Race & Justice

Perpetual Wounds

WLA Guest
Written by WLA Guest

by Alex Johnson

I was nine when I was first called a n____ while walking to my mom’s car after school.

Ten when I watched the savage beating of Rodney King by the Los Angeles Police Department on television. Eleven when I saw the flames and ashes of a city burning after four police officers were found not guilty.

When I was seventeen Abner Louima was sodomized with a broomstick and the police department attempted to cover up the crime. A few months later I was handcuffed for the first time; the probable cause, too many Black kids in a car.

An unarmed Amadou Diallo was shot and killed by the New York City Police Department a few months before my nineteenth birthday; he did not make it to his twenty-third. Forty-one shots and all four officers were found not guilty.

At twenty-one, an officer from the Atlanta Police Department raced up the street to stop me in my car as I was driving back to my dorm. By the time I was let go, three more patrol cars were on the scene because I was “verbally aggressive.”

I was three years older than Sean Bell when, at twenty-three and the night before his wedding, he was killed by police officers who fired fifty shots into his vehicle. All three of the officers who were indicted were found not guilty.

In my thirties Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Atatiana Jefferson, Alton Sterling, Botham Jean, Aiyana Jones, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, Walter Scott.

And in 2020, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.

It has been grace, and grace alone, that has spared me from the violent deaths perpetrated against my brothers and sisters. But like Black people across this nation, I continue to ask the question, “Am I next?’

This fear is not new. Nor is it misplaced. The trauma caused by the abusive anti-Black relationship with America is generational and historical. We are bonded by ancestry and the collective pain of a people who have been brutalized and summarily ignored. From the middle passage to Minnesota. The deep wounds of racial violence permeate our bloodlines, our communities, and how we as Black people navigate through life.

In these moments where Black people are killed by police for being Black, and the response to peaceful protests of police brutality is often met by more police brutality, I have struggled to move beyond the paralyzing emotions of rage, fear, trauma, and grief. Like those who have taken to the streets to demand change, pained by the perpetual wounds of systemic racism and oppression, I am overwhelmed and triggered.

But silence is complicity, and my living will not be in vain. Retreating to the safe harbor of comfort during crisis is nothing more than cowardice. Radical change will not result with the acquiescence of passive progressives and the placating politics of patience and incrementalism.

In a land where “freedom” and “liberty” are excuses for exclusion, the aesthetic of justice that allows the assault on Black lives to continue unabated and that is protected by white supremacy must be dismantled and rebuilt. Justice is a false pretense if the constitution fails to be consistently, fairly, and justly applied to Black people.

We are our brother’s and sister’s keeper and each of us has a role in this fight for Black lives.

Here are a few ideas for what you can do to join the fight:

  • Demilitarize the police. Decrease law enforcement budgets and reinvest those resources to fund schools, libraries, quality health care, parks, childcare, jobs, interventionists, and a youth development system. Community safety does not come from cops — strong institutions ensure communities can thrive.
  • Support organizations led by, serving, and in service to Black people. Support those who organize, agitate, resist, disrupt, demonstrate, and advocate to ensure that Black lives are not expendable. The people have the power, fund organized action.
  • Interrogate what being an ally truly means. Use your voice. Be bold and take a stand, equivocation fuels inequity. If you have privilege, use it, leverage it. There is nothing revolutionary about recognizing your power and doing nothing with it to advance social change and end systemic racism.
  • You are either for Black lives or you are not. Systemic racism permeates every system — law enforcement, education, health, transportation, housing, the economy, the environment, and even philanthropy, the system in which I work. Are you hiring Black people? Are they tokenized or in leadership positions? It’s not complicated. Oppression is operational. Disassemble it and undo the status quo.
  • Stop tiptoeing around race, slavery, racial injustice, racial bias, systemic racism, white supremacy, nationalism, anti-Blackness, or racial equity. It’s real. We’ve studied and debated it long enough. Act. End of discussion.
  • Vote for an agenda at the local, state, and federal levels that prioritizes Black lives and demolishes the insidious pillars of white supremacy in every form. For those whose electoral existence is predicated upon the domination of Black lives, we must dominate the ballot box. If you are registered to vote and someone you know is not, help them register. Vote. Vote. Vote.

Over the past few days, my thoughts have centered around family. The families of those who have been killed by police. The mothers and fathers who are worried about their Black sons and Black daughters. And I keep thinking about my family.

In late February my wife came to me with exciting news: She is pregnant with our second child. A few weeks later, as the pandemic raged and the frailty of our systems of care was reaffirmed by the disproportionate impact of the virus, we received more news: We will be having a baby boy. I was beyond elated. Literally jumped and shouted, tears of joy welling up in my eyes. And for a brief period, perhaps a few days — no more than a week — we, my wife and I, felt the pure joy of this good news.

But as a Black man and a Black woman in this country, persistent and unbridled joy is fleeting. Our conversations lifting up the hopes and dreams for our unborn son were quickly tempered by our collective fears. Fear of bringing a Black baby boy into a nation that unrepentantly justifies the brutalization and killing of Black people. Fear of raising a Black boy into adulthood only to have his life prematurely extinguished because of his darker hue. Fear that a traffic stop will turn into our Black son being asphyxiated and strangled by a callous, depraved police officer with a knee to his neck for nearly nine minutes.

We are tired. We are angry.

We want to breathe. We want to live. We want our children to live. We want to be safe.

We need accountability. We need this trauma to end and the wounds to heal.

We demand change.

We will not yield until black lives matter.

It is indeed our duty to fight.


Alex Johnson

Alex Johnson is a program director at The California Wellness Foundation, where he manages a grantmaking portfolio focused on community environments, violence prevention and healing justice, and youth justice. Prior to joining Cal Wellness in June 2018, Johnson was managing director for Californians for Safety and Justice in Los Angeles.  He previously served on the California Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board. He is a current member, and past president, of the Los Angeles County Board of Education.

Johnson’s essay was originally published at Medium.

 

61 Comments

  • 10 unarmed black man killed last year by police. Not that some of them didn’t exhibit assaultive behavior towards the officers, they just weren’t armed. There’s 800k police officers in the US.
    How many blacks were killed by other blacks last year? Who is more dangerous to black men?
    Give up the pity party line, teach your children to love and respect others, don’t let the main stream media do all of your thinking (observing too apparently) and maybe lead your life by example for your children, like what personal accountability, responsibility and that no dream cannot be realized. Seems like you did pretty good for an education and a career, despite all the hate and oppression by the white folks. Even managed to espouse your self loathing pitiful rant here. You must be so proud!!!

  • Everybody should watch Candice Owens’ latest video on the issue. How can blacks raise a five-time convicted felon like George Floyd to virtual martyr/hero status? Pick a true badass like Dr. Ben Carson. Yes, I know he can’t be held up as a “victim” of the police, but he’s so accomplished it’s amazing. There’s a litany of others in various industries who set the bar high for blacks to aspire to.

    Before I go on about Floyd and his misdeeds, let me say again in this thread that Officer Chauvin is an idiot and should not have been using force on Floyd when he was, especially the bizarre technique he used. Now, as to Floyd – 5 felony convictions, his crowning achievement was a home invasion robbery where he burst in and pointed a gun at a pregnant woman’s belly and demanded to know where the drugs and money were. On the day of his last arrest, he was high on fentanyl and had been using other assorted drugs including marijuana. He tried to pass a counterfeit bill at store and his crime was reported to the police.

    Is this a man to be held out as a hero to the black community?

  • You deliberately mischaracterize what Derek Chauvin did as “idiocy.”

    So tell us

    Why?

  • Because his actions were idiotic, stupid, reckless – how many adjectives would you like to clarify that just about every cop watching that video says or thinks, “what a dumb ass”?

    I suppose you want it to be called a murder. That’s a legal conclusion we can all wait for a jury to render. I, personally, don’t believe Chauvin thought his restraint of Floyd would kill him.

  • No intent from Chauvin, even though Floyd’s last words and last breath were ” I can’t breathe”.
    Chauvin knew damn well what he was doing. Give it a f*cking break!

  • Pretty bold of you to try to discredit the fact that Floyd didn’t deserve to die by saying
    “five-time convicted felon like George Floyd ? When you have 8 felony convictions and are a registered sex offender .

    Ben Carson used to be reverted by a LOT of black people. That’s not the case anymore because of things like this

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/27/ben-carson-spokesman-falsely-denied-expensive-table-bought

    If you think Floyd breaking the law discredits him, then it also discredits Carson

    https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/699149.pdf

  • Do you believe Chauvin intended to kill Floyd? I doubt it. I don’t see how you could prove it. Looks like Chauvin thought he was holding Floyd down until the ambulance arrived. Doesn’t make what Chauvin did right or legal, like Dose said let a jury decide. I suspect they’ll rail road Chauvin anyways, so don’t worry too much about it.

  • Since so many commenters are law “enforcement experts” by virtue of watching a few episodes of Cops, you should know that “I can’t breathe” is uttered by many, many suspects immediately after they are contacted and cuffed. Veteran cops know to take the allegation with a grain of salt.

    “I can’t breathe,” along with, “My cuffs are too tight,” “I didn’t do nothing,” “These aren’t my pants,” and many other lies are routinely said by criminals trying their best to get out of their predicament. While being patted down for weapons, it’s not uncommon for a suspect to feign tenderness from an injury to avoid drugs or weapons from being detected. Old timers from LASD may know the story about the suspect who was able to avoid having his shoulder holster and pistol found until he decided it was time to attack a sergeant who came into the booking cage at Carson Station.

    Having said that, it is IDIOTIC to not monitor a suspect when they are in your custody, whether or not they are alleging they can’t breathe or any other medical issue. The best course of action is always to get your suspect seen by EMTs as soon as possible if there appears to be a need.

    I’ve been patiently waiting for the outrage for the death of Tony Timpa, who died under very similar circumstances at the hands of Dallas PD in 2016. Oh, that’s right, he was a white man – no rioting, no looting, no calls to defund the police.

  • Thank you Dose and Anthony Brown, but you’re wasting keystrokes…the FACTS of black crime CANNOT be uttered in this climate. Mr. Johnson apparently isn’t too concerned about the MUCH bigger problem of blacks who are victims of blacks in this country.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_crime_in_the_United_States

    The often quoted,”The definition of insanity is repeating the same actions over and over again and expecting different results,” is exactly what many blacks do. Commit a crime, often MINOR, get caught and are disgusted with police for catching them….so….they resist, which of course, doesn’t end well for them. And…..the next martyr is made.

    Life is sweet and if I were a black parent, I’d tell my son this: DO NOT break the law and give cops a reason to stop you. But, the reality is you MAY be stopped by police because of the color of your skin. It that happens, DO NOT argue with them, and DO NOT resist. Be polite and respectful EVEN IF you think they’re violating your rights in some way. Get their name and agency and deal with it later…AFTER you’ve survived the encounter, through a complaint or lawsuit.

    Funny how the initial screams by BLM and the media of Floyd not resisting are fading away. I mean, I ALWAYS had two other guys with me to take people down when they were complying and doing everything I asked.

  • It was worse than that: eyewitness accounts say that Floyd pleaded “I can’t breathe; I’m hurting all over; please help.”

    Floyd was prone on his stomach, his face directly below the exhaust of a police vehicle; hands handcuffed behind his back; with Chauvin’s knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

    Minute six Floyd was non-responsive.

    When the ambulance arrived Floyd was dead.

    How in God’s name can that action be defensible?

  • “Do you believe Chauvin intended to kill Floyd?”

    Nope, not at all.

    What I do believe is that Chauvin was letting his inner self out: being an asshole.

    Nobody deserves to die at the hands of an asshole.

  • The many excuses given to ex policeman, now prisoner (he will go) is another reason (not the only) why the world is protesting.
    No surprised based upon US History

  • How are Officer Chauvin’s actions defensible? Glad you asked.

    In the charging document, it says that Floyd said, “I can’t breathe” while still standing upright. Officers called for paramedics.

    Floyd then said he wasn’t getting into the police car and intentionally fell down onto the pavement. Officer Chauvin placed his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck, which pinned him to the pavement, almost directly face-down. Floyd said several times that he couldn’t breathe, which the officers countered with, “You’re talking fine.”

    Officer Lane, who was assisting by holding Floyd’s legs, asked, “Should we roll him onto his side?” Officer Chauvin replied, “No, staying put where we got him.” Officer Lane said, “I’m worried about excited delirium or whatever.” Officer Chauvin said, “That’s why we have him on his stomach.”

    Officer Chauvin’s defense will focus on his belief that keeping Floyd immobilized on his stomach was the right course of action while awaiting paramedics. Use of force experts, if not his academy instructors themselves, will testify as to what he was taught. Every training bulletin he received, every update class he attended, and his entire record with the department will be put under a microscope.

    Ultimately, my assessment that he’s an idiot will likely prevail. The law enforcement community came to know how to avoid positional asphyxia well before he started his academy class. Again, anybody thinking it’s appropriate to put or allow a person who has been saying they can’t breathe to stay on their stomach, is an IDIOT. The competing autopsies will also be used to both defend and condemn Officer Chauvin.

  • Dose of Reality:

    “And intentionally fell down onto the pavement.”

    With his hands handcuffed behind his back?

    Sounds like a falsified fact to justify an illegal act.

    Lucky thing the event is now under court scrutiny, as THAT is where the truth will out.

  • Rakkasan,

    I quoted from the charging document. Do you think they candy coated the facts that came directly from citizens’ video as well as the officers’ body cameras? I don’t think you understand how this works.

    Save your feigned righteous indignation for something legitimate. You’re just wasting effort to be snarky.

  • Reviewed 2nd degree murder in minnesota. (Internet version for whatever that’s worth). Says it’s basically killing someone while committing a felony. E.g. killing someone while shooting up a house in a drive by. Doesn’t require intent to kill, but I imagine they’d have to show intent in committing the original felony. So I’m guessing they’d have to prove Chauvin committed some sort of felony assault that resulted in Floyd’s death, rather than just Negligence.

    This is going to be an interesting case. A real test of the judicial system. Chauvin is probably the most hated man in the world right now, can he be given a fair trial?

    Going by the law, this is no where near a “slam dunk” case. There is literally no one in power who doesn’t want Chauvin hung. I think it will be a kangaroo court, but will they go for a show trial, or keep the cameras out? I suspect there will be plenty of mischief.

  • Come on now. Not even in the same universe of comparability.

    If you want to go down that path, I urge you to protest all politicians, high level servants and “behind the scenes bureaucrats” who frivolously use taxpayers money. Don’t just vent all your anger on the low hanging visible symbol of the “state” only.

    I myself will stand with you for a protest movement against government corruption and waste.

  • Dose of Reality – Black folk can decide what they do and who, if anyone, speaks for them. We are no longer on the plantation for you to want to determine who speaks for them or to demand to know why they do what they do. Candace Owens? Ben Carson? Really? You clearly do not have any black friends. There is a reason only white people listen to these tokens, and only for what they say about other black folks.

    And, you are trying to figure out what other words you can use to describe Chauvin – how about murderer. You do not kill someone and after the fact pull their record to determine if the murder was justified. You are a racist, and not a very smart one at that. Embrace it. Now, you want to wait for the jury? Anytime a black man does something, you want to lynch him right away. When its your potbellied brethren, you want to wait.

    You and Lady Kong may be right that Chauvin did not wake up that morning thinking he is going to kill the man. Or, I’ll concede that he probably did not say, I am going to kill this man with my knee when his knee was on his neck. However, as it was in this case, the callous disregard for the man’s life, as the law recognizes, can be such that it rises to murder. I do think, and you’ll concede if you are honest, that he just did not give a F%$ because he was a black man. You exude racism with your characterizations, with your token blacks, with your words.

    The problem, for you and Lady Kong and the rest of the huckleberry peanut gallery is that people have had it with you and now you are on the outside looking in and people see, especially the white cops, for the racist bullies that they are. The kids- black, brown and white- will spit in your face, and even if for a few days, will tell you what you think, and, if you are in uniform, you better bite your lip lest you lost cushy job. Even your little girls are out there protesting and they are probably embarrassed about what daddy does for a living. I think more portly officers around the country have lost their job and been charged in the last week than in the last decade. It is embarrassing, to say the least, for the world to see what ignorant, racist brutes we have as officers all over the country, but its been a long time in coming. For god’s sake, even the two spineless mayors from our biggest cities, Garcetti and De Blasio, who were too afraid to stand up to your unions have had to come out and say they will take some of the funding, or slop, as I call it, from the the police budget, or trough from which you feed. And, you will not dare say what you say in public because you know its racist and you are too afraid to lose your cushy security guard job. You will not dare make the racist comments anywhere outside the company of the rest of the huckleberry peanut gallery in the corner of a bar or this site.

    LASD Apostle, if you were a black parent, you would be calling the police the same thing I call the police, the same thing those kids are calling the police. If you were a black parent would believe that the police will stop your son just because he is black. If you were a black parent, you would tell your son that the police are racist. You would tell him to be quiet because they can beat him for being black or talking back or looking at the cop the wrong way, because they can kill him and get away with it, because they will make some excuse about how he made a sudden move or how they confused his phone for a gun, or they’ll beat him and claim he resisted arrest when you did not even move. You would tell your son all that. You would, as you suggest and as I would, tell him to shut up if the police stop him, but you will be praying that police officer gets his comeuppance. If you were a black parent you hear the news of the young man who went up a building in Houston a few years ago and made his voice heard the only way he could given the thousand racist paper cuts. And, because these kids are tired, you would tell him all that, and he will still go out there and say F-you, and you would respect him for that because its his right to speak out and call out a racist. It really has been a beautiful scene.

    Celeste, as a journalist you may find interesting the fact that Mr. Bennet “resigned” as editorial page editor from the NY Times after he published the racist Senator Tom Cotton’s piece calling for the military to quell the protests. There are racists, as is evident from this this site, who do not use the n-word in public, but are still racist and what they say is still racist. Sometimes, there aren’t “two-sides” to every story. Sometimes not everyone is entitled to broadcast their “racist” opinion just because they don’t use the n-word. Sometimes some opinions are so backwards that they need to be addressed and should not have a platform. Sometimes there are worst things one can say than to call the police “pigs.”

    In any event, its been a great week. Hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I have.

  • CF,

    You make it very easy for people to decide what is right and what is wrong. Your unnecessarily condescending mode of criticizing others’ opinions makes it clear that anything you advocate is clearly the wrong choice.

    As far as blacks being kept on the plantation, that is exactly what you count on to maintain any level of political power in this country. If blacks choose to elevate criminals to hero status, it’s detrimental to their overall standing and goals in demanding more respect from society.

  • CF: Yes you are still on the plantation “The Democratic Plantation” where you are not allowed to deviate from the standard line or you are an “Uncle Tom”. Yes we come a long way haven’t we?

  • Cf you calling for censorship? Because of outrageous opinions? Cf sweating Celeste over free speech, what a fool. The “woke” can’t tolerate free speech.

    Btw saw some great photos of Israeli soldiers knees on Palestinian kid’s necks. Nothing to say about that I bet. (Other than to call for censorship).
    Not all brown bodies are worth fighting for eh cf? Depends who’s knee is on who’s neck doesn’t it? What a pathetic phony.

  • 2018
    7400 blacks were murdered. Comprise 13% of the population.
    6100 whites were murdered. Comprise 70% of the population.
    What I live about statistics is you can conclude damn near anything from those statistics above.
    I feel like defunding police may not help and being killed by the police sure as hell isnt the problem.

  • Whuffo your fixation on the Palestinians?

    That part of the world used to be ruled by the Ottoman Turks, but they were on the losing side in WWI, so the British, a victor country, took over. After WWII, in 1947, the United Nations gave Israel to the Jews in atonement for the Holocaust.

    Then the organized armies of FIVE Arab countries–Egypt, Jordan, Sryia, Lebanon, and Iraq–told the Palestinians to move out of the way while the Arabs killed the Jews.

    That’s exactly what the Palestinians did–move out of the way.

    But the rag-tag Jews defeated all five Arab countries on the field of battle, leaving the Palestinians with

    No place to return to.

    Should we feel sorry for the Palestinians?

    Nope.

  • Those people aren’t tokens. You are more of a token than they will ever be. They are not sheep to be coerced by social pressure to comply with the worn-out narrative. These people think for themselves. If you think only whites listen to them, you aren’t paying attention. And its no wonder, you DONT want to pay attention less you lose your reason to have a life. LOL The list of non whites that don’t agree with your vitimcracy is very very long. And we are tired of your whining.

  • Law precludes LE Unions from striking for better wages or working conditions. It’s is inferred a strike would endanger public safety. If local Govt now believes they don’t need their Police Department, I say strike. A very small percentage of our population looted because they thought they could steal with impunity. Ultimately law enforcement stopped the looting. Imagine if all LE took a day off… Time for “A day without the Police”.

  • So, in your view, officer chauvin is not a “bad appple” but ” simply “an idiot and should not have been using force on Floyd when he was, especially the bizarre technique he used.”

    In my humble point of view, a bad apple does NOT keep on growing next to and without notice from any of the good ones.

    Just as in the video; can you really tell us that there was only one “idiot” cop and not FOUR? Because I see four bad and criminal apples, but only one seems most rotten to the core than the other three! The other three are not even salvageable since I’m almost certain they have witness too many incidents of bad apples doing very bad things to the people they’ve sworn to protect and to serve, which by definition makes them bad ones too. Don’t you think?

    “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”.
    Desmond Tutu

    And as for your gal Candice Owens, just know that it’s only a matter of time before she turns inot what Omarosa became. As for Ben Carson, I think he will see the light the same time his boss does!

  • STT: Well Minneapolis will know the truth very soon after they disband their police department. This is going to be a great learning experience for the whole country….what happens when you dial 911 and no answers….it happened in Baltimore after the indictment of the four police officers…they violated policy by not properly securing Mr. Gray in the van…did they violate criminal law….evidently not in the judge’s view who acquitted the officers….were they civilly liable? Certainly….but with liberal DA’s with no backbone they will indict first and leave it to the jury pool….great way to run a country….all you anti police liberals (CF) who want to disband your local police department…have it…but no bitching later when you get car jacked….be careful what you want…you might just get it!

  • CF, your hate for America and cops is consistent with someone affiliated with Antifa or BLM or both. That the head of BLM in L,A. has already said that looting and the torching of buildings is perfectly acceptable conduct for protesters I’m sure is ok with you. I’ve told everyone I know that can take early retirement to grab it. Others with skills that can get them into other lines of work, leave and leave now. Take you retirement money and be smart. Let the most dangerous areas created by the liberals get even worse, let no more cops die like did in Santa Cruz today.

    Everyone knows the problem isn’t the police, the numbers don’t lie. Let all the big cities go without cops, they won’t arm them any longer so more will get injured and killed along with more citizens. We all know that. The writing is on the wall.

    In the town I live a hair stylist was fired for refusing to cut a female cops hair who had been a client for year.

    A friend had to pick up his son’s truck from a repair shop after he had dropped it off to be fixed. The son is a cop with little time on and could only pick up the keys on duty and was worried to go their in uniform. He had heard employees there make anti-cop remarks after dropping the truck off.

    Two cops in the city next to where I live were refused service in a Mexican Restaurant but everyone got up when that
    happened. Not everyone thinks like you CF, thankfully.

    Still, your people will keep killing each other and response times to help them when they need it will go down, so more will die because the nation went nuts because one bad cop killed a Black guy. You thing there’s victory in what the end result will be?

    Your team lost Worm.

  • Ok “rakkasan” says the Palestinians have got it coming to them. It’s ok to kneel on the necks of, herd into ghettos, shoot, and abuse those brown bodies, how about you cf? You up for justifying genocide like your buddy rakkasan here?

  • Madame Kong, I am a firm believer in the 1st Amendment. That is why I have no problem with a kid coming up to a police officer and reciting the lyrics of NWA’s FTP. This is America, its in the constitution. What you and the huckleberry peanut gallery do not seem to understand, and I do not blame you as 20 -weeks in the academy running laps does not give you a good understanding of the constitution, is that the 1st Amendment applies to state actors – the government. Celeste or the NY Times or the LA Times or Fox News can decide not to print or replay anything they do not want to print. You may have a right to your opinion, but not a right to be published. Stick to the Vehicle Code and not the constitution. Its above your pay grade.

    And, I am still unclear what your fixation is with the Palestinians. I can’t believe you care about them any more than you do about black folks, and probably less since you lump them in with the folks that knocked down the world trade center. Hell, I am not sure you can tell the difference between a Sikh and a Muslim, like some of your ilk. Is because you want me to say something anti-Semitic? Do you think Celeste is Jewish. Its Fremon, not Friedman, although, of course it could be Anglicized (look it up). Is it because you think I am Jewish or Palestinian? I told you I abhor racism in all forms, antisemitism whether directed at Jews or Palestinians. I’m George, remember, you can just come up an ask me. Don’t be shy.

    Dope of Reality, let black people choose whom to elevate. And, please do not be so ignorant. There is no “black” committee, no “black group,” no “black spokesperson.” The kids in LA are not calling the Black Cave reporting to Black Man or calling control central and discussing whether to call police Pigs or something else. The days when you could dictate who speaks for others are gone. Hell, as that video of the LAPD beating the homeless guy that we saw a couple weeks ago, you cannot even get people not to talk back to you. The people have had it with your cowboy antics, Dope.

    Fifi. I heard about the cops in Santa Cruz. What a shame. I heard the person that shot them was in the military. Are you going to blame the military? Or, your ilk’s racism? More evidence that people have had it with your antics and tactics. Instead of thinking the world is after your and your ilk, ask yourself, why people hate you. You did not learn your lesson on September 11. The dumbest question back then was, Why do they hate us? If you engage in some self-reflection you may realize that it is you and your ilk, that you are the problem, that you have done things for people to hate you, and you have done them under the color of law. In the last 10 days you should have received at least 100 answers to your question of why they hate you, with video. And, please do convince your brethren to leave, we need fresh blood. I doubt they will until they are vested. The ones that can leave, leave, but most cannot. Where else can you get that kind of pay, with a nice pension, and generous overtime. But alas, you lack the self-respect and dignity, not to mention options, to leave a job you hate.

    Bandwagon, you said “enough said,” and then you continue to dribble on. We have come a long way, which is why your are bitching and whining all of the time. We have come a long way, which is why people now spit in your food, if they serve you at all. We have come a long way, which is why a racist cop cant put his boot on a man’s neck for 9 minutes and get away with it. We have come a long way, which is why, today, no kid says he wants to be a cop when he grows up, not even your kid. I consider it progress.

    Now, let us what video comes in today that will make us proud of our uniformed brethren.

  • Fife, I think that a big part of this conversation really is about reimagining how we do public safety in America. The few who financially benefit distract, and instill fear in communities that to achieve safety, you put more cops on the street instead of understanding to achieve safe and healthy communities, you put more resources into the public education system of those communities, into access to capital for small businesses, and into actual community policing where cops walk the beat. This builds community trust and a sense of ownership of the communities they serve.
    In many cities in America, over one-third of their city budget goes to public safety leaving very little resources for actual community improvement. If you think it’s not true, look at East Los Angeles, Compton, and other parts of LA. Drive into those communities, streets filled with potholes, sidewalks buckling, parks and schools in need of dire maintenance. Most of these officers do not even live in the cities they work in. Yes don’t give me the BS of schools and cost of living. They bankrupt these cities, and live in expensive White neighborhoods. So yes, if these cops quit, the Cities can actually spend that money into helping their own communities with job training, and help with mental health issues that communities are being plagued with, for which we’re putting no resources.
    Oh save the pity party of crime going up. Give me a break you guys do not care of these communities.

  • In the 1947 war the Arabs told the Palestinians to leave their homes so that the Arabs could kill the Jews. The Palestinians did that with the full expectation that the Arabs would kill the Jews, but the Jews won & the Arabs refused to take the Palestinians in.

    Blame the Arabs, not the Jews.

  • Boy cf, that’s some hectic misdirection there. Clearly you were calling for Celeste to censor and I never said anything about the constitution or the first amendment. But I know you were just looking for an excuse to launch into one of your patented rants, full of insults and stupid misdirections, please try to keep up Greg. I’ll see if I can swing by your place again, but no promises, the state of Washington is a little out of my way.

    Nice to see you abhor racism, but you haven’t said anything about the apartheid state of Israel. Talk about systemic racism. Or like rakkasan, perhaps you think the Palestinians have it coming. Btw I don’t think it’s nice that you keep trying to rope Celeste into your silly nonsense.

  • No whining here chump. You’re tired of my whining? We’ve been listening to whining for hundreds of years. Who do you think is more over the whining at this point?

  • Owens point is that Mr. Floyd should not be made out to be a paragon of virtue in the black community based on his criminal history. She’s right – but imho her point is irrelevant. The nationwide ire is not based on the criminal histories of those involved or the lack thereof but on the taking of life in non-life threatening situations and feelings on the part of many black citizens that they are treated differently than others and often inappropriately. There is no question that changes are ahead – for some agencies, they will be significant. I hope that mature, level headed people from the community and law enforcement listen to each other and work together and do some real good versus the usual knee jerk reactions that sound good but do nothing.

  • You don’t know me or a thing about me. Not where I work, where I grew up or the color of my skin. You assume way too much about what I care about and what I don’t care about. You also assume people I work with abandon the people that live where they work as soon as they’re E.O.W. and do nothing for the community after hours. Nothing could be further from the truth.

  • CF, fresh blood will not be filling their shoes Worm. As the qualifications lower you’ll get what you deserve along with longer response times to those who need in most, that live in minority neighborhoods where most of the problems exists.

    You’re on the Democrat’s Plantation and you know it Worm. Quit acting like you’re not. Been there a long time and you have no hope of escaping, can’t think for yourself, Get to Ebay now see what deals you can get, don’t act like it’s not where you been spending all your time since the “Insurrection.”

  • I’d love to see the the BS commenters on this site to watch what a good vs bad apple looks like!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvgHBL0pGiI

    Lucklily for most of us, the few that may end up admiring the video of Candace Owens just keep looking for more sell outs to hide behind. I’m sure you’d hide behind Ben Carson too, right?

    Now, please excuse me while a take a knee!

  • Let’s reverse the rolls. Say it was a black cop on a white man who had George Floyd’s criminal history. And like George, was high on fentanyl and meth at the time of his police contact. First off, it wouldn’t have garnered any media attention but for the sake of argument, let’s assume that it would. I would venture to say that the attitudes from at least 50-60% of whites would be, “Hmmm, sucks to be him. Guess he shouldn’t have used drugs and resisted the cops. No loss, just another dead car burglar.”* If there were any charges brought against the black officer (and that’s a BIG if), there’d probably be a GoFundMe page started by white and black community members to help with his legal fees. This is where the cultural differences lie and is exactly what Candace Owens was talking about (you know, the lady CF refers to as a “token”).

    *Before this statement causes any civil unrest, let me emphasize that nobody is calling George Floyd a “car burglar.” I’m purposefully generalizing and stereotyping your typical white meth addict who has a predilection for breaking into cars.

    We all agree that Derek Chauvin and the others need to be held accountable–and they are. In fact, Chauvin just looks like an asshole and from what I’ve read, his incompetent supervisors either ignored or missed numerous warning signs. His Asian partner had a history of blowing off reports and for pretty much shitting on victims. In fact, that whole agency is second rate and I actually agree with the activists in that it needs to be completely overhauled and gutted. Dismantling it and replacing it with social workers–as some are suggesting–would be disastrous however. I’ve always felt for the elderly African American widow who lives next door to a house full of gang members who party until 5am every night. Who’s going to bring peace to this woman’s world? A naive 23 year old white female social worker with a degree in Women’s Studies?

  • CF: That was weak! Even for u. That’s all you got? Time to take ur ball and go home my friend. Nobody wants play with anyone who isn’t competitive and ur best days are behind you. Hey I hear Minneapolis is hiring liberal shitheads like u after they disband. Don’t be scared. Those are your BLM brothers shooting at you!!

  • Fife, I know you and I really do not care about the color of your skin. You are one of those who is responsible for bankrupting poor Black and Latino neighborhoods in the name of Public safety. People like you are responsible for raping poor inner City neighborhoods. You guys rob every tax payer penny and take it to your white neighborhoods for your self gain. To add insult to injury, after you guys are done raping and pillaging these neighborhoods, people like you retire to the KKK land of Idaho. All you guys care about is you nothing else. These Cities do not need people like you to keep them safe. I have an advice for you. Quit. I will bet my last Dollar; they can, and will work as a community and help themselves. Give me a damn break.

  • Your profile based upon your varying & selective posts is very telling.
    It may not hit a home run but it’s in the ballpark.

  • I agree. I wonder about the black pregnant women that he had a gun to her stomach while his friends robbed her. How she must feel. Did he care that black lives matter? And yet he being used to represent their efforts. The family has 13 million dollars in a gofundme donated by people. When asked how they are going to use the money? Pay for the funeral and put I. The bank for his children. First off the funeral has been paid for by someone. The college for his daughter has been paid for. Where is the donation to build the clack community, help children in poverty. Where is the money for the victim of George Floyd’s crime that still lives with that every day? Money for the child that he held the gun too. I understand the anger, I understand the movement. I don’t understand the martyr status that has been placed with the name of George Floyd.

  • Ruiz Senor, “sell out?” Why don’t you have a tiny bit of her courage and call her what you really think she is….the word SHE says her accusers call her?

    I don’t know who you are, and yet I know you’re a sheep. And you’re crying about how the sheepdog is being mean to the wolf….it scares you and makes you sad.

    If I had my way, I’d let the wolves have at you and you’re kind…people who criticize the way the sheepdog keeps you safe.

    As far as getting on your knees, I sense you’re the kinda guy who’s used to it.

  • Speaking of Candace Owens

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candace_Owens

    The “BS commenters on this site” all seem to be former Executives, and one even stated that he was in Internal Affairs “for a good, long time.”

    Their unanimous viewpoint is that since George Floyd comes from a community with a high crime rate and he himself has a criminal record he got what he deserved.

    That viewpoint is what all the rioting is about.

  • Fifi, “as the qualifications lower?” Really? Can they get lower? The qualifications and quality of the force is already low. You are not in the private sector. You do not get paid as much as you do because you deserve it. Do not fool yourself. You get paid what you get paid because of your union. You do not get paid what you do because of your intelligence, your wit or your ability to stay in shape. We have ignorant brutes on the force, albeit not all, but way too many, who could not get a job paying comparable wages in the private secor. Stop fooling yourself. At least be honest, and admit that much.

    LASD Asspostle, MACC, et al. There is a reason you are parading these people as courageous intellectuals. There is a reason black folks consider them token. There is a reason they say nothing new or different from a million other racist white folks, but they get the attention and the racist white folks dont -because they are black, token blacks. When did you figure out you have a better idea about what black folks should do or say than black folks? Negro, pleeeeease. These last 10 days, after hearing what some brothers said to your ilk, what they wrote on your cars, etc, I think they can speak for themselves, and they did it in a way that got their point across.

    Bandwagon, stick to writing tickets and harassing black kids. Leave the wittier comments to my boy Madame Kong. My god, I have never come across a group of folks, of any race, who have a greater sense of entitlement than police officers. Since when does the government owe you anything? You bitch and moan about losing the JOB, yes, the JOB, that you have. Its a JOB, which means others pay you, others hire you, and others should be able to fire you and tell you how to do it. For a group so opposed to welfare, you should be ashamed that you receive so much welfare. Its a JOB, boys. And, one that from now on, at least in Los Angeles, you need to do while biting your lip when a black kids tells you to F-off. Jesus, boys, its a JOB, not a right.

  • Fife, then tell me O wise one, why is it that Counties & Cities which have large majority Whites demographics ( higher socio-economic neighborhoods) eg . Ventura & OC hire cops who are 95 % WHITE. They do not hire Black or Latino Cops. Wait I have some more news for you. These cops live in these neighborhoods too. Their wives stay at home, drive brand new Tahoe’s, Suburban’s and Escalades, and they send their kids to private schools just like you guys who pillage poor neighborhoods. They spend their tax payer $ in those neighborhoods, and those neighborhoods in turn flourish economically. Why the F*** is it that in colored neighborhoods ( Black & Latino ) do you have White Cops who do not live in those neighborhoods. I know why; it is because all you guys care about is yourselves. You guys rape and pillage these poor neighborhoods. These poor jurisdictions allocate 80% of their Budget on dipshits who do not give a shit about those neighborhoods. So there is a systemic transfer of monies from poor neighborhoods to rich White one’s. Wait to add insult to injury, once you guys retire you guys move to the KKK land of IDAHO. So do not give me that sorry violin that you guys care.

    I know too many who, have told me they compare Blacks and Latinos living in LA County to animals, yes animals. They treat these people like animals. Guess they do not mind financially raping these Cities where these animals live. Give me a break. You guys are cursed by these poor people. I would not want those curses if I was in your shoes. So yes you guys are not needed to protect and serve in those communities. I challenge you guys to quit. You will not because you know it and I know it, you will not find a job for even 50K a year, compared to 200K you guys pillage from these poor neighborhoods.

  • Damn cf they really hurt your feelings when they rejected you for the full time “real” deputy JOB didn’t they? Was it your hight ? Or did you piss off the wrong guy somewhere? All that pent up anger isn’t good for you, might help if you were to see a professional.no shame in that these days.

  • Kong: His ramblings are getting long and drawn out. I think he has lost the edge. Time to turn in his wings. He used to be competitive. Alas no longer. He doesn’t have the same drive Very

  • You know nothing about me. Where I work, live or where I grew up. Crime is going up, saw that on the news today and guessing you’re not out there dealing with it. My department is not anywhere near a largely White one. Friends of mine can’t afford private schools. Take your fairy tales somewhere else they won’t get any play for me and don’t ever try to educate me on any type of minority area. It’s a waste of breath.

  • You’re probably happy this morning Worm. A guy went in and shot up a Sheriff’s Station in Central California. He killed a transient before that. One Deputy was wounded and they’re still looking for your friend. You would consider him one, no denying that.
    Maybe I have a cop son already, or a brother or two working on the streets. Or, have a friend at the station shot up this morning. In fact, that’s how I found out about it. Unlike you, I’m a “Role Model” to the young who know me. Yeah, you’d laugh at that but others would tell you the same and there’s so many like me in Blue.
    That just kills haters like you, doesn’t it? Now get back on Ebay and find some deals.

  • Worm, you talk about shape way too much. I live pretty much in a gym. Not married and not old. Truly you are way out of your element. Try your rap elsewhere Little Man.

  • Fife – “Friends of mine can’t afford private schools” Really- These are not fairy tales. Salaries are all Public Information. Stop pretending like you guys are some sort of victims. Finally, the public have opened their eyes and said, ENOUGH is ENOUGH.

    Enough of the large scale transfer of money form poor neighborhoods to the affluent ones. By the way, these Cities do not need some White guys to save them.

  • Fife, a White Cop murdered a Black man in Washington the same way the White Cop Murdered George Floyd.
    By the way did the Wounded Deputy have underlying health condition’s, like Obesity, Congestive heart issues, high blood pressure. Just asking!

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