The verdict

Days before the verdict of Derek Chauvin, I saw a meme on social media that basically said nothing had changed since the beating of Rodney King except the quality of the video. The poignant reference was about the flood of videos that have publicized the brutal assaults and cold-blooded murders by police since 1991 that resulted in virtually no justice for Black communities. Thirty years later, the anticipated verdict came down but was met with mixed emotions.

It’s difficult for Black people to celebrate Chauvin’s guilty verdict when the image of the smug-looking cop with a knee on the neck of an unarmed human being for nearly 10 minutes is emblazoned in our memory. It will linger there for a very long time. Like other visuals before, the scab will be snatched off the festering wound with the sight of yet another act of police terror. 

It didn’t take long for that terror to strike again. On the same day of the Chauvin verdict, a Columbus, Ohio police shot 16-year-old Mathias Bryant dead in broad daylight. Andrew Brown, Jr. was fatally shot by a North Carolina deputy the following day. The beat goes on. 

The Black community is determined to make our lives matter and law enforcement is equally determined to refute that. The arrogance of Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020 plays out day after day, month after month, year after year by police across the country. Their lawlessness has been protected by a white supremacist system from white prosecutors who often refuse to indict all the way down to white jurors who refused to convict.

When the conviction of a cop stops being the exception to the rule is when Black folks will believe there is equal protection under the law. 

Meanwhile, we can stop wasting money on explicit bias training, on body cams or on overtime to allegedly keep us safe. None of these individually or collectively have curbed the slaughter of Black and Brown people by police or their proxies. 

Self-deputized Dan Charles Rathman was just arrested as he took it upon himself to kill his neighbor during an altercation on St. Louis’ south side. Rathman was white, and his victim, Craig Williams, was Black. 

With every unwarranted act of aggression against communities of color, police departments helped to give credence to the rallying cry to defund the police. 

At last week’s meeting of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, there was a common theme advocated by citizens who gave testimony. The basic human needs of people are not being met because the city’s budget is outrageously lopsided in favor of the police department. Concerned citizens asked for affordable housing, safe neighborhoods and jobs with livable wages. These are reasonable demands. 

For an over-policed city with a bulging budget, we have very little to show for it. Unprecedented homicide rates and hostile police don’t exactly equal public safety. 

The chronic state of insensitivity and inaction affects the life and vitality of the city. If the Board of E & A members are listening to their constituents, they will work together for an equitable solution to the unmet human needs. The starting point is reducing the budget of the St. Louis Police Department. Then comes accountability.