Republican leadership refuses to admit racism in police force

Republican leadership refuses to admit racism in police force

By Roger Caldwell

After a Pennsylvania cop was fired for using the N-word on social media, and two Georgia white police officers were fired for racist and sexist Face-book posts, Trump and Pence want Americans to think there is no racism in the police force.

These are not isolated incidents in police forces across the country; they happen more often than not.  Police officers are being fired and/or disciplined for violating first amendment rights, use of excessive force, and abusing the search and seizure policy against Black people.

Police departments admit there are bad apples in every force because some police officers have implicit biases, but they are not considered racist. They will admit that there are “gypsy cops” who are fired and hired by other forces in other counties. Many of these “gypsy cops” are psychologically unstable, so there are problems.

After six police officers were found innocent in the death of Freddie Gray, the US Department of Justice investigated the Baltimore Police Department and this is what they found. In a yearlong investigation, they found blatant racism at every level of their operation, and the use of excessive force even though there was no imminent threat.

Specifically, they targeted 2 small Black communities in the city which comprised 11% of the population, but was charged with 44% of the crime.

It is obvious that the police around the country operate with immunity when it comes to the Black community, and in a Democratic country, Black people have a right to ask “Where is the Justice?”

In Baltimore, the Department of Justice also found that the police department violated first amendment rights. Many times when there was a confrontation with a Black and a police officer, it ended up being a violent confrontation because the two could not communicate with each other. It was concluded the officer was mostly right.

There will be no criminal charges in Greensboro, North Carolina after a police officer violently attacked a Black man who was sitting on his mother’s porch waiting for her to come home. The police officer was responding to a neighbor’s call and it started very polite, but within a couple of minutes, the Black man was thrown to the ground, and punched by the police officer. According to reporter Giovanni Zaburoni, the officer said the Black man was resisting arrest and he was going to hit him again, even though the Black man tried to explain he was not resisting arrest.

Angela Braden, a reporter at the Sinclair Grey, on October 1, 2016 published an article when two Sacramento police officers sparked a national outrage when they attempted to run over a homeless Black man, and ended up shooting him to death. The audio in the dash cam footage recorded officers saying, “I’m going to hit him.” His partner says” Okay – Go for it. Go for it.”

The family has filed a wrongful death law suit against the Sacramento Police Department and the two officers. The two officers got out of their vehicles, and shot the homeless man fourteen times, and no weapon was found on the individual.

This is happening in police departments across the country. Donald Trump and Mike Pence refuse to admit there is racism and fundamental systemic crimes perpetrated against Black people in their own communities. The police departments are allowing crimes from their officers that are a disgrace to our nation.

It is time for the Republican campaign to pull their heads out of the sand and acknowledge that conditions of excessive force and racism exist in police departments across the country. Hillary is right when she says “Our criminal justice system is out of balance.”

Hillary wants to bring law enforcement and communities together to develop national guidelines on the use of force by police officers, commit $1 billion to funding for better training programs, and end racial profiling. Hillary has a plan and she is not afraid to acknowledge that systemic racism is a reality in America’s police departments.