Look at the video above about two police officers in the Saint Louis area. If you are wondering at the why of the rampant distrust that exists in the Ferguson area, this will give you some indication. Note that I am NOT saying that all officers are like the above, but it only takes a few like the above to cause serious harm to community relationships. But, even worse, the recorded comments were not simply made on social media, but were made by the police officer as a speaker at a local Oath Keepers meeting.
Oath Keepers styles itself as “a non-partisan association of current and formerly serving military, reserves, National Guard, veterans, Peace Officers, and Fire Fighters who will fulfill the Oath we swore, with the support of like minded citizens who take an Oath to stand with us, to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us God. Our Oath is to the Constitution … Our motto is ‘Not on our watch!’”
Oath Keepers was formed in 2009 out of the fear that ran rampant when a black man was elected President and fear mongers said that he would change and gut the Constitution. Various of the members in Saint Louis can be heard laughing and agreeing as the speaker spoke of President Obama being an illegal alien and going on a rant against women on combat duty, etc. He was never asked to stop speaking, nor was he booed down. It was only after the film was leaked that the local chapter suddenly set out a disclaimer. While Oath Keepers in Saint Louis would not encompass all Saint Louis law enforcement, various of the officers at that meeting would also have been on the streets of Ferguson, patrolling the area during the initial days of demonstration. Even worse, some of the same officers would have been patrolling the streets all along, carrying those attitudes with them. Can you understand why there would be serious distrust of law enforcement by black residents?
In reality, Oath Keepers is an organization that foments treason and disobedience. It makes itself the judge of the Constitution and the laws. “At regular ceremonies in every state, members reaffirm their official oaths of service, pledging to protect the Constitution—but then they go a step further, vowing to disobey ‘unconstitutional’ orders from what they view as an increasingly tyrannical government, – Mother Jones 2010 article.” Members of Oath Keepers will decide for themselves what laws they obey and which they will not. If you watch the news, there has been an increasing willingness by law enforcement officers in various states to openly state that they will not enforce certain laws, even if approved.
It is no wonder, then, that the police in Ferguson first reacted as though they were facing an insurrection rather than demonstrations. They saw no problem in violating First Amendment rights, since they were the interpreters of the Constitution. Peaceful protests were broken up violently. Journalists in a McDonald’s were arrested in violation of their rights. One of them even commented that it was a good thing that he was white because he knew he would be released. Even old 1950’s tactics were used when the zoning laws were used against a church that was housing a first aid station for injured protesters. Shades of tactics from the 1950’s!
You can read, and hear, the church’s story on a local Fox News channel, http://fox2now.com/2014/08/20/did-squatters-take-over-a-ferguson-chruch/.
The bottom line is that Ferguson residents have good reason to fear the police. Frankly, given the strong influence of groups like Oath Keepers in our law enforcement venues, maybe we should all be a little concerned.
It’s been intriguing following twitter feed and comments from those actually in Ferguson to those on the mainstream national media. I suppose they are trying to be “unbiased” and “neutral” but in everything from the photo they selected from Mike Brown’s facebook site to the way they’ve framed the stories on looting they’ve ended up actually slanting the story in disturbing ways. It was first from social media that we saw police walking through the streets pointing assault rifles at everyone they met (which was one of the first things to raise an outcry from our actual military), that we discovered the looters were actually a small, scattered event and the residents of Ferguson were mostly the ones who protected businesses and stopped them, not the police. One photo even showed two Crips and a Blood standing guard together against looters. Yes, there are very good reasons mistrust runs so deep.
I’ve lived in a somewhat similar environment before. As a preteen and young teen in the late 70s, I lived in the Montrose area inside the loop in Houston. That was during the peak period of criminal violence across the US. (Most people don’t seem to know that violent crime rates have actually declined fairly steadily overall since then.) And it was pretty rough. There was a murder on our street a block from our house. There were rapes in the apartments on either side of us. And a general atmosphere of violence. And HPD was little help. It was rampant with corruption and violence itself. News reports of an officer killing someone, taking paybacks, or going to trial on other charges were routine. During that period, the Saturday Evening Post magazine even published a cover story showing a biker gang with the title “There’s a New Gang in Town.” The “biker gang” members were all wearing HPD patches. Even we kids “joked” about whether or not it was better or worse to call the police.
Of course, I was a white kid so I was less “visible”. I didn’t tend to get followed by security in department stores like my friends of color. Once, when we had separated to look at different things, I even had a security guard ask me if I could help “keep an eye” on that group (pointing at my friends) and come get him if they started causing trouble. I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I think I just nodded. (I was 12 years old, I think.) It certainly stuck in my mind. One of them was actually the son of a very successful (and wealthy) black doctor. He was certainly the highest “class” kid among us.
Once a police department loses the trust of those they are supposed to “protect and serve”, it’s very, very hard to win it back.