I was sitting in my computer room surfing the Internet when I came upon a picture of a 12-year-old African-American boy hugging a white police officer. The young boy was crying. When I read the short article I became overwhelmed with emotion and cried. I didn’t make any crying sound but I felt like I was hyperventilating so I took a few moments to take some deep breaths and calm myself.
It felt physically painful. I did not cry for me but for all of the young African-American boys like this 12-year-old who, simply because of the color of their skin, would be prejudged by a myriad of white people and as a result be treated like second class citizens. At best their hopes and dreams would be stymied and at worst they would be given up on.
Even if they did not grow up to be labeled as ‘angry black men’ far too many of them would become just a shell of what they could have become and thus less productive and effective citizens. This article is not meant to be an indictment of white people but a plea to those reasonable African-American and white people and all of our country’s leaders to sit down, talk, and resolve this problem.
Although I was in the computer room alone I still felt embarrassed because I had allowed my emotions to show and I was crying. I turned and checked the open door to make sure that my wife was not there to witness this display and quickly dried my eyes. How sad it is that I felt embarrassed about this. Unfortunately, this is what too many men of all colors – whether consciously or subconsciously, teach our sons. But that is a story for another time.
The point is that the article said that this picture was captured at a Portland, Oregon protest over the events that occurred in Ferguson and the boy was holding a “Free Hugs” sign. The article went on to say that “Portland Police Sgt. Bret Barnum saw the boy’s sign and asked if he could have a hug. The boy gave him one.”
I have been following the Ferguson saga from its beginning. I was hurting inside, and continue to hurt, because of what appears to be the cheap value that some white people assign to African-Americans’ lives; especially those white people who are in positions of authority. Too many young African-Americans’ lives have been snuffed out while too many white Americans turn their heads the other way and continue to say let’s move forward from hear, change things and heal.
Many young African-Americans have decided that they have heard this too many times and are demanding change now! It appears that they are no longer satisfied with accepting the advice of older African-American leaders who say that there is a proven way to bring about change and they must be patient and take that approach.
Although I am a product of the old school thinking and do not believe that violence is the way to bring about this change, I can certainly understand why young people of all colors have become impatient. We, all Americans, must come up with a way to pressure those in power to stop playing politics and step up to this glaring American problem! Let me give an example that will illustrate why it is such a real and glaring problem that we cannot continue to ignore.
Let’s address the case of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; however, let’s reverse all roles – except that of the prosecutor and make those who are white African-American and those who are African-American white. The story would go as follows:
An African-American police officer on a police force that is majority African-American in a majority white community comes upon two white male subjects, one of which is 18 years old, walking down the middle of the street. He respectfully or derogatorily (this is disputed) asks them to get on the sidewalk and begins to drive away. The 18-year-old subject makes a derogatory remark and the officer backs up his vehicle and confronts him.
The subject then reaches into the police car window and grabs the officer or the officer grabs the subject by his shirt and causes him to lean into the police car window (this is disputed). A struggle ensues and the subject tries to grab the police officer’s gun or the police officer draws his gun and the subject grabs it because he is afraid that the officer is going to shoot him (this is disputed). During the struggle a shot is fired wounding the subject’s thumb.
The subject breaks free from the police officer and he and the second subject run away from the officer. The officer exits his police car and chases the wounded subject while firing at him. A bullet hits the wounded subject or didn’t hit him (this is disputed), his body jerks from the impact, he stops running and turns and faces the officer.
He raises his hands in a gesture of surrender or did not raise his hands (this is disputed). The subject is wounded so stumbles toward the police officer or the subject clenched one hand into a fist and put the other in his waistband and rushed toward the police officer at ‘full charge'(this is disputed). The officer began to shoot the subject and continued to shoot him until he stopped coming toward him. Bullets struck the subject in the arm, the chest, the face, and the top of his head.
The second subject and other witnesses said that the subject that was shot had raised his hands in an effort to surrender but the police officer continued to shoot him. Other witnesses backed the police officer’s version of what happened before he killed the subject.
As a crowd gathered while the shooting was being investigated, the police officer that shot the subject drove himself back to the police station. While there, he washed the blood off of his hands and sealed his weapon in an evidence bag. Meanwhile, the subject’s body laid in the street where he was slain for more than four hours before it was removed.
The police officer that killed the subject was put on paid leave and was not charged in the shooting. Rather than seek an indictment on the officer and let a regular jury determine his guilt or innocence in open court, the prosecutor turned all of the evidence on the case over to a grand jury composed of 75% African-Americans and left the decision to indict or not to indict up to them.
While the grand jury was in session, various information favorable to the police officer was leaked to the public and the officer was allowed to testify before this jury. Before and after his testimony to the grand jury he disappeared and did not reappear in public until after he was exonerated and a ‘no true bill’, meaning that he would not be indicted, was issued.
After the grand jury made its decision, the prosecutor announced the decision to the public. However, before he revealed the decision he gave a 20 minute speech, which sounded like that of a defense attorney, that concluded with the announcement that the police officer who did the shooting would not be charged.
There are many questions that beg to be answered and I will provide those that I have and also answer them. But before I do that, let me add that this prosecutor had relatives on the police department including a father who was killed in the line of duty by an African-American man.
First, would the prosecutor have asked a grand jury to decide whether or not this police officer should be indicted? No. And if by some miracle he would have, you can bet that he would have provided the grand jury with only the evidence that supported his request for an indictment and not all of the available evidence.
Second, had the prosecutor sought an indictment via a grand jury, would he have allowed this officer to testify before the grand jury? It is highly unlikely that he would have.
Third, had the prosecutor wanted an indictment would the grand jury have issued one? It is highly likely that they would have.
Forth, could the prosecutor have charged this police officer, which would have required him to face a trial by a regular jury in open court rather than have a grand jury deliberate in secret and consider evidence to determine whether or not he should even be indicted? Yes.
Finally, under the circumstances in the above example, would you have been outraged at the issuance of a ‘no true bill’ by a grand jury? Would you have demanded from authorities that justice be done? Would you have been frustrated and hurt had the officer in the preceding story been set free and you were once again told that you should move on and make changes from here especially when this had happened to you numerous times before? How would you feel…Think about it; how would you really feel?
There is an obvious racial divide when it comes to the Ferguson situation and many others like it. The divide is not so much with young Americans as it is with the old geezers. If we want to help these young people to help us as we attempt to share our experience with them and guide them; we do not know everything and we can learn from them while they learn from us, we must first admit that this problem exists and then maybe we can stop burying our heads in the sand and do something about it.
Eulus Dennis
