by Victor E. Kappeler, Ph.D. | January 2014
The institution of slavery and the control of minorities, however, were two of the more formidable historic features of American society shaping early policing. Slave patrols and Night Watches, which later became modern police departments, were both designed to control the behaviors of minorities. For example, New England settlers appointed Indian Constables to police Native Americans (National Constable Association, 1995), the St. Louis police were founded to protect residents from Native Americans in that frontier city, and many southern police departments began as slave patrols. In 1704, the colony of Carolina developed the nation’s first slave patrol. Slave patrols helped to maintain the economic order and to assist the wealthy landowners in recovering and punishing slaves who essentially were considered property.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Slavery] [History] [Policing] [White Supremacy] [White Privilege] [Systemic Racism]
Resource Links Tagged with "Policing"
The Death of Natasha McKenna in the Fairfax Jail: The Rest of the Story
by Tom Jackman | April 2015
The Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team regularly records their operations, and the Fairfax County police have said there is video of the “extraction” of McKenna. This presumably would include her being hit with four Taser shocks after she was handcuffed behind her back, shackled around the legs, a hobble strap connected to both restraints, and a spit mask placed over her face. The police, who are investigating the case for any possible criminal violation, have declined to release the video while the case is still under investigation. When it does come out, it may well join the growing canon of video of fatal law enforcement actions which has shocked the country.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Policing] [Systemic Racism] [White Supremacy] [Accountability] [White Privilege]
Minneapolis Police Leader Defending George Floyd’s Killers Tried to ‘White Power’- Linked Biker Gang
by Sarah Lazare | June 2016
– Lt. Bob Kroll stands accused of wearing “white power” badge and brutally beating people of color. The head of the Minneapolis Police Officer’s Federation has claimed that activists from the city’s Black Lives Matter movement comprises a “terrorist organization.” But a closer look at Lieutenant Bob Kroll’s record indicates that he is the one who poses a danger to the public, with a past marred in accusations of racist violence and attitudes, including charges from fellow police officers that he once wore a “white power” badge on his motorcycle jacket.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Black Lives Matter] [Policing] [White Supremacy] [Systemic Racism] [Accountability] [White Privilege]
Body-Cam Footage Shows Georgia Cops Tased the Wrong Man within 38 Seconds of Meeting Him
by Bonnie Kristian | July 2016
When several Savannah, Georgia, cops approached 24-year-old Patrick Mumford, they were looking for another African-American man named Michael Clay. And though Mumford identified himself as “Patrick” when asked for his name, body camera footage from the officers involved shows just 38 seconds elapsed from the beginning of the encounter to when one officer says to another, “All right, tase him!”
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Policing] [Systemic Racism] [White Supremacy] [White Privilege]
Racist Police in Alabama Planted Drugs and Guns on Over 1,000 Innocent Black Men
by A.R. Shaw | December 2015
Black men in Alabama were racially profiled and made criminals by a group of racist police. According to the Henry County Report, the incidents occurred in Dothan, Alabama where at least 12 White police officers involved. The officers were a part of a narcotics team and were supervised by Lt. Steve Parrish, who is now Dothan’s Police Chief, and Andy Hughes, Asst. Director of Homeland Security for Alabama. The officers would target innocent Black men and plant drugs and weapons on them. Black men would be arrested and charged by District Attorney Doug Valeska. Valeska knew that the drugs were being planted and continued to prosecute while protecting the officers. Nearly 1,000 innocent Black men were arrested and falsely prosecuted and many of the Black men who were falsely arrested are still in jail serving time.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [White Supremacy] [Systemic Racism] [Policing] [History] [Prison System] [Black Lives Matter] [White Privilege]
Man Who Uploaded #AltonSterling Video Still Paying a Price, Has Not Been Allowed Back to Work
by Ricky Riley | July 2016
After uploading the video of Baton Rouge, Louisiana police killing Alton Sterling on July 5, Christoper LeDay has been arrested and not allowed back to work. According to Fox 5 Atlanta, LeDay revealed in a Thursday news conference that he has not been allowed back to work at Dobbins Air Reserve Base due to security-clearance issues. He was working security for only a month when the chaos surrounding the video occurred.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [White Culture] [White Supremacy] [Systemic Racism] [Policing] [Police Shootings] [White Privilege]
No Charges for Cops Who ‘Accidentally’ Fired 107 Bullets at an Innocent Mom and Daughter
by Andrew Emett | January 2016
Los Angeles, CA – Exposing the double standard between police and civilians, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday that no criminal charges will be filed against the eight LAPD officers responsible for nearly killing an innocent woman and her daughter. Although the cops ambushed the unarmed women without warning and fired over 100 bullets without provocation, the district attorney justified the case of mistaken identity due to the fact that the officers involved were afraid and incompetent. At 5 a.m. on February 7, 2013, Margie Carranza and her mother, Emma Hernandez, were delivering newspapers throughout a residential neighborhood in Torrance when eight LAPD cops suddenly opened fire. As Carranza suffered cuts from the flying glass, Hernandez was shot twice in the back while trying to protect her daughter. One bullet exited just above Hernandez’s collarbone, while the other bullet struck her lower back, near her spine. A fragment of shattered glass also flew into her eye.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Policing] [Police Shootings] [Systemic Racism] [-ing While Black] [White Supremacy] [White Privilege] [White Culture]
KING: Micah Johnson is the Making of America’s Own Racist Creation
by Shaun King | July 2016
Somehow, the United States of America wants to have all of the ingredients for murder and mayhem, cook it at 500 degrees for a few years, and be shocked when what comes out on the other end isn’t sweet peace and colorful rainbows. That’s not how recipes work. Building a harmonious society is no different.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [White Supremacy] [Slavery] [History] [Policing] [Denial] [Accountability] [Police Shootings] [Black Lives Matter]
11-Step Guide to Understanding Race, Racism, and White Privilege
by Jon Greenberg | October 2017
In the wake of terrorism against Black Americans in Charleston, beyond outraged and fed up, I compiled a list of race-related resources for fellow White Americans, who too often have the privilege to remain ignorant of the realities and toll of racism.This Curriculum for White Americans to Educate Themselves on Race and Racism – from Ferguson to Charleston clearly struck a chord. The piece has been read and shared hundreds of thousands of times and been linked to by NPR, The Huffington Post and Teaching Tolerance.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2010’s] [White Privilege] [Systemic Racism] [White Supremacy] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [History] [Policing] [Definitions]
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race
by Reni Eddo-Lodge | May 2017
For years, racism has been defined by the violence of far-right extremists, but a more insidious kind of prejudice can be found where many least expect it – at the heart of respectable society. We tell ourselves that good people can’t be racist. We seem to think that true racism only exists in the hearts of evil people. We tell ourselves that racism is about moral values, when instead it is about the survival strategy of systemic power. When a large proportion of the population votes for politicians and political efforts that explicitly use racism as a campaigning tool, we tell ourselves that such huge sections of the electorate simply cannot be racist, as that would render them heartless monsters.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2010’s] [White Blindness] [White Privilege] [Black Lives Matter] [Policing] [History] [Systemic Racism] [Colorblindness]
Racial Trauma is Real: The Impact of Police Shootings on African Americans
by Administrator | July 2016
The violence witnessed towards people of color from police continues to damage perceptions of law enforcement and further stereotype people of color negatively. Decades of research have noted the impact of discrimination and racism on the psychological health of communities of color (e.g., Bryant-Davis & Ocampo, 2006; Carter & Forsyth, 2009; Comas-Díaz, 2016).
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [Police Shootings] [2010’s] [Policing] [Assumptions] [Systemic Racism] [History]
The Secret History of New England’s Sundown Towns
by New England Historical Society | Date Unknown
“Whites Only Within City Limits After Dark” reads the faded road sign, an artifact on display at the Tubman African American Museum in Georgia.
The sign was found in Connecticut outside of a sundown town – a municipality that prevented African-Americans or other minorities from lingering after dark.
TAGS: [Racial Covenants] [History] [Policing] [2010’s] [White Supremacy] [Racial Terrorism]
15 Things Your City Can Do Right Now to End Police Brutality
by Zak Cheney-Rice | July 2015
Martin Luther King Jr. said it best in 1966: “[The] law cannot make a man love me, but it can restrain him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important also.” Two years later, he was shot and killed in Memphis. But his dream that the United States legal system might eventually overcome its racial biases and serve its non-white citizens equally lives on. For months now, politicians have invoked King’s legacy to implore black citizens to stay peaceful in the face of routine violence. The irony of this plea seems lost on its askers, but it does fall in line with a question that’s haunted Black Lives Matter protesters for the past 10 months, namely, “What’s going to happen next?” Fifteen changes that are relevant today.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Policing] [Accountability] [Anti-Racism]
U.S. Owes Black People Reparations for a History of ‘Racial Terrorism,’ Says U.N. Panel
by Ishaan Tharoor | September 2016
The history of slavery in the United States justifies reparations for African Americans, argues a recent report by a U.N.-affiliated group based in Geneva. This conclusion was part of a study by the United Nations’ Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, a body that reports to the international organization’s High Commissioner on Human Rights. The group of experts, which includes leading human rights lawyers from around the world, presented its findings to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday, pointing to the continuing link between present injustices and the dark chapters of American history. “In particular, the legacy of colonial history, enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and racial inequality in the United States remains a serious challenge, as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent,” the report stated. “Contemporary police killings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of the past racial terror of lynching.”
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Reparations] [Slavery] [History] [Systemic Racism] [Policing] [Accountability] [White Supremacy]
Moral Mondays Leader Rev. Barber: Release Video of Keith Scott Shooting, It Belongs to the Public Video
by Democracy Now | September 2016
(Video Transcript) For a third night in a row, protesters chanted “release the video!” as they took to the streets and called for police to release video of the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. His grieving family has been shown the dashboard and body camera videos of his fatal shooting, but Charlotte Police Chief Kerr Putney says he had no plans to release the video at this time. We get response from Rev. Dr. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP and Moral Mondays leader. His most recent book is titled “Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Justice Movement.”
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Policing] [Black Lives Matter] [Police Shootings]
NYPD Officers Accessed Black Lives Matter Activists’ Texts, Documents Show
by George Joseph | April 2017
Emails show that undercover officers were able to pose as protesters even within small groups, giving them extensive access to details about protesters’ whereabouts and plans. In one email, an official notes that an undercover officer is embedded within a group of seven protesters on their way to Grand Central Station. This intimate access appears to have helped police pass as trusted organizers and extract information about demonstrations. In other emails, officers share the locations of individual protesters at particular times. The NYPD emails also include pictures of organizers’ group text exchanges with information about protests, suggesting that undercover officials were either trusted enough to be allowed to take photos of activists’ phones or were themselves members of a private planning group text.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Policing] [Black Lives Matter] [White Supremacy] [White Privilege] [White Culture] [Systemic Racism]
Police Officers Not Indicted in Fatal Shooting of Henry Green
by John Futty | March 2017
More than nine months after two plainclothes Columbus police officers fatally shot Henry Green on a South Linden street, a Franklin County grand jury chose on Friday not to indict them on criminal charges.
The grand jury voted not to indict Officer Jason Bare or Officer Zachary Rosen for their actions. Bare and Rosen were wearing civilian clothes and patrolling in an unmarked SUV on the evening of June 6 when they saw Green, 23, and a friend walking in the area of Duxberry Avenue and Ontario Street and noticed that Green was holding a handgun, police said. According to the police division’s account, the officers jumped from the SUV and ordering Green to drop his gun. Instead, police said, Green pointed his gun at the officers and fired. The officers returned fire and killed Green, who was shot seven times.
Christian Rutledge, who was walking with Green, disputed the police account, saying Bare and Rosen gave no indication that they were officers and gave Green no time to react.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Police Shootings] [Policing] [Systemic Racism] [Black Lives Matter] [Accountability] [White Supremacy] [White Privilege] [White Blindness] [Systemic Racism]
Boston Police Data Shows Black Men were Stopped Most Often
by Allison Manning | January 2016
Police released a database of nearly 150,000 civilian encounters. A trove of data released by Boston police shows black males were the most likely demographic group to be stopped by officers in recent years. More than half of those stopped — 56 percent — were black males. In their own analysis, Boston police said “nearly 59 percent of the FIO subjects were black.’’ But about 4.3 percent of the total reports don’t state a race, or the officer checked “unknown.’’ Taking out those blanks or unknowns, the actual percentage of black people stopped among those with a known race is 61.2 percent. Boston’s population is about 25 percent black.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [-ing While Black] [White Supremacy] [White Privilege] [Policing] [Systemic Racism] [Accountability]
BUSTED: Cops Caught on Video Pepper-Spraying Handcuffed Biracial Girl — after a Car Hit Her
by David Ferguson | September 2016
Police in Hagerstown, MD are under fire after a video surfaced showing them pepper-spraying a handcuffed teen girl after she tried to leave the scene after being struck by a vehicle. The Hagerstown Herald-Mail reported Wednesday that a Facebook video of police manhandling the 15-year-old girl has got the police department scrambling to explain itself. According to Flicker, the girl — who is the daughter of a white mother and a black father — was riding her bike on Sunday afternoon when she was struck by a car.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [-ing While Black] [Policing] [White Supremacy] [Systemic Racism] [Accountability] [White Blindness] [Silencing POC] [White Privilege]
I’m Tired, but I’m Not Finished: Are We Ready to Call it Racism Now?
by Edward Rhymes | June 2015
It seems we live in an American society that is hellbent on euthanizing black hope and injecting our despair and frustration with adrenaline. We abide in a country that counts our lives as cheap, and through brutal conditioning has taught too many us to feel the same. White mass killers are apprehended by police alive, black children, just walking home are not. Nothing to see here, people, it’s just a 12-year-old boy gunned down by police. Keep moving along, citizens, it’s just another unarmed black man killed by a cop. Just stroll on by, folks, racism had absolutely nothing to do with the killing of those nine black people attending a Bible study, even though they were killed by a self-proclaimed white supremacist.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [White Supremacy] [White Blindness] [White Privilege] [-ing While Black] [Systemic Racism] [Policing] [Calling Police] [Black Lives Matter] [History]
Native Lives Matter: Police Killing Native Americans at Astounding Rate
by Ruth McCambridge | July 2016
A recent report by the Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice reports that Native Americans are killed by police at a higher rate than any other ethnic group. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that Native Americans make up almost two percent of those killed by police though they are only 0.8 percent of the population. While police kill young black men more than any other group, they kill Native Americans at a higher rate.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Policing] [White Culture] [White Privilege] [White Supremacy]
Delrawn Small: The Police Shooting Victim You Didn’t Hear About Last Week
by Simone Wilson | July 2016
A black Brooklyn dad was killed by a cop the same week as Alton Sterling and Philando Castille. New video proves his death equally horrific. The NYPD claimed that after Small and the officer were involved in a near fender-bender at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Bradford Street, Small “exited his car and approached the off-duty officer, who was still seated in his vehicle, and began to punch him repeatedly in the head through the car window.”
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Policing] [Police Shootings] [Black Lives Matter]
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Dear White People
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Dear White People
Being Allies
Reparations
Spiritual Foundations
Public Displays
Performance Art
Workshops
Activist Resources
Assessment Tools
History
Appropriation / Aggression
White Privilege / Supremacy
Introduction
Definitions
Facts
Maps
Dear White People
Being Allies
Reparations
Spiritual Foundations
Public Displays
Performance Art
Workshops
Activist Resources
Assessment Tools
History
Appropriation / Aggression
White Privilege / Supremacy
Introduction
Definitions
Facts