crimes are committed in this vicinity. I've seen evidence of someone trying to jimmy coins from the laundromat, heard of bicycles and other property being stolen, but the police didn't see it, so no crime was committed.

When these same things happen in predominately black neighborhoods, the police are there--ALWAYS patrolling, watching, picking up and locking up young black boys who look suspicious. And they all look suspicious with their hoodies, sagging pants and dark skins. Sometimes, when these boys don't go quietly because they are not doing anything wrong, they have to be killed. After all they should know better than to talk back to the police! Or, sometimes they are not even given the opportunity to talk back because they are killed on sight, like Tamir Rice. He was killed instantly by a police officer who had previously been ruled "unfit for duty."

The police and other law enforcement officials also did not "see" the crimes committed by banks and other financial institutions that led to the calamitous economic crisis of 2007-08 and ruined the lives of tens of thousands of people. And since law enforcement didn't see them doing it, that means no crimes were committed. 


It is this glaring and hypocritical disparity in the FOCUS of the police and the PERSPECTIVE of other authorities that many people refer to as "white privilege." We are under surveillance. Whites are not. And even when whites commit crimes in the presence of police, the response is often, "Aw shucks."

I believe there are people in many police departments who actually want to protect and serve. However, I also believe that because of the above-the-law culture cultivated in police departments and upheld by justice systems around the country, that ALL police of every color and inclination are infected by that culture. Some officers may refuse to actually participate in killing and brutalizing citizens, but they stand by and quietly back up those who do.

The police are hired and trained by those in power to do their dirty work--maintain order, break up labor strikes, intimidate and brutalize protestors, maintain the oppression of the poor so they don't forget their place and organize for a higher minimum wage. In black neighborhoods they are indeed, as the Black Panthers described them in the Sixties, an Occupying Army. An army that now has military uniforms, equipment and weapons.

This kind of dirty work attracts certain types of people; bitter angry folks with grievances. Attracts those who feel stronger and more secure with a gun on their hip and a baton swinging from their belt. Those who join the force to protect and serve, if they are truly self-possessed, will resist the prevailing culture, but then they usually stand by in quiet support of those who don't resist.

Kelly kept telling us what black people need to do to stop crime in their communities. (I guess whites are really good at stopping crime in their communities so that's why the police aren't needed there.) Kelly believes the only responsibility of police is to hire more "diverse" officers. (He's learned that the only color that matters within that culture is blue.) We all know that's not the solution, and Rabouin, the writer from The Root said so explicitly, citing the Atlanta police force. Bell said, "This is not something to be resolved between the black community and the police. This affects the entire country."

He is absolutely correct. The police are the most lethal and brutal of America's expression of systemic racism, but the racism can be found anywhere as evidenced in this situation by Kelly's refusal to listen to what a couple of black men were saying directly to him. 

Members of our highest body of elected officials, the U.S. Congress, openly flaunt their racism (and sexism) and their lead is followed by media pundits and many others spewing explicit racist venom. Murdering blacks (and the indigenous "Indians" and Hispanics, especially in the part of this country that used to be Mexico) with impunity is an integral and intimate part of American history. It has always been thus. Blacks were deliberately criminalized in the "north" as they always had been in the south, to facilitate reconciliation between the two sides after the Civil War.

The lack of consequences for the murderers of black men is nothing new. What is new, and I am grateful for this, is that the outrage is no longer confined to immediate family members and to black people. A significant number of people all over the country and of all colors are saying: "ENOUGH!"

For more of my opinions on America's racial issues and other topics, see my new collection of essays, Not All Poor People Are Black and other things we need to think more about. Copies are available here and on Amazon.