Police Brutality in Cincinnati (?)
It is time we examine our hearts and minds and be honest with ourselves on the racism issue. As Americans, we must look deep into ourselves and ask the most serious questions. And even more importantly, we have got to listen to the answers.
Is it a racist hate crime for a law enforcement officer to follow their training and protect and serve the public? When a policeman confronts a guy twice his size and is on the receiving end of the first blow, is it a hate crime for the cops to restrain the individual? Would it help to know that the criminal was high on narcotics (PCP and cocaine)? When the guy dies in custody, should the community be outraged at the police department or at themselves?
The media has selectively shown video that makes the situation appear to be a case of police brutality. When you watch the whole, unedited video, with the audio, you get a much greater understanding of what actually happened. More on the media in a moment, but here is what happened:
The employees of the restaurant notice some odd behavior in Nathaniel Jones, but don’t call for paramedics until the guy passes out in their parking lot. When fire department officials arrive, Mr. Jones gets rather belligerent with them and they call in the police department (per their training). Once the police arrive, the paramedics leave the scene (also per their training) without notifying the policemen. (Paramedics are trained to leave the scene as soon as possible so that the police have fewer people that they have to protect in these kinds of situations.) As the cops get out of their car, they ask Mr. Jones what is going on (he is up and carrying on by now) to which he grunts and groans and starts coming at the police. The policeman asks Mr. Jones to stay back and to back up, orders which Mr. Jones ignores. Mr. Jones lets loose with a couple of racial slurs (“white boy redneck”)then informs the policeman that he is going to “show them what his mama taught him” and takes a swing at the officer. It is at this point that backup starts showing up and the altercation gets physical. The police try to get Mr. Jones to the ground repeatedly, but he fails to comply. They repeatedly order him to put his hands behind his back so they can handcuff him. They use their batons to try to convince him to obey with their commands. The officers used their nightsticks in the manner that was consistent with their training. Once they get Mr. Jones restrained, they immediately stop the beating and take stock of Mr. Jones’s situation. They believe that Mr. Jones is experiencing a medical problem and start looking and calling for paramedics to come back.
Lessons to be learned (again) from this situation: (1) Drugs are bad for you. They make you think that you can do things that you can not do. (2) When a police officer tells you to do something, you do it. Compliance with the law is required. This is not negotiable. (3) Racism is still alive in this country. You’ll be surprised where you might find it if you really look. (4) Americans, regardless of race, color, creed, whatever, have a right to freedom but that right is tempered by the responsibility to comply with the law. (5) Police officers have the right to defend themselves. They are trained to do so. If you attack a cop, you should expect to be treated in the same manner. (6) Ridiculous rhetoric and “sound bite” journalism is irresponsible and is contributing to the racism problem. Sensationalism is not the answer and is not helping in the search for a solution. In fact, this nonsense further complicates an already complex situation. (7) Calling an event or person “racist” that isn’t is denigrating the severity of the word racism and the importance of fighting that evil. Remember what happened when Peter cried Wolf… (8) When a community plays the blame game instead of accepting responsibility, everybody loses. Real, honest progress can not happen until people acknowledge responsibility for their behavior.
Now, to the media coverage. If you “hook” you audience with a false impression of an event, you are not being a responsible journalist. The media loses its objectivity when they show pictures of a man getting beaten and don’t preface that video with Mr. Jones calling out racial epitaphs and taking a swing at a cop who is half his size. You can’t ask the question, “Is this police brutality?” and not then answer the question. At the very least, make it a poll question. The media has a responsibility to do more than ask rhetorical questions. If the media wants to report on the events, they should do so thoroughly. If they want to engage in social engineering, they should call it commentary and not news. The American people rely on journalists to be fair and objective reports that come to a story without an agenda and without a bloodthirsty quest for ratings. Now I realize that ratings is what it is all about with the media, but at some point it is imperative for the media to accept responsibility for their contribution to the problem. And let’s be clear, the problem that I am talking about is racism. And I’m not talking about the diversity of the news staff, I’m charging the media with complicity in perpetuating racism in the manner in which the news is reported. Fellow Americans, I urge you to hold the news agencies and media outlets accountable for their content. (Please see the media contact section of the sidebar.) The media should not fan the flames for the sake of their ratings.
Racism is alive and well in this country. We must work harder to eliminate this form of evil from all our hearts and minds. We live in a country with great opportunity for all. There is plenty to go around. Conservatives aren’t out to get it all. Liberals can’t give it all away. The zero-sum game is a false paradigm for the American Dream. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is what is guaranteed in the Constitution. The pursuit of happiness doesn’t mean that you are entitled to get everything you want. You have to take responsibility for your dreams and do something about it yourself. If you work hard, work smart, and do the things that are required for success, anybody can achieve anything in this great nation of ours. We must accept responsibility for our behavior and stop the insanity of playing the blame game. We must stop crying wolf when there is none. And we must challenge those who do (can you hear me Rev. Jackson? NAACP? Mr. Mfume? Presidential candidate Sharpton? KKK? Neo-Nazi skinheads? Locally, Damon Lynch, Nate Livingston, Ken Lawson, et al. Etc., etc., etc…).
MATT
