[News] Reading Beyond the Hashtag #every28hours - What If Michael Brown Had Been Armed?
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Fri Sep 5 12:23:28 EDT 2014
Weekend Edition September 5-7, 201
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#>
*Reading Beyond the Hashtag #every28hours*
What If Michael Brown Had Been Armed?
by ARLENE EISEN
It was simple arithmetic, I thought. In 2012, police, security guards
and vigilantes killed a total of 313 Black people. Divide the number of
hours in a year by 313 and you get one every 28 hours. If federal law
required all law enforcement agencies to report all their killings; if
most reporters didn't depend exclusively on police department press
releases; and if I had had more time to investigate, I have no doubt
that the number would have been 24 hours or even more often. Yet, after
spending more than 18 months in dogged research and data analysis
<http://www.operationghettostorm.org/uploads/1/9/1/1/19110795/operation_ghetto_storm_updated_october_2013.pdf>,
I am sure that at least one Black person is extrajudicially killed every
28 hours by police, security guards and vigilantes.
Still, I wish I had never decided to use, the hashtag "#every28hours".
I was seduced by the promise of social media that with a dramatic
slogan, the Report "would go viral." The hashtag encouraged people to
reduce 171 pages of radical analysis and data to 13 clock-related
characters. It can't be done.
*Operation Ghetto Storm*
"#OperationGhettoStorm" might have carried more meaning. It is an
adaption of the code name of the first U.S. invasion of Iraq. It
encapsulates the conclusion drawn from studying the deaths of 313 Black
people--the purpose, policies, high tech military hardware and mind-set
that were mobilized to invade Iraq also sustain the occupation and war
on Black and Brown communities inside the U.S. To prevent future
extrajudicial killings of Black people by those paid or sanctioned
(security guards and vigilantes) by the national security state, it is
important to know that these killings are a result of the perpetual war
on Black people. But, even with renewed interest in the Report, with
images of police is full battle gear maintaining a military occupation
of the community of Ferguson, the national conversation has focused more
narrowly on abusive police and taking them to court. /Operation Ghetto
Storm/ urges that we widen our lens to expose that Ferguson, like most
low-income Black and Brown communities, is a colonized community under
siege.
Here's an example of the pitfalls of communication by hashtag. On August
20, in one of those debates that corporate media set up more for
entertainment than for enlightenment, CNN pitted right-wing Black
pundit, Larry Elder against liberal Black commentator Marc Lamont Hill.
Lamont attempted explain that the killing of "unarmed Black youth
Michael Brown" was part of a pattern. Elder interrupted and demanded to
change the subject to "Black-on-Black" violence. In an exchange, now
partially deleted from CNN's website, Elder accused Hill, "You don't
even know how many Black people are killed by police."
"Yes we do know," Hill proclaimed, "Every 28 hours an unarmed Black
person is killed," and he cited the Report. Unfortunately for Hill,
neither the hashtag, nor the Report, distinguished between "armed" or
"unarmed". It counted the total.
Politifact.com gleefully pointed out Hill's error based on their review
of the Report and then flipped to their own racist misreading of the
Report.[1]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftn1>
If perhaps, Hill had thought about /Operation Ghetto Storm/ rather than
"Every 28 hours", he might have countered, with a quote from the Report.
"We certainly do not intend to minimize the horror and importance of
thousands of Black people who tragically die at the hands of other Black
people each year. However, in general, those killings are not directly
sponsored or sanctioned by federal, state and local governments. On the
other hand, police, sheriffs, security guards and to a certain extent
self-appointed enforcers of the law (vigilantes) ARE authorized by
governments and paid for by taxes."
They killed 313 in 2012, and 288 of these killings involved unnecessary
excessive force. Only 10 police officers and 16 security
guards/vigilantes were ever charged with a crime. In contrast, both the
victims who survive and the perpetrators of intracommunal violence
("Black-on-Black crime") end up in the rosters of the more than million
Black people incarcerated in the U.S. The Report also details the ways
that the state even promotes intra-communal violence through its
involvement in drug trafficking from the federal to local levels.
*Does it matter: hoodie or suit, aged 9 or 29, gun or no gun?*
Accounts of his fatal encounter with Officer Darren Wilson, April 9,
invariably add the adjective "unarmed" to Michael Brown's name.
Community outrage flared when news spread that Brown was unarmed.
Demands for justice hinged on Brown's innocence, proven by the fact that
he had no gun. Protest marchers demonstrated his unarmed status and made
it iconic with the chant "Hands up, don't shoot." Brown was not the
first or the last unarmed Black person to be killed by police, security
guards and vigilantes. /Operation Ghetto Storm /reported that 136 or 44%
of the 313 killed had no weapon at all at the time they were executed.
Another 83 or 27% allegedly possessed a gun, but police reports of gun
possession frequently turn out to be false. [2]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftn2>
Police are infamous for planting weapons or declaring that a cell phone,
wallet or other harmless object is a gun. While, reporters rarely
question police reports, /Operation Ghetto Storm /required corroboration
before accepting allegations as fact.
Still, 62 or 20% of those 313 killed in 2012 were armed---including
three who carried toy or replica guns. Please keep in mind that in 41
states, including Missouri, it is legal to carry a pistol openly, in
public.[3]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftn3>
Some states require permits, most do not. Carrying a gun is not a crime,
let alone a capital offense.
However, Black people have been so demonized that the public, including
some Black people, typically sees an armed Black man as a menace at
best, and, at worst, as a terrorist to be shot on sight as efficiently
as possible with militarized overkill.
Study of the 313 deaths profiled in /Operation Ghetto Storm/ leads to
the conclusion that whether a Black mother's child is young or old,
wearing a hoodie or a suit, carries a gun or not, makes little
difference. That child will still be subject to omnipresent
surveillance, racial profiling, mass incarceration, trial without due
process and execution without trial. For example, conservative white
pundit Ben Stein insisted, "He (Michael Brown) wasn't unarmed. He was
armed with his incredibly strong, scary self." [4]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftn4>
Before you dismiss this remark as the hate speech of a right-wing
fanatic, consider that 47% of killer cops are routinely justified and
returned to duty when they claim, without a scintilla of evidence, that
they felt threatened by an unarmed "suspect" and another 36% kill with
impunity based on their unsubstantiated allegations like "suspect
lunged".[5]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftn5>
Regardless of how fatal encounters with police begin, whether they
involve activity that violates the laws of the state or the laws of
basic human decency, no one should be sentenced to death without trial.
In most countries, even with a trial, capital punishment is considered
barbaric. The use of deadly force---regardless of how police paperwork,
investigators and juries try to rationalize it---is almost always
excessive and "extrajudicial" by international human rights standards.
The Report pointed out one exception. In 2012, twenty-five cases or 8%
involved situations where the "suspect" shot at, wounded and/or killed
police officers and/or others while the police were on the scene.
Although it may have been preferable to stop them with non-lethal force,
the use of lethal force in these circumstances can be justified.
No comprehensive study for 2013 or the first half of 2014 has been
published, but it is safe to assume the numbers have not improved since
last year's update of /Operation Ghetto Storm/. Given the escalating
militarization of local police and intensified demonization of Black
people, there is reason to believe that the numbers have deteriorated.
The painful truth is that these state-sponsored and sanctioned
killings are part of a comprehensive system of containment that ranges
from surveillance, profiling, mass incarceration to military occupation
and death. Until Black and Brown communities organize for a long haul
struggle against this system, the killings will continue.
*Police Impunity Exposes National Security State *
The legal system almost always police to commit homicide with impunity.
The names of only a few of the 313 people on the 2012 death roll have
become nationally- known rallying cries for justice: like Trayvon
Martin, Remarley Graham and now Michael Brown.**Their murders have
sparked massive mobilizations, media commentary, calls for government
intervention, lawsuits and endless legal wrangling. However, after the
initial announcements in local news media, the lives of most of those
who were executed are forgotten. In some cases, scanty police reports
and press coverage barely note their deaths. The failure of the federal
government to require police to fully report all killings, including
race-based data, is deliberate and helps perpetuate police impunity.[6]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftn6>
The standard procedure in most jurisdictions is for police involved in
fatal shootings to be given paid time off or "desk-duty" while the
department investigates itself. The press applauds their fine records,
while headlines scream about the "criminal past" of the deceased. Almost
all killer cops are routinely exonerated and quickly return to duty.
Grieving families who typically ask, "Why did he have to die?" are
ignored. If there is some demonstrated, concerted community outrage, the
case may be investigated further. The legal system rarely charges the
executioners. In 2012, of the 313 extrajudicial killings only ten
officers were ever charged: three for vehicular crimes stemming from
reckless driving and seven for manslaughter.
To date, of those ten charged officers, four were acquitted or had their
charges dropped. Two pleaded guilty to misdemeanor vehicular
manslaughter, two of the have not yet been litigated, and two faced
"unimpeachable" evidence.[7]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftn7>
New Orleans plainclothes officer Joshua Colclough shot Wendell Allen,
who was wearing only his pajama bottoms. Confronted with videotaped
evidence and community outrage at the killing of a star athlete,
Coclough pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to four years.
Randy Trent Harrison of Del City Arkansas was convicted of first degree
manslaughter for shooting Dane Garrett Scott in the back. Scott was
unarmed with his hands in the air. In a nearly unique act, another
police officer who witnessed the shooting refuted Harrison's version of
events. Harrison was also found to have drugs in his system. He received
a four-year sentence.
The convictions of these two officers are the exceptions that prove the
rule. In 2012, district attorneys, grand juries and other state agents
refused to charge nearly 300 police officers responsible for the
extrajudicial killing of Black people. Several recent Supreme Court
decisions have reinforced this impunity.[8]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftn8>
Nor have the Executive or Legislative branches of government done
anything to limit the impunity police enjoy. On the contrary, they have
supplied police with enough military hardware to wage several wars at a
time, passed legislation that strips citizens of the basic rights that
protect against all forms of police tyranny, given various agencies
carte blanche to monitor citizens' every move and utterance, justified
racist profiling and provided infinite funds to maintain a system of
mass incarceration. If you think the label of "national security state"
for our government and its armed agencies is hyperbole, think again.
/Operation Ghetto Storm /reported on more than the extrajudicial killing
of one Black person every 28 hours. The study of the outcomes of the
killing of 313 human beings documented that federal investigations,
lawsuits, trials and tweaking laws won't protect our children or prevent
the next Michael Brown. /Operation Ghetto Storm/ sounded an alarm that
the national security state threatens the survival of Black and Brown
people and ultimately negates everyone's rights. The horror of police
troopers firing on protesters in Ferguson, hurling curses along with
teargas, calling them animals and threatening them with death---all on
camera---turned that alarm into a deafening siren.
The actual eardrum piercing military equipment used against the people
of Ferguson spurred their resistance. Their example of massive community
participation gives new energy to a national comprehensive campaign to
challenge surveillance, racist profiling, mass incarceration, police
impunity----to organize block by block a movement capable of ending
military occupation of all oppressed communities so they become self
determining with full human rights to life, housing, health, education
and dignified employment.
/*Arlene Eisen* is the author of the report called Operation Ghetto
Storm: 2012 Annual Report on the Extrajudicial Killings of 313 Black
People by Police, Security Guards and Vigilantes, published by Malcolm X
Grassroots Movement with preface by Kali Akuno, revised edition posted
October 2013 at www.operationghettostorm.org
<http://www.operationghettostorm.org/>/
*Notes.*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftnref1>
http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/aug/26/marc-lamont-hill/unarmed-black-person-shot-every-28-hours-says-ma/)
[2]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftnref2>
.A classic study documented that 76% of officers admitted that they
frequently bent the facts to establish "probable cause" and 48% said
that judges were correct in tossing out police testimony as
untrustworthy.
http://www.vice.com/read/testilying-cops-are-liars-who-get-away-with-perjury
[3]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftnref3>
. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_the_United_States_by_state
[4]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftnref4>
. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ben-stein-michael-brown-unarmed
[5]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftnref5>
See /Operation Ghetto Storm" at //www.operationghettostorm.org/
<http://www.operationghettostorm.org>//p. 25-26.
[6]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftnref6>
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/radley-balko/why-is-there-no-good-data_b_2278013.html
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/radley%5Fbalko/why%5Fis%5Fthere%5Fno%5Fgood%5Fdata_b_2278013.html>
and
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/sunday-commentary/20120810-stephan-salisbury-police-shootings-go-largely-ignored.ece
<http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/sunday%5Fcommentary/20120810%5Fstephan%5Fsalisbury%5Fpolice%5Fshootings%5Fgo%5Flargely%5Fignored.ece>
[7]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftnref7>
http://www.operationghettostorm.org/uploads/1/9/1/1/19110795/14_09_02_impunity_table.pdf
[8]
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/05/what-if-michael-brown-had-been-armed/#_ftnref8>
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/opinion/how-the-supreme-court-protects-bad-cops.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0
--
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