Besides killer cop Darren Wilson of Ferguson being charged for the murder of unarmed Michael Brown on Saturday, August 9, the following are community healing recommendations:
- that the City of Ferguson announce that it will immediately start to hire police officers from within its city boundaries.
- that all new police candidates and former police officers from other municipalities must move into the City of Ferguson within six months.
- that all law enforcement officers including current police officers and police officials take a human rights psychological mental test to determine judgment fitness prior to receiving police certification and that such test be mandatory and conducted annually while on active duty.
Police departments are the only state agencies that are granted the authority to take a life and protected by what is called Qualified Immunity. Therefore, this authority should be taken seriously and given only to people who can demonstrate consistent good judgments. )
Had the first remedy been in place and enforced when Ferguson was a predominantly white community (1980), then the existing problem of only three blacks on the police force with a population of 68 percent African Americans would not exist.
If remedy two was a current policy and enforced, then Darren Wilson, the killer cop now on Ferguson’s police force, would not likely have been hired.
Additionally, if the third remedy were in place, Wilson and other officers who may have a conscious or unconscious hate for African-American males, would be disqualified as police officers until they effectively resolve their racial hostility.
It has been a long standing practice that white male law enforcement officials have been killing Africa-American males during and after slavery without consequences. The practice still prevails. This is an outright abuse of authority to say the least.
If by chance a white law enforcement officer is ever charged with murder for killing an unarmed black male, an all-white jury will set him free. But such a situation is unlikely to happen due to Missouri’s Qualified Immunity practice which gives police officers a license to kill anyway.
It would certainly be interesting to see how a predominantly white community would respond if a black law enforcement officer would kill an unarmed young white male in the manner that Michael Brown was gunned down. Black police officers don’t seem to have an appetite or a history of killing young white males.
However, all law enforcement agencies kill black males with impunity and they use the following standard fabricated justifications: the subject reached in his pocket or belt area and the officer feared for his life and shot and killed the subject; the subject tried to take the officer’s gun and was shot and killed; the subject came after the officer with a knife and was shot and killed; the subject tried to run the officer down with his auto and was shot and killed; the officer heard gun fire and returned fire and killed the subject; and, the subject was ordered to drop the sharp object but instead he advanced and was shot and killed.
As many trumped-up charges and killings that are done by white police officers, no wonder African Americans do not trust and are afraid of them.
Moreover, it is common knowledge in black communities that white police officers will outright lie and make false charges on them. They are also known to carry a throw-away gun that is placed at the scene after a police shoot and kill an alleged black felon.
There needs to be a public verification system via an effective Civilian Review Board in place that can verify all police accusations and reports. Police have too many avenues to lie and cover-up their misdeeds, which lead them to think they are above the law because of their license to kill. Law enforcement officers are service providers like other workers. They should identify with the working-class and be more supportive of organized labor and civil and human rights groups. Instead, police officers work against their own interest by being hired bullies in the community with guns to protect the interest of the white power structure.
Racism in the City of Ferguson is no different than that which exists in the City of St. Louis. There are glaring similarities especially among their decision makers and how decisions are made.
Ferguson has a 67 percent majority African-American population in a smaller community, whereas the City of St. Louis has 49.2 percent majority African-American population, whites are at 43.9 percent according to the 2010 U. S. Census Bureau.
It’s a known fact that one racist institution will come to the rescue of another racist institution. This is evident by an unfair employment white controlled St. Louis police department who perpetrates daily hostilities on black St. Louisans. Just as Ferguson’s Mayor James W. Knowles III has been maintaining his racial discriminatory grip on Ferguson, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay has been doing the same.
