In sheer numbers, cops kill more white people every year than any other demographic. That's a well-documented fact. Granted, people of color are killed at a far greater rate, with far less provocation, and certainly in a far more brutal fashion; but in an environment where cops reign supreme, the majority community though safer is certainly not immune to the threats facing their melanated brethren. The fact is, this Frankenstein that was created especially for black folks is now out of control. Despite the evidence, however, the majority community continue to behave as if law enforcement officers are their own personal pocket security.
A September 2016 Pew Research poll showed that 81 percent of whites have confidence in their local police.
With shameful arrogance, some white people continue to behave with the 17th-century belief that law enforcement agencies primary purpose for existing is to protect them from people of color. Thus, at the drop of a hat — if even that — members of the majority community will call the cops to enforce the status quo — to do for them what they no longer can legally do themselves, i.e., put black and brown bodies in their pre-assigned places. Over the past couple months, we have seen a slew of these incidents; examples of police responding to and acting on the wishes of racist, hateful, entitled people affronted at the presence of blackness defiling their sacred spaces.
I have been threatened with cops a few times. The last incident happened about two months ago when I handed a couple hundred dollar bills to a cashier in a popular pharmacy here in Connecticut and watched as she counted them, checked them, and prepared to put them in the cash register. That wasn’t enough for the neighboring cashier who looked over and said: "Are you sure those are ok?" I'd just gotten the money from the bank so I wasn't at all concerned about her checking and rechecking them at her leisure, but there was just that not-too-subtle something that made me doubt that there would have been any concern had I been a white customer. I waited until my transaction was completed and not content with the death stares I was sending, and to which she seemed totally oblivious, I said to the busybody, "I guess I look like a counterfeiter, uh?" She: "I didn't say that, Miss." Me: "No, you didn't, did you?” She, continuing without pause and not waiting to hear my response: "But if there's any trouble we'll just call the police and let them deal with it." The police?! I heard her; her words registered and I saw the smirk on her face as she played her ace with malicious glee. Two things happened simultaneously: One, I could feel the blood rushing from my head threatening to leave me cold and on the verge of fainting. The other was a creeping rage that I’ve only felt a few times in my life. The images of human fruits and horrifically decorated backs flashed through my mind’s eye. I’m not a violent person, but at that moment I wanted to hurt her. Physically hurt her. In the end, my response was a rather mild one which did not betray my inner turmoil. "Of course, asshole. Go right ahead and call your cops." And I walked out.
My busybody was all set to get the law involved over a snarky comment; let’s take a look at some of the cases for which the cops were called just this year, and then let’s talk. Let’s talk about the relationship between over-policing and racism.
For having a cell phone
Former football player Desmond Morrow just narrowly escaped death. He was slammed to the concrete sidewalk, choked, had his teeth knocked out, arrested and thrown into isolation all because a white man decided he had no business being where he was and that he had the temerity to be talking back to him. This guy not only called the cops but he also very maliciously informed them that Desmond had a gun and that he had threatened him and his wife. Oooh, red flag alert! In the video below you’ll see our man hovering around the action; watching as his pocket security whup a black man into submission. Notice how close to the action he’s allowed to get.
Desmond Marrow, a personal trainer and former University of Toledo football player who was briefly on NFL and CFL rosters, but never played a professional game, wrote on Instagram, “I only had my cell phone in my possession & they claimed to be scared for their lives. I had no type of weapon in my possession, I was arrested for having a gun that turned out to be my cell phone.”
***Warning*** This video is brutal. It’s traumatizing. It made me sick to my stomach. It messed me up. The filming starts with Desmond already 'cuffed. It seems to me that all they needed to do was to put him into their squad car and drive off; but no, they decided to put on a little show.
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Request for a refund — 3/12/2018
William Colbert, a 39-year-old welder and pipe-fitter living in Merced, said he went to an AMPM market on March 12 to buy an iced tea after having an allergic reaction to medication at Mercy Medical Center. While inside the store, Colbert said, he demanded a clerk refund his credit card following a dispute over the purchase.
The clerk not only refused to refund Mr. Colbert, they then threatened to call the police and proceeded to do just that. And that wasn’t the most dangerous thing they did: they outrightly lied to the cops by telling them that Mr. Colbert was armed.
“Why would you be arresting me when I haven’t committed any crime?” Colbert recalled saying to the officer.
McComb, who is white, and at least two other cops then “bum rushed” Colbert, he said, taking him to the ground and pushing his face into a puddle. Colbert said he was then “afraid to fight for his life,” worried that his attempts to raise his face out of the puddle would be construed by the officers as an attempt to resist arrest.
The 39-year-old said that he went to the ground to avoid any more trouble, but officers still began kicking and punching him from behind. One officer reportedly raked his arm with handcuffs.
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Request for plastic utensils — 4/22/2013
Twenty-five-year-old Chikesia Clemons and her friend went to a local Waffle House in Alabama, ordered their meals and requested plastic utensils.
Clemons asked for plastic utensils while placing an order at the Waffle House on Industrial Parkway in Saraland early Sunday morning, and was told by a female employee that plasticware costs 50 cents, according to Clemons-Howard.
When Clemons and Adams told the employee that they had not been charged for utensils when they purchased food from the same Waffle House the night before, the employee canceled the order, Clemons-Howard said. At that point Clemons asked for the contact information of the Waffle House district manager who oversees the Saraland location.
"They didn't even ask her to leave, she was waiting for them to give her the district manager's card so she could file a complaint on one of the waitresses," Clemons-Howard said. "When they went to go get the card, that's when the police showed up. The officer should've come in and said we need you to leave."
Ms. Clemons was manhandled, wrestled to the ground, arrested, and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Watch as the cop threatened to break her arm:
Unlike some of the other cases, both the police and Waffle House are defending their actions.
Both the Police Department and Waffle House have said that the cellphone video did not show the full story and that the officers acted appropriately and had reason to arrest Ms. Clemons. A Waffle House spokesman said “police intervention was appropriate.”
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Golfing while black — 4/22/2018
Five professional black women went golfing last Sunday. What should have been a relaxing day for the friends quickly turned sour when the racist owners objected to their presence in a space that traditionally has had no time for melanin. Oh, they didn’t spill their hatred of the black skin in such blatant terms. This is 2018 and not 1918, after all. They had a reason: the women were playing too slowly, and so, they had to leave. And before they told the women that they had to leave, they had already called their pocket security. The cops were on their way to do for them what they can no longer legally do: manhandle and brutalize black bodies and put them in their assigned places.
Thompson said the man from the second hole, identified as former York County Commissioner Steve Chronister, his son, club co-owner Jordan Chronister and several other white, male employees approached the remaining two women and said they took too long of a break and they needed to leave the course.
The women argued they took an appropriate break, and that the men behind them were still on their beer break and not ready to tee off, as seen in a video Thompson gave the newspaper. The women were told that the police had been called, and so they waited.
This had me laughing out loud:
She [owner’s wife] said she hopes to meet with them to discuss how the club can use what happened as a learning experience and do better in the future.
After every exposure of their assholery, there’s the obligatory offer of a meeting. A meeting about what, pray tell? How to behave like a fucking decent human being? How to treat others with professionalism and respect? How to overcome your hatred of the black skin? What do you want to discuss now that your hate has been captured on video and the world will now see exactly who and what you are? I love the response from the group to the ass-saving invitation to talk:
“There needs to be something more substantial to understand they don’t treat people in this manner,” she said.
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Dining at Applebee’s while black — 2/12/2018
Two young black women went to dinner at Applebee’s one evening last February. A white worker saw them and instantly recognized them as two thieves. She knew they were thieves because they were black just like two other black women who were there the day before. She promptly called for her pocket security forces and they promptly responded. Here one of the women recounted the humiliating ordeal:
My friend and I were shopping at the independence center in independence, Missouri(Near Kansas City), when we were done we decided to get a bite to eat at Applebee’s. About an hour into out dinner we were approached by a Independence police officer, a mall cop, and the restaurant manager. We were told that we were accused of eating and not paying for CHICKEN the day before (dining and dashing). Mind you that we have proof that can show our whereabouts and it’s not even in our character to steal. After being mocked, humiliated, and embarrassed we were asked to pay for our food, leave, and not come back. After leaving, calls were made to the restaurant and the manager stated that our accuser remembered that there was a SKINNY girl and a girl who wore MAKEUP. In 2018 is this really what we’re debased to? Our weight and whether or not we wore makeup. She could not recognize any facial features or any defining characteristics .
In this case, much to the disappointment of the little racist who called the cops, the women were spared physical abuse. Though traumatizing, they thankfully only had to deal with emotional abuse, humiliation, and the mocking condescension of the cops.
Some people have described the crying of one of the women as “annoying.” The cop mocked her when he asked, “Is she always this emotional?” And when told to shush, she responded with “I’m not going to stop crying,” and she wailed even harder. I understand why she cried. I was crying right along with her. Someone precious to me is one of only two students of color in a particular program. She’s had to be dealing with some members of her cohort trying to gaslight her and to pigeonhole her as the “angry black woman.” Recently, things got to something of a head and she started crying. “I’m sorry I made you cry,” said the one who’d made the most offensive comment. Said my precious one, “You didn’t make me cry; I’m crying because of the injustice of it all. I’m crying because I’m so angry right now that it makes it difficult to articulate my thoughts.”
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Waiting at Starbucks while black
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Working out at LA Fitness while black
I left this incident for last because sometimes, just sometimes, the police will refuse to allow themselves to be used as weapons against the innocent. Despite having a current membership and not violating any of the rules and regulations, a young black man and his guest were asked to leave his gym. Not content to see them walk out on their own free will, the management decided to whip out their pocket security. They called and five cops showed up to do their bidding… they hoped.
“My friend stated to her that he is an active and current member and that his gym tag was in his locker. He felt racially profiled and embarrassed by the harassment of this La Fitness employee in front of other members at the gym.”
As the two men continued to work-out, police officers showed up and started to question them about their memberships.
This time the cops took no action, actually seemed embarrassed to be there, and the racists were all told that their services would no longer be needed by the gym.
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Over-Policing means policing that’s excessive especially as it relates to minority populations.
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Let’s talk
Attorney Al McSurely (a white man) of the Moral Monday Movement says that racism is a white people’s problem. It’s white people, he asserts, who must solve this problem. This is not a local matter, nor are they isolated incidents. What can you do to stop the brutalization of black bodies? What are you doing? Give us some ideas here, please. We need help.