Last week we to discuss The death of a black suspect, Tyree Nichols, who was beaten by five black Memphis police officers, has been viewed by some on the left as an example of anti-black “traditional racism” by the police.
Columbia law professor Kimberley Crenshaw, a proponent of critical race theory, offers this hysterical view: “Anyone who knows the history of slavery, anyone who knows the history of policing knows that black people can commit anti-black acts. But what we were trying to bring to the conversation was the structural dimension of anti-black racism, the fact that the incentive structures that are put in place in policing target specific communities, the black community.
“Targeting… the black community”?
In this case, the main target is the black female Memphis police chief. As noted last week, blacks make up 13% of the national population, but in the 75 most populous counties, blacks account for 60% of all murder and robbery convictions. Would Professor Crenshaw prefer that the police deploy their limited resources to Palm Beach, Florida, or Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, or Malibu, California? According to Gallup, eighty percent of blacks, many victims of black targeting, want police manpower in their communities to stay the same — or increase.
“The View’s” Whoopi Goldberg said that police brutality wouldn’t be taken seriously until police killed white people: “It seems like things don’t make sense to people unless they can feel it or they can identify with it. . . . Do we have to see white people beaten before doing it?
Again, in the five years before 2021, police killed 39% more unarmed whites than unarmed blacks. Regarding police brutality against white people, go to YouTube and type in “Tony Timpa” to see a video of this white man’s 2016 confrontation with Dallas police officers. Timpa, pinned down by several policemen for 15 minutes, even said, “I can’t breathe.” His death was ruled a homicide due to cocaine and being sober. Then there’s the hard-to-watch YouTube video of a 2011 Fullerton, California, police officer’s encounter with Kelly Thomas, a white mentally ill homeless man. He was beaten with fists, sticks and the back of a taser. His death was attributed to strangulation. In 2016, white and unarmed 19-year-old Dylan Noble was fatally shot by officers in Fresno, California, after a traffic stop turned into a standoff.
Studies from decades ago, including one by black Harvard economics professor Roland Fryer, discussed in The New York Times in July 2016, show that police are more hesitant, more reluctant, to use lethal force against a black suspect than a white one. In April 2016, a Washington Post article wrote: “Officers are three times less likely to shoot unarmed black suspects than unarmed white suspects.”
In a 2021 paper, “BLM Spreads Lies That Lead to the Killing of Thousands of Black People in the Most Disadvantaged Communities,” Thompson Reuters data scientist Jack Kriegman wrote about the growing number of cops who “fear false accusations of traditional racism,” refusing to engage in proactive policing. Kriegman argued. Granted, this resulted in thousands of “extra murders” of mostly black people, who would have survived if the policing had not been passive. So, because of this baseless anti-police rhetoric, Biden, the Democrats and the media have blood on their hands. And Thompson Reuters fired Kriegman when He refused to withdraw his findings.
It also appears that Memphis PD has lowered hiring standards. Are these five black cops “diversity” and/or the cops now called “systematically racist,” leading to early retirements, fewer applicants, and therefore lowered hiring standards to maintain manpower? If white cops had beaten Nichols, that would have been an example of systemic racism. Black cops beat him up and that’s still systemic racism. So why does the left want a “diverse” police force? Bad cops come in all colors. The goal should be good policing, regardless of race.
Finally, almost all of these dead black suspect/police encounters have a sad, tragic throughline: resisting arrest. Why is it forbidden for “black leaders” and blacks in the media to encourage black suspects not to resist arrest?!?
Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To learn more about Larry Elder, or to become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on Twitter @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.