Police treatment of African Americans has a troubled history in America.
On Nov. 25 the grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri determined that it would not indict Darren Wilson for the killing of Michael Brown.
On Dec. 2 the grand jury in Staten Island, New York similarly determined that it would not indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo for the death of Eric Garner in which Pantaleo put a choke hold on Garner during an arrest for illegally selling single cigarettes next to a local store. The Garner case involved a video showing Garner getting choked to death on the ground, with Pantaleo and six other officers on top of him, while crying out, “I can’t breathe.”
Both Brown and Garner were large black men who were killed by white police officers. Both men were killed during a failed arrest.
These and other cases are claimed to be proof that the American criminal justice system does not value the lives of black men. The legitimacy of the system is questioned because these officers were not subjected to accountability by being criminally charged and forced to answer in a criminal trial for their actions.
Arrests and trials of police officers, regardless of the outcome, are significant in establishing what police behaviors will receive public sanction. That public sanction establishes and affirms the value of the life injured or lost at the hands of the police. It’s the publicity of the sanction that matters. As Lord Chief Justice Hewart said in 1924 – “it is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.”
Protests that chant, “Black lives matter,” are the result of criminal accountability not being imposed upon the police. But this lack of accountability and the police placing little value on the lives of black men has a historical context. That context is the demonization, fear of and the need to control black men.
During slavery the black male was controlled, in part, through a certain narrative. The black man was viewed as physically powerful, intellectually limited and when properly controlled, trustworthy. During the early postbellum period, former slave owners changed the justification for control by asserting the black male was lazy, violent, criminal and powerful. This justification for control has remained a social constant, although it evolved over time.
In the 1920s, it was the need to control the violent cocaine crazed Negro. In the 1930s to 1950s, it was the need to control black men who, sober or not, if given the opportunity, would seek white women to rape.
From the 1960s to today, it has been the need to control disproportionate black crime, both black on black and black on white. Today’s explanation for black male criminality is failure of the black family structure (the lack of fathers to control black youth) and criminogenic aggression.
The belief that black males are dangerous operates within the subconscious of law enforcement and manifests itself in suspicion, fear and the determination to physically control young black men when interacting with them. It’s the assumed dangerousness of the young black male that creates the environment for aggressive policing.
Consider the recent shooting of John Crawford who was in a Wal-Mart, looking at a BB gun that was for sale in the store, but was reported to the police as a black man with a gun. The police shot and killed him.
Consider Tamir Rice, a 12 year old, who was playing with a toy gun but was reported to the police as menacing and was shot to death by two police officers immediately after they stopped their car in front of him.
Consider Akai Gurley and Timothy Stansbury who were both shot by NYPD officers when they were entering a darkened stairwell in their own buildings (the NYPD have publicly stated that neither of the men were doing anything illegal or threatening to the officers). The officers in both cases were in the building with their guns drawn because they were afraid and accidently shot the two men upon seeing them.
Policing is a system of control and the use of force. Police work is about the officers going home alive after an altercation. The loss of physical control leads to a fear of personal safety.
Put simply, the lack of dominance equals a lack of safety.
This fear for safety leads to police aggression. Subconscious fear of young black males leads police to perceive a threat and then act aggressively to maintain control. The combination of fear and the need for dominance can lead to a non-submissive black man dead in the street.
Dr. Arthur Garrison is an assistant professor of criminal justice at Kutztown University. This piece is the work of Dr. Garrison and does not reflect the opinions of Kutztown University or its faculty, staff, students or alumni.
