On Police Brutality, Living While Of Color, & Why Brutality At OWS isn’t Shocking

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I’ve seen a lot of posts talking about OWS, police brutality, race, gender, & intersectionality. Many of those posts include links to the famous stories of police brutality. And those stories are important & should be told. But, by only talking about those stories I worry that we’re giving the impression that police brutality is relatively rare in communities of color. I’ve posted in the past about the cop who called me a nigger when I was 12 & the time my (then) 13 year old husband was beaten up by a cop. But, those weren’t our only run ins with abusive police officers. Experience has taught me to worry about the cops. I think of them as a risk to navigate more than I think of them as people who are here to protect me or my family. My husband & I have already had the talks with our oldest son about how to act when he’s stopped by the cops. Notice I said when he’s stopped.

That’s because I have been stopped while doing everything from taking a walk to grocery shopping to helping someone move. My father in law runs a Medicar service that primarily caters to the elderly who need help getting from their homes to doctor’s appointments. My husband used to ride along to help him out, since it’s a family business. One day they were stopped by the police because some cop decided a white van leaving a hospital on the West Side of Chicago fit the description of a tan truck that had been involved in a robbery in the Loop. They forced them out of the vehicle at gunpoint while a bunch of elderly people watched & worried. When it became clear that they didn’t fit the description? The cops told them they were free to go and left. That’s it. No apology, no consideration for all the people in the vehicle, but then everyone involved was a POC.

Matter of fact, let me tell you about Kourtney Wilson. I’ve known her since she was a teenager. She’s a nice young lady who unfortunately has lupus. Two years ago she had a seizure, her roommate dialed 911 & when the paramedics came (despite being told about her health status), they manhandled her & had the police arrest her.  As if that wasn’t bad enough they took her all over the place (two different precinct houses & two different hospitals) so that she was denied medical treatment for 9 hours. Think about that for a second. NINE HOURS after she had the seizure she finally got the help she needed. And that’s a case that only made the local news & the blogosphere before vanishing into the Wayback machine to be dug up by people like me with a reason to know her name. Imagine being afraid to call an ambulance when someone you love needs one because they could be arrested for being sick. Imagine being killed in your own home like Kathryn Johnston or Aiyana Jones. Imagine being harassed or having a gun pulled on you just because you’re going about your day while being of color.

We don’t have to be at a protest, or actually fit the description of a suspect to have a negative interaction with the police. Officers like John Burge have tortured POC into confessing to crimes they didn’t commit & gotten away with it for decades. We know the police cannot be trusted. So, to see the police using pepper spray on protestors, or going out dressed in riot gear to evict them from encampments? Not at all a shock. I know some will say “Well now we know, & we’re trying to fix it for everyone” but you’ll pardon me if I don’t buy that the changes OWS is fighting for will extend to POC. Not when every time someone brings up race and OWS there is invariably a “It’s not about race, it’s about class. Why are you being divisive?” response from multiple people. POC of every class have to be concerned with the possibility of police brutality, & until OWS addresses that reality, how can it represent the entire 99%?

On Police Brutality, Living While Of Color, & Why Brutality At OWS isn’t Shocking -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

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13 Responses to On Police Brutality, Living While Of Color, & Why Brutality At OWS isn’t Shocking

  1. 1
    mythago says:

    So, to see the police using pepper spray on protestors, or going out dressed in riot gear to evict them from encampments? Not at all a shock.

    It is shocking…that they’re openly doing it to a primarily white group of college students, knowing those students have the resources to record them and to be believed.

    There is no hell vile enough for Burge.

  2. 2
    Emily says:

    I also didn’t find it shocking. Cops may learn these techniques policing communities of color, but the idea that it’s ok to treat people this way has so permeated the culture that many officers really and truly think its ok and will do it to anyone and think they will get away with it. Particularly saavy cops understand you can only get away with doing it to certain people, but lots of cops are not that saavy. And if you can get away with doing it to black Harvard professors, who’s to say you wouldn’t be able to get away with it with some PITA college students.

  3. 3
    CaitieCat says:

    Speaking as a trans woman and a former street sex worker, I get this all the way down. Totally.

    Being shocked is a big privilege.

  4. 4
    RonF says:

    John Burge. That man may well have filled a whole prison wing with innocent people. And yes, IIRC the vast majority of them were black.

    The questions on John Burge need to not stop with him. Did the District Attorney – one Richard Daley – help cover this up? A lot of people think so. That’s short of being proved, but there needs to be an honest and through investigation.

  5. 5
    L says:

    Not sure if any of you follow The Infamous Brad, but he wrote up a blog post the other day about the legality of police violence in this country, since claims about what is and isn’t legal for them to do is all over the place. What he actually did find out just adds another layer of ‘horribly disturbing’ to all the things that cops “illegally” get away with as it is:

    http://bradhicks.livejournal.com/452930.html

  6. 6
    Cross Cultural Comparisons says:

    Feministe covered Kourtney Wilson’s story here

    http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/10/22/woman-arrested-for-assault-while-having-a-seizure/

    I wish there were more info. I tried the wayback link you provided and could not get anything.

    I hope she sued the ass off someone for her “treatment”.

  7. 7
    mythago says:

    RonF: you might want to pick up Ultimate Punishment by Scott Turow, who was on the blue-ribbon panel convened by Gov. Ryan in Illinois to look at the death penalty. It’s not a pro- or anti-screed by any means, and it devotes a lot of space to Burge and his cronies – including the DAs who enabled him and his thugs.

  8. Pingback: News from White Land | Alas, a Blog

  9. 8
    Nancy Lebovitz says:

    Does anyone have ideas about how to make police abuse less likely? If you don’t, I’m not blaming you.

    It’s just that there’s such a large contingent of the public which is strongly in favor of abusive police (and this isn’t just about racism– they cheer when white people are abused, too), and I can’t see what to do about that.

    It may be that the only thing to do is keep talking about what’s happening, take legal action when possible, hope that the public hits a tipping point against police and justice system abuses, and push at all stages to make sure that abuses against black people and other people of color and poor people are kept on the agenda.

  10. 9
    Eytan Zweig says:

    I strongly believe that the only way to reduce police abuse is to realign the relationship between the public and the police. Both sides need to remember that the role of the police is to serve the public, not oppress it. This is as much the responsibility of the public as the police – as long as the public views the relationship as antagonistic, then that’s a self fulfilling prophecy.

    Now, I want to make it very clear here – I’m not blaming anyone but the police for police abuse. I certainly don’t blame people of colour and poor people for the systemic abuse against them. But having lived in several different societies, and having witnessed police/military abuse first hand, I think that police abuse is a symptom of deeper problems in the society, and not an issue that can be addressed on its own right. Keeping a closer watch on the police is a necessary step, but it’s also one that pushes the police further away from the public, and at best it will be a short term solution.

  11. 10
    Cross Cultural Comparisons says:

    The way to reduce police brutality is to reduce the number of police. There are way too many of them and they are a drain on tax payers.

  12. 11
    RonF says:

    mythago, thanks for the citation. There were a lot 0f people who thought that then-Gov. Ryan’s essentially blanket commutation of the death penalty was a cynical attempt to paint himself as a “good guy” in preparation for his upcoming trial. Me, I decided to take him at his word.

    IIRC, wasn’t Dick Daley then one of the DA’s involved?

  13. 12
    mythago says:

    RonF: interestingly, Turow mentions that in his book as well, and it’s his opinion that Ryan was trying to do the right thing, regardless of whether he was a ‘good guy’ in other areas of politics. I’m not sure offhand if Daley was involved in Burge’s corruption.