Now is not the time to take the pressure off of America’s justice system. The appearance of the responsible officials and our politicians finally beginning to make an effort to actually try to address the problem is not enough. We have seen this act far too many times before already. Officials and politicians from the local level all the way up to the White House who are responsible for assuring liberty and justice for all have not been doing their jobs.
Too many innocent, unarmed people – especially young Black men – have died and many who were justifiably arrested, whether the charge was a misdemeanor or a felony, have been unnecessarily brutalized by the arresting police officers and incarcerated for excessive periods of time. Those in authority have winked at this problem while too many of the rest of us have just accepted it and turned our heads the other way out of sheer frustration.
We have come to believe that this is just the way that it is and accept the status quo because we feel that there is absolutely nothing that we can do about it. Too many Americans have died or otherwise been abused by our justice system because they have little or no money, which means they have no power. Our justice system is skewed toward those with money and power and although most Americans realize that this is a problem and talk openly about it, again, we accept it because we have come to believe that this is just the way that it is and there is nothing that we can do about it.
Those who feel this way are wrong. We can and should – no must, do something about it. We can vote! We can use the power of our vote to oust those who have become comfortable with the title of politician and refuse to do the job that they were elected to do. Too many politicians have willingly and openly accepted the fact that many Americans believe that they will lie and do almost anything else to remain in office once they have tasted that power and potential to line their own pockets: and so they use this to their advantage.
I borrow words from the late Dr. Martin Luther King when I say that they do their jobs “in times of comfort and convenience” but become shrinking violets when it comes to doing it in times of “challenge and controversy.” During these times of challenge and controversy they play politics…and we allow them to get away with it. While it is true that we have the ability to vote now, with some of the things that are going on in the political world with many politicians working to figure out a way to prevent us from voting, there is no guarantee that we will retain it.
I decided to write this article because of an article I read in the Associated Press dated May 3, 2015. The article was by Jeffrey Collins and entitled ‘State police won’t release dashcam video of officer shooting.‘ The article reminded me of a time back in the late 1950’s when the police chased my dad (followed would probably be a more appropriate word) home. At the time, we were living on Arapaho Street in Denver in what was referred to as ‘the projects.’
The story can best be told via an excerpt from my book, ‘Living Between The Line’ and it goes as follows:
Vernon enjoyed nice clothes and good liquor and over the years had become a heavy drinker. His drinking and driving did not make for a good mix and since Vernon did not have a Driver’s license, this only made matters worse. As fate would have it Vernon’s drinking and driving without a license ultimately caught up with him. One day while Matt was still in elementary school and still cruising the neighborhood on his cool scooter with his friend Billy he witnessed a scene that he will never forget. Matt and Billy had just arrived in front of Matt’s house when they heard the sound of a siren.
Matt and Billy turned their heads in the direction of the sound and to Matt’s amazement there was his dad being chased by the police. Perhaps it should be said that he was being followed by the police because although the police had their siren on, when they passed by Matt and Billy on the street in front of Matt’s house they were smiling and talking to one another.
Vernon was only traveling about 25 to 30 miles per hour but he refused to stop. He was signaling for every turn that he made. The funny thing was that he was not using his turn signals but was giving hand signals. In this case, he had his arm outside of the window and pointing toward the sky, which meant that he was preparing to make a right turn.
Matt and Billy ran to the corner just in time to see Vernon arrive at the corner at the end of another block and see him once again place his arm outside the window and point toward the sky. Vernon continued to do this until he reached the parking lot behind his apartment in the projects where he got out of the automobile and the police officers approached him. Vernon was obviously very drunk!
Bonnie had witnessed this scene from her apartment window and had an idea where Vernon was headed when he passed in front of the apartment so she was at the parking lot waiting when Vernon arrived. By now, Matt and Billy were in Matt’s back yard watching to see what would happen to Vernon: Matt was afraid because he feared that his dad would go to jail. Fortunately, as Vernon stood bobbing and weaving in front of the police officers, they only gave him a good long lecture and released him to Bonnie. Bonnie took him into the house and put him to bed.
Unfortunately, the story in the article that Mr. Jeffrey Collins wrote ended in the death of the 68-year-old driver in the driveway of his own home. He, like my dad, was drunk. The police officer who shot him was indicted on criminal charges. Click on the link to the article above if you would like to read it in the Associated Press.
My point is that equal justice under the law is the right of every American despite the color of their skin and regardless of what law they have broken. Excessive or unwarranted lethal force by the police must be neither condoned nor tolerated. Although Grand Juries likely do the best that they can in accordance with the law, there is a fatal flaw in this process that must be addressed and corrected by those officials and politicians who have the power to correct it.
I refuse to believe that the rich and powerful, politicians and those officials who head justice-related institutions from local levels all the way up to national levels do not see what is happening. I refuse to believe that they are incapable of comprehending how dangerous this road that we are traveling is.
It is my opinion that there is something else that is preventing these obviously intelligent and smart people from attacking this problem and doing the right thing to correct it. I believe that that ‘something else’ is money and politics. And until the preponderance of those big money people decide that things can go so terribly wrong if we continue down this same road that it will have a negative impact on their money and as a result force change, or voters step up and force politicians to do the jobs that they were elected to do, we will continue to have this problem.
Eulus Dennis