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Amadou Diallo

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character...

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 

With the shooting of Amadou Diallo, a 22 year-old street vendor, on February 4th, the idea of general security and safety versus that of individuals, needs to be examined. 41 bullets were shot at an unarmed Diallo, 19 bullets hit him. The four police officers involved, tried for second-degree murder, clamor their innocence as do their supporters.

Some say that the fact no malicious intent has been proven makes all the difference in the tragic event. Indeed, it makes no difference to a deceased Amadou Diallo and his family. It does, however, make a difference to those who daily walk the streets of Western cities or drive along their roads (if they are guilty of WWB, Walking While Black, to use a NYC expression ). Just as it makes a difference to those who, elsewhere, are considered suspicious and therefore potentially guilty because they are different or foreign.

Interestingly, though not surprisingly, the perception differs along racial lines. In March, the New York Times conducted a poll in the wake of the Diallo incident and this is how New Yorkers responded :

- fewer than a quarter of all New Yorkers believe that the police treat blacks and whites evenly, with blacks in particular viewing the police with fear and distrust;

- nearly 9 out of 10 black residents questioned in the survey said they thought that the police often engage in brutality against blacks, and almost two-thirds said that police brutality against members of minority groups in general is widespread. Also, more than two-thirds of blacks said the policies of the Giuliani administration have caused an increase in police brutality;

- sixty percent of those surveyed said that in his public responses to the Diallo shooting, Giuliani had made matters worse, a figure that includes 47 percent of white residents, 61 percent of Hispanic residents and 79 percent of black residents;

- a third of blacks said they had been in situations where they feared a police officer, while only 11 percent of whites said they had felt that way. In contrast, 62 percent of whites said they had been in situations where they felt safer in the presence of a police officer, while 57 percent of blacks said they had never felt that way;

- 43 percent said they believe that police brutality directed against minorities is widespread. But only 24 percent of the white residents felt that way, compared with 63 percent of the black residents and 55 percent of the Hispanic residents;

- half of those questioned said that life in the city had improved in the last four years, a figure that was nine points lower than five months ago, but still significantly better than the 34 percent reflected in a March 1997 poll. Residents also overwhelmingly approve of the mayor's handling of crime, although that support dropped 20 points in five months, from 82 percent to 62 percent;

- forty-seven percent of those surveyed said that the policies of the Giuliani administration had caused police brutality to increase, compared with 31 percent who answered the same question in October 1997, shortly after the Louima case (The Haitian immigrant was brutalized by police officers in a Brooklyn precinct in the summer of 1997. He twice underwent surgery and is unlikely to regain his normal bodily functions.) became public and just before Giuliani was overwhelmingly re-elected to a second term;

- in addition, 70 percent of those polled recently said that the police "often engage in brutality" against blacks, compared with 53 percent who felt that way in October 1997. And two-thirds said that the police also brutalize Hispanics; a similar question was not posed in 1997. By comparison, only 12 percent said they believe that the police brutalize whites.

What does this say about New York, one of most renowned melting-pots of cultural diversity ? Immigrants have partaken in and contributed to the building of any and all the world capitals. Yet, is there a world capital nowadays in which a foreigner or an immigrant, especially one who "looks" it, can say he or she feels totally safe ? It is particularly so for the younger ones, with all the prejudices the so-called "older therefore wiser" have against outwards signs of rebellion. Those who wore bell-bottoms and spoke of "peace and love" frown upon the attires that their children don in an eternal need for the young to affirm their own identity. Or, as in the case of Amadou Diallo, they are being indiscriminately identified with criminals, the resemblance often being that of a common race and gender.

The New York Times reports that, at Rice, Harlem's only Roman Catholic High School, at least 10 percent of the students - in a three-fourths black and one-fourth Hispanic student body - has been stopped by the police in the last year. Yet, Orlando Gober, the school principal, says : "We have had many reports of these encounters," adding : "None of them have resulted in an arrest."

A 15-year-old honors student, said he had been questioned and searched by the police more than five times in the last 18 months, sometimes in the hallway of his Hunts Point apartment building, other times as he walked to school in his uniform.

An 18-year-old senior at the school, said he had been stopped so many times in the last year that he has lost count. After being stopped while using his student Metrocard in January, the honors student finally decided to assert himself and requested the officer's badge number. "The officer said he could tell I wasn't a student because of the way I swiped my card," Drakeford recounted. "Then he said I was trying to be a smart guy and just confiscated my school I.D."

"There is a level where it begins to affect them," Brother John said, "where they begin to say, "What's wrong with me ?", where they stop trying because, whatever they do, they are painted with the same broad brush by the police."

The situation has become such that a daylong workshop session was organized at the school, led by community affairs officers from the 28th Precinct and by members of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, a group of minority police officers.

In 1995, Lieutenant E Adams of Queens formed 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement in response to the election of Mayor Giuliani who was well known for awkward race relations. The organization began with 10 black officers, each of whom enlisted 10 more. The officers donated $120 apiece for a fund to aid residents in their precincts, such as a girl who needed books for medical school and a child whose bike had been stolen.

Lieutenant Adams told the New York Times that painful truths about race are avoided by the Police Department. "Lying is at the root of our training," he said. "At the academy, recruits are told that they should not see black or brown people as different, but we all do. We all know that the majority of people arrested for predatory crimes are African-American. We didn't create that scenario, but we have to police in that scenario. So we need to be honest and talk about it."

As one of the few blacks in the 94th Precinct, a largely white area with many Polish immigrants, he points to a similar disingenuousness in precinct assignments. Though postings are not affected by race or ethnicity Lieutenant Adams says they should. Jewish officers assigned to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he said, would try to avoid putting Orthodox suspects into police cars on the Sabbath. Italian officers might better understand the body language of compatriots in Bensonhurst. And if a lieutenant like him was platoon commander in Brownsville, young men would say: " 'Wow, there's one of us inside.' I'd be a welcome mat."

Officer Joel Ottley, a member of 100 Blacks from the 28th Precinct, told reporters : "We want to make these young people aware of what things should be done and what things shouldn't when they are stopped by the police." He added : "We want to bring their alertness up, so they don't get caught off-guard in potentially negative situations."

"We just want to give them useful tips," he explained, "like don't resist, or turn your dome light on in your car and roll down the tinted windows if you're stopped. We want them to understand that the street is no place to have a debate with the officer, and that if they feel they are being treated badly, there are other avenues, like filing a complaint or going to court."

And the school's pupils are not the only ones being affected by the city's provocative approach to crime-fighting. Administrators said that Brother Tyrone Davis, who teaches business law at the school and is the executive director of the Archdiocese's office of black ministry, has grown so tired of being stopped by the police that he now rarely leaves work without donning his religious collar. Others say they just try to stay indoors.

"It just makes you feel really low, like you don't stand for anything," said one of the students of his encounters with the police. "You just feel violated."

Young black and Hispanic men seem to be the most at risk. Poorer neighborhoods seem to be more affected by this zealous attitude. Or more poorly dressed individuals who are at the wrong place, at the wrong time. And the situation is the same when minorities are face to face with most representatives of that anonymous yet powerful "System", from immigration officers to judges, from customs officers to city administration clerks.

And, it should not be thought this is a uniquely US problem. According to a research, published in the British newspaper The Guardian on March 8, :

- black people are 7.5 times more likely to be stopped and searched, and four times more likely to be arrested, than white people;

- in some areas a fifth of the entire black population aged over 10 has been arrested in the past year;

- institutionalized racism pervades the criminal justice system;

- 90 per cent of cases where white people have been murdered, suspects have been identified. The figure for murders of black people is only 60 per cent;

- cautioning was used less frequently for black people than for other ethnic groups, the survey found. Black people also serve longer prison terms on average, with 47 per cent of white prisoners serving more than four years compared with 61 per cent of black prisoners;

- in conclusion, Tony Bunyan, editor of Statewatch, said the report indicated a collective failure to tackle racism within the criminal justice system since the Scarman report of 1981.

Again, the proponents of force claim that this attitude is a result of crime, of a desire to protect the innocent from criminals and that accidents happen. However, why do "accidents" happen more often to those who look different ? Would just any white man in his 20s be stopped on the basis of there being a warrant against a white man in his 20s ? Does the fact that there are indeed criminals make everyone a suspect, or is there still a presumption of innocence ? Immigrants, foreigners, minorities, i.e., those who are "different" are often accused of paranoia by those who are not, or those who have managed to blend in. But, though some do go through life untouched by any of these humiliations and/or injustices, many others are not as fortunate. Furthermore, no-one underestimates the difficulty of law enforcement, nor the dangers it involves and we should indeed be thankful to those who risk their lives daily for our safety. No-one is trying to say that all the representatives of law enforcement are biased, for it is obvious a majority strives to do its duty well and justly.

But, who protects us from those all-mighty protectors who cease to exercise the sense of fairness and equality that should come with the power they hold ? In Paris, approximately 20% of the police force are members of the far-right police syndicate. Racist, homophobic and/or sexist literature are known fixtures of police precincts worldwide. Amnesty International wrote a damning report on police behaviors against foreigners in the USA.

Western sun-seekers and media have reported cases of violence and injustice in the Southern Hemisphere (the killings of eco-tourists in Uganda, the caning of an American teen in Singapore, the arrest of a Quebec youth in Mexico, etc.) and they are unacceptable. Public outrage, press campaigns and governmental interventions have always followed. Rightly so. It is also right that we be outraged when injustice and blind violence occur within the more "democratic" or "sophisticated" walls of the West.

The unfortunate result of this situation is a hardening of positions on all parts. Administrations and the police have always been protective of their own, defensive towards the very communities they have sworn to protect. Increasingly, in the latter, or at least in those pockets of society that seem and feel particularly targeted, there is a growing unease and distrust of law enforcement. In so-called democracies, not only do some feel they have no voice, they also feel they are less than equal.

New York City, London or Paris will not be better places if their immigrant inhabitants feel they cannot walk the streets of their city, drive their cars or send their children to school without fear of indiscriminate harassment or brutality. It is not a safer world if criminals are not the only ones who indulge in violence. It is not a more democratic world if we are not willing and capable of being tolerant of each other and if some are being humiliated for the only reason of their race, sexual preference, gender or religion.

Mona Bregman, 56, a spontaneous protester at the last march of April 15 in NYC, held up a sign that said : "3 bullets is self-defense. 19 bullets is murder. 41 bullets is slaughter," and told NYT reporters : "This is not a black issue. It's a people issue."

 

Complete results of New York Times Polls

New York Times