Police brutality can't be fixed by African-American self-improvement
To date, I have seen no satisfactory response.
Let's be clear. The question of what African-American people can and should do in the cause of African-American uplift is a valid one. But to suggest -- as many readers did, as certain pundits and politicians have --that uplift is the answer to police brutality is to miss the point. The issue here is not: What can black people do to improve themselves? Rather, it is: What can we do to stop cops from assaulting them for no reason?
We might begin with something as simple and self-evident as demanding police accountability. It should tell you something that it took two grand juries to indict Webster, even though that video leaves no doubt of his guilt. It should also tell you something that he did this knowing the camera was on. Obviously, he didn't fear any consequences. Why should he? America's bizarre terror of black men is so epidemic that a police officer will often get the benefit of the doubt even when there is no doubt.
The "reasoning" goes something like this: If the cops beat you, they must have had a reason. And obviously you did something wrong or they wouldn't have shot you.
In a nation where those naive assumptions are very common, who can be surprised that indictments and convictions of bad cops are very rare? In such a nation, the brazen misbehavior of a Cpl. Webster becomes not simply predictable, but inevitable. So it's deeply frustrating that some of us believe police brutality can be fixed by African-American self-improvement.
You will never solve any problem you can't even bring yourself to face.
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(Leonard Pitts, a columnist for The Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132, fills in occasionally for Clarence. Readers may contact him via e-mail at lpitts@miamiherald.com.)
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