Skulls cracked with batons, flashlights, fists, feet and
knees. Bodies shot with one, 10, 50 and 100 bullets. Police
brutality is not only a constant presence in the United States, it is
thriving and escalating in no uncertain terms. A quick search of
“police brutality 2011” on YouTube shows the extent to which this
outrage has become commonplace.
From 2009 to 2010, reports of the number of victims of police
misconduct jumped from 4,778 to 6,826.
Although the
numbers rose overall, the two biggest trends remained: The top two
forms of police misconduct were excessive force (18.2 percent in 2009
and 23.8 percent in 2010) and sexual misconduct (11.9 percent in
2009 and 9.3 percent in 2010.)
Deaths resulting from
police violence stayed roughly the same with 258 and 247 people
killed respectively in 2009 and 2010. That is an average of 253
deaths per year and a total of 505 people dead. (Injustice
Everywhere: The National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting
Project) People
of color are disproportionately impacted by police brutality due to
the built-in racism that runs through the very fiber of the so-called
criminal justice system.
While statistics for
2011 are still hard to come by, the nature of the police force as an
armed wing of the ruling class indicates that these numbers are
unlikely to decline significantly this year.
Recent cases in a national epidemic
The words “police
brutality” have lost some weight over the years, and it is worth
highlighting some recent examples that point to the heinous acts
committed by police officers:
May 5: Iraq war veteran
Jose Guerena was shot to death by Prima County Sheriff SWAT officers
over 60 times. They wrongly suspected Guerena of being part of a
drug-dealing operation. He was denied medical attention until the
house was searched. The officers even pointed their guns at his wife
and 4-year-old son. Dozens of neighbors testified that the officers
never knocked or identified themselves when they entered the house.
The SWAT team was cleared of any wrongdoing and not so much as an
apology has been offered to his family
May 30: Several police
officers in Miami shot and killed 22-year-old Haitian-American
Raymond Herisse in a hail of 100 bullets and then rampaged through
the streets, confiscating and smashing the cell phones of onlookers
who had recorded the incident. One video survived because witness
Narces Benoit hid
his SIM card in his mouth before the cops surrounded his car with
their guns drawn, and smashed his phone.
June 17: Philadelphia
resident Eric Crawley rushed to his sister’s house when he
found out she was involved in a domestic dispute. An hour later he
was dead, having been shot by police. As is par for the course,
police accounts are very different from eyewitness accounts, with the
former saying the victim pulled a gun and the latter stating no gun
was drawn by Crawley.
Chicago police have shot 42 people this year, almost double the
number shot in 2010. One of their victims was 13-year-old Jimmell
Cannon. Cannon was shot eight times by police for allegedly having a
BB gun, something that is denied by everyone who witnessed the
incident. Luckily, his mother did not have to bury him, but he will
be starting 7th grade next
year with nine fingers, as one of them was shot off by the police.
These are not isolated incidents. The rise in repressive police
violence has even prompted some news outlets to run stories on the
phenomenon instead of focusing on sensationalized incidents.
Why are the police so brutal?
Let us turn to some recent cases in San Francisco. In the month of
July, two people were killed in less than two weeks at the hands of
police. The first man, Charles Hill, was a 45-year-old homeless man.
According to the police, Hill was drunk and attacked them with a
knife. Although Hill did have a history of alcohol abuse, those who
knew him described him as harmless.
On July 3, the reports came out of a “wobbly drunk” being shot
at the Civic Center BART station, accompanied by a story from the
police department that the man had a knife and the lives of the
officers were in danger. The video released later, however, shows the
alleged knife hitting a train and then flying across the platform,
with an officer firing his gun several seconds later, while Hill is
still far enough away that he cannot be seen on camera.
The second incident occurred July 16 when 19-year-old Kenneth
Harding Jr. was shot by the SFPD. Harding was running away from
officers attempting to stop him for a $2 fare evasion. In the weeks
following his death, the SFPD continued to change their story. The
most recent one is that he shot himself.
The media circus that followed was one of demonization of
Harding’s character; his criminal history used as means to justify
his death. As if the police officers knew when they started
chasing him for the $2, that he was guilty of all the things he had
been accused of, and that those crimes warranted his summary
execution.
As you watch the video of Kenneth Harding writhing on the pavement
while the cops involved stand around him, guns drawn, you see thugs
watching a young man bleed to death, offering absolutely no
assistance.
The video shows an organized body of armed men and women that
exists to terrorize the working class in order to protect the
interests of private property owners. It is part of the same state
apparatus that perpetrates terror all over the world, killing
innocent people in the name of profits overseas, and the same
capitalist machine that deploys an army of police to jail, torture
and kill inside the borders of this country.
When you finish watching the video, close your eyes and envision
the many heroes who have rebelled against this racist system: Malcolm
X, Mumia Abu Jamal, the Freedom Riders and Nat Turner. Hundreds of
students at a sit-in. Millions marching on Washington. See the
inevitable future of a revolution that will overthrow the
dictatorship of the capitalist class and give the power to the people
of the working class.
Police brutality is a symptom of the capitalist disease. Socialist
revolution is the cure.
