Civil Rights and Resisting Arrest: He had "fried another ni**er" and that it was "no big deal."

Too bad this is standard operating procedure in many police departments around this country.

Cops like this are far from uncommon----and they are the reason for the song.

How dare you say something like that? How about some REAL proof to back up such an absurd statement.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121576402

http://freethinker.co.uk/2011/06/14/police-accused-of-covering-up-muslim-hate-crime-in-the-borough-of-tower-hamlets/

http://www.workers.org/2011/us/whitby_0217/

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Blue_Code_of_Silence

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2011/08/danziger_bridge_verdict_do_not.html

Google is your friend.

Nice try, but there is NOTHING in these lil postings to justify that "cops like this are far from uncommon----and they are the reason for the song."

Just a few isolated examples and a wikipedia reference.

Google may be YOUR friend, but common sense is mine.

Once they're over that border, they become an occupation force and they act like one.

So what you are saying is that a stroll in South Central LA at midnight would be the same as a stroll in West LA at the same time?

Just a few isolated examples and a wikipedia reference.

So that it took less than two minutes to find similar behavior worldwide means it's uncommon?

Interesting thought pattern, that.

The other reason I know it's not uncommon is I used to work with law enforcement and prison system people. I got to see (and hear) firsthand the shenanigans that go on.

That'll probably be dismissed as allegory now, I'd wager.

Or this: http://cryptome.org/0005/daragjati.pdf

@IAS,

I'll bet my life experience as a black man who grew up in the 'hood against your common sense anytime you want. I didn't say that all cops are bad, or racist. I have friends who are police officers---as well as the fact that I've known a lot of drug dealers, numbers runners and even a couple of reputed mob hitmen---and most of 'em are good folks doing a hard and dangerous job. And BTW, I'm waaay older than Google. In fact, this old fossil predates cell phones, personal computers as well as the Net.

I know, again from experience, that a bad cop is a virus that infects a community as surely as the aforementioned drug dealers, numbers runners and reputed mob hitmen. The difference is, the everyday working people who are trying to survive at Ground Zero don't expect anything from the crooks except to be left alone, in return for staying out of their game. They don't expect to have their lives ruined, or even ended, by a cop who is actually a disgrace to his uniform and his badge----the cop's race or gender is not even the main issue.

@Nick46,

I'm saying that being arrested for standing on a corner, talking to a friend not seen for awhile, or for being stopped in a random stop-and-frisk and not being able to produce an photo ID in one's neighborhood is being treated like an occupied community. When this happens---and it happens often in this city, and in this country---that is the behavior of an occupation force, not a police agency living up to its' duty to protect and serve all citizens. The presumption of innocence goes partly out the window, and the freedom of assembly, protection from unreasonable search and seizure are completely gone.

It's generally a bad idea to get into physical alterations with police officers. A rap song like "F*ck the Police" is a way to fight back. Like I said, these things don't come out of a vacuum---if they did, where are the similar tunes from suburban kids playing in rock bands?

It only takes one bad cop to paint an entire department with the bad brush---and if anyone is going to tell me "they're only fighting crime," save your energy. IMO, that means I'm being asked to live with my race and gender being an acceptable prima-facie reason to justify being harassed by the police. I'm a working man, a taxpayer, and a combat veteran, and I just ain't havin' it.

A good friend of mine is an attorney who's had numerous dealings with the San Francisco PD, and has an INCREDIBLY jaded view of cops...he's told me cute stories about them planting evidence, having sex with hookers in squad cars, taking squad cars to Reno for the weekend...there's even a phenomenon called 'beat wives'; most cops (for safety reasons) don't live in the neighborhoods they patrol (a lot of SF cops live in Novato/Sonoma) so they'll have a girlfriend or even an entire family in the neighborhood they patrol, while still having a wife and kids back where they live.

He's even coached me on how to deal with them (if they stop you, they'll use verbal trickery to search your car/home). It's not 'anti-cop' to know your rights.

Are all cops bad? No, but I don't have any illusions about the type of person who goes for a career in law enforcement. The good ones have my support...and if the bad ones detain me, they better be damn sure they're right.

Well written, Brian and voted up. As a black man who pre-dates mass use of color television (the networks didn't produce all color line-ups until 1965), I can echo everything you've written. From my teenage years through my early 40s, I was detained by police officers five or six times for no apparent reason and a couple of times the officer attempted to escalate confrontation. I consider myself fortunate as I know guys for whom that has happened more often. BTW, I'm not counting any encounter where I was even potentially in the wrong (i.e. traffic violation). Over the years, I've developed an approach to such encounters and I share them with young brothers every chance I get.

1. Keep your hands in full view at all times. If you are a driver who gets pulled over, put your hands on the wheel and splay your fingers out.
2. Keep your cool. Speak in an unemotional manner.
3. Listen carefully for the officer's directions and follow them. Do not get out of the car unless the officer instructs you to do so.
4. Let the officer do his/her job.
5. If the officer is out of line, study the badge number and the plate number of the cruiser so that you can report the officer later. Demanding a badge number only increases the chances of you having to post bail money.
6. Keep your friends in check. Do not let their mouths get the both of you in trouble.

Nick, if I'm simply walking or driving down the street and not engaging in any suspiscious activity, there is no reason whatsoever for me to be engaged by a police officer whether it is West LA or South Central. Thoughout my son's freshman year at Lehigh University, he was stopped and confronted by Bethlehem or campus police six times just walking toward campus. I had a faint hope that - as a law abiding citizen - he would not have encounters with law enforcement that mirrored mine, but alas.

How do you want your answer, IAS? Do you want historical instances, current ones, OR the "buffet line"?

How do you want it?

Just say the the word, and I'll serve it up to you with a side of humble pie, and a complementary order of crow.

good guidelines dwillie... reminds me of chris rock's "how not to get your ass kicked by the police"

Great points, dwillie!

My dad also gave me a good suggestion: most people keep their registration/proof of insurance in their glove box. When you're reaching for those things, inform the cop that's what you're doing-don't just lunge for the glove compartment.

. IMO, that means I'm being asked to live with my race and gender being an acceptable prima-facie reason to justify being harassed by the police

Well said!! Does anyone really believe that when 93 out of 100 black people are stopped for random stop and search procedures that those 93 are GUILTY of something? Or that there was probably cause? No! You can bet you butt that if 93 out of every 100 white people were stopped and harassed on their way to work or even just out shopping every damned day, they'd raise holy hell. As they should! My brother-in-law (who is white) has, unfortunately, been targeted like this many times. Maybe b/c he's white in a largely hispanic neighborhood, so he sticks out. Or maybe it's his leather jacket, jet black hair and porcelain skin which makes him look like a goth (he's not). But he sees how awful it is, and he's probably not stopped nearly as often as someone black is. The point is, it's an intrusion and a humilition, and for no good reason.

Bassdad, I babysat for a cop that used to have me, at 12 or 13 years old, hand letter-sized envelopes to his partner. I could feel the shape of what was inside was odd, so I got nosy and peeked (it's rude, but I was a kid). What was inside? Joints - he was using me to pass pot to his partner. This same cop has now been arrested and imprisoned twice for being connected to the mafia. So I have no illusions, either, that cops are all good.

Excellent addition bassdad. Thanks.

Thanks, dwille!

I've been teaching my son these same things since he was 11.

As my dad used to tell me (and my brother), if you allow a bad cop to provoke you, the fact that you were provoked is meaningless. All the system will see is that you assaulted a police officer, not that you knocked out a clown who had it coming.

Your objective when dealing with ANY police officer in a "routine" encounter---even something as invasive and humiliating as a random stop-and-frisk---is to keep it routine. That is, don't escalate it toward being arrested, punched out, tased or riddled with 9mm.

BTW, I remember when we got our first color TV set, one of those 21-inch screens with the wooden cabinet. My dad bought it when he came back from Vietnam---a month before Tet in 1968. That was a BIG deal :)

Thanks to you, too, BONOS!!!!!

I have friends who are police officers---as well as the fact that I've known a lot of drug dealers, numbers runners and even a couple of reputed mob hitmen---and most of 'em are good folks doing a hard and dangerous job.

ROFLMAO.

Whoops!

I meant the POLICE OFFICERS----not the drug dealers, numbers runners and reputed mob hitmen! Glad I left out the sprinkling of pimps, Nick. You might have broken something hitting the floor, and/or laughing so hard.

Thanks for pointing this out :}

Baron Brian and dwillie, as a middle-aged white woman, I am ashamed that it is necessary for black men to have to develop an approach for dealing with police encounters as described in #3.11.

Ohh, so NOW you want to clean it up AFTER I did the comical "sip and spit" laugh!!!!

Baron Brian, you AIN'T RIGHT!!!!!!

LOL

LMAO, I saw that comment and did a double take, too. But I figured it out before the coca cola hit the screen.

:)

How dare you say something like that? How about some REAL proof to back up such an absurd statement.

Visit some websites that watch the police. At least 5 cops a week are arrested .

Crimes such as stealing evidence all the way up to murder.

Look , we all have had some experiance with cops . We had one here that ran over some motercycle riders who had a blood alc. above the limit and his buddies and bosses made such a mess out of it he got off . He and his thin blue line made the average citizen think trusting them may not always be prudent . The mayors safety director tryed to clean out the dirt and the FOP went gunning for him and the mayor . At least the bad ones did Now on the other hand we have a police family all of them just real decent folks .Their son worked a poor neighborhood , he cared about the people there , used his own money and time to help people . A guy who just been out of jail a short time decided he was going to blow this cop away just because . That family never blamed the African American community and never mentioned that man in the news knowing his time would come soon enough . Folks , there are good and bad out there thats just the way it is .

It Aint So (i.e., Denial)

Google may be YOUR friend, but common sense is mine.

iow, "keep your facts; i'm going with the truth!" (Stephen Colbert)

also, if the LA County Jail scandal with the "3000 Boys" wasn't included already, add it.

@Ms CYPRAH,

Like I said, I'm glad I left out the sprinkling of pimps---y'know, it's HARD out here for a pimp!

I'm even gladder (is that a word?) that there was some humor in all this...wish I could say I meant to set off some laughter.

@Carol-99,

I thank you for your heart...but it's not your fault, and you should not be ashamed.

I've also known a lot of first-rate human beings who just happened to be white. The ones I served with in the Army are---along with the grace of GOD---the reason why I'm sitting here today, twenty years older than maybe I ought to be.

I am not complaining, btw...

@Carol-99,

I thank you for your heart...but it's not your fault, and you should not be ashamed.

Perhaps I should have said that I am ashamed as an American citizen.

Hell, some don't even care if they are on camera or in front of hundreds of people. Look at the pepper spray incident and the cop got off with a slap on the hand. I think society as a whole needs to demand justice for all and if the cops overstep their authority then get rid of the psychopaths....

Thanks ,Desert Storm Black Vet !

He is not one that is considered White in a traditional European Christian kind of way.

... what??

... what??

Look at his name. He's likely Muslim. He's Caucasian but he's not White in the traditional sense as used in the USA.

This case is presented as just another racist White cop. In regards to the ethnic issue of Black and White it is not as claimed and considered.

/facepalm

/facepalm

Why? Ethnic dynamics matter in cases of ethnic bias.

JAVE:

Caucasian = white. I don't know what would lead you to believe that people in the US would not consider someone with an Albanian surname white. Religion doesn't factor into figuring out what race someone is. You don't stop being white just because you're a Muslim. And you're not automatically Muslim just because you have a Muslim-sounding surname. Our president being a very clear-cut example of this.

Indians are Caucasian but are not typically considered White. Hispanics and Arabs are Caucasian but discrimination against them is not considered anti-White bias.

When people complain about racist White cops they typically don't mean the Muslim cop.

Assuming that he's actually Muslim (having an Albanian last name doesn't actually tell us his religion), that still doesn't change his race. Albanians are white, in every sense of the word. Take a look at this photo of Albanian Muslim Children: http://www.muslimblog.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/from-Albanian-Muslim-children-10.jpg Blond hair, blue eyes, it really doesn't get much whiter than that. The idea that somehow his last name removes the fact that he's white is just ridiculous.

Albanians are white, in every sense of the word.

I disagree with the "every sense of the word" part. Look at their neighbors, are they culturally more similar to the Greeks, the Serbians, or the Turks? Are Turkish people considered White in every sense of the word in America? There is more to being considered White in the US then just Caucasian ancestry. When you say "five racist white cops.", does that typically mean an Indian, a Syrian, a Cuban, a Pakistani and a Jew?

White is a term more about ethnicity and culture then one of the 'five races' in America.

he could be 10 generations removed from the person who was 'Muslim' anyway.

He could be. Still, most of NYC's Albanian community arrived in the early 1990's. It's not guaranteed he Muslim either, only 3/4 of Albanians are.

For the purposes of what happened, JAVE, it is not the name that matters but the colour because that is all people will see between the two men and hence why he gleefully texted about frying a 'ni**er.

All anti Black racism is not committed by people who are down with 'white power'. One can be anti-Black without being White. Black and White conflict are based in community, family history and teaching, along with personal experiences. Odds are the cop is a 1st generation American. He likely didn't come from a family that used to have slaves, that "kept Blacks in their place", that were here for the civil rights movement, didn't remember when The Bronx was burning, didn't crack Black jokes with grandpa. Likely, many White people in the USA wouldn't consider his family 'White' but would place them in an 'Other' category.

The racism this guy possessed wasn't from traditional White racism in the USA, taught and reinforced by family and culture.

but the colour because that is all people will see between the two men

That is true. That is why I pointed out the cop was someone that often would be perceived as a minority in America not a part of the dominant White culture. He was not someone raised in a traditionally White American culture. When the Albanians were rounded up with the Fort Dix plot they weren't considered White by supporters or those against them. It was framed as the White culture railroading the 'other' out of fear.

To see this cop as just the same old White cop vs Black man is simplistic. Something made this cop hate Black people an awful lot. Maybe it was experiences growing up and as a cop, maybe something else.

Whether he's a White racist or not I'll leave to others to decide. Either way this cop's path to racism and hatred of Black people followed a different way then the traditional path to White racism in America.

Your perspective is quite biased. People in general deal with persons in authority showing their prejudices regardless of color. It is obviously true that there are more white officers because in this country there are more white people not because they are typically more prejudiced than black people. Believe me, I have heard black people spew absolute venom about anything white and equally stupid white people do the same.

@Explorerdog1,

You do have a point. I have heard black people spew some vile, bigoted crap about whites in my time. No question about it...

I was taught that a bigot is someone who hates another because of his race, creed, color, etc., whereas a racist has the ability to hurt you because of his hate---keep you from getting a job, a mortgage or whatever. The most dangerous racist can deprive you of your freedom, property or even your life. It's already quite clear from history in this country, IMO, that the worst thing we can do is give a hater a badge, a gun, and law enforcement authority.

I won't say it doesn't or can't happen, but I suspect that black cops seldom attempt to play these kinds of games with everyday white folks---on Staten Island or anywhere else in America---because they won't survive on the force long if they do. This scumbag has been a cop in NYC for 8 years. IMO, a black cop scumbag doing this to whites would have been noticed, disciplined and/or terminated before the ink on his police acadedmy diploma was dry.

It doesn't matter which way someone's hatred flows---if the guy is bragging to his friends how he just "fried" another (Fill In the Vile Racial Epithet of Your Choice), he ought to be removed from the force. Take his badge, gun, authority and put him in the file room where he can't do any harm.

Unless he's a dirty cop. Then he's a disgrace to his badge, uniform and organization and belongs totally out of the department---and jail if warranted.

I could not agree more, it has always seemed that bigots function from their narrow perspective and cause little direct harm, but the racist, now that is certainly a different flavor.

Explorer,

A biased opinion is not what I was going for... More along the lines of what each race depicts as "racism"... blacks consider racism as being hung from trees, while whites consider losing a job to a black as racism...

To my own understanding, a racist is a bigot but a bigot is not necessarily a racist. A bigoted person is one who holds to a particular belief in spite of the evidence to the contrary. That belief does not have to be associated with race in order to be bigoted. There are people who are bigoted based on religion, national origin, sexual orientation, geographic bias, economic class and other areas. While there is overlap between bigotry and racism, the two terms are not necessarily synomynous.

I also do not consider a racist solely to be someone who does physical harm to another based on race. I have met plenty of racists who would be loathe to actually harm another person. A racist is one who believes that there is a hierarchical relationship between races (one being higher or lower than another) or that race dictates personal characteristics and destiny - usually in a derogatory or pejorative way. Such a person may not commit an act of violence, but their attitude may compel them to other forms of errant behavior, such as referring to an escaped gorilla an ancestor of the First Lady of the United States, or receiving, keeping and sharing pictures depicting the President as a pimp and the First Lady as a whore, or distributing "Obama Bucks". To this black person, these and other incidents that have occurred over the last three years are clear examples of racist behavior eventhough the person who engaged in such behavior would not commit an act of violence.

-- said they stopped at a cafe in some small part of georgia where 2 cops were bragging about shooting a n!**er and watching his body jerk. He said his wife got so sick that she threw up. Said he got sick to his stomach. He also said that when the police captain, who was a black guy, walked in that the same cops sat and talked to him as a friend

Likely they considered the cop a peer and not some @!$%# they arrest. Most Whites use @!$%# for the foul and not their friends.

Drivel not! No police officer anywhere is employed to "protect" you, not now, not ever. They enforce the law and if the enforcement of the law protects you it is a benefit not the intent. The wording to serve and protect is just a warm and fuzzy catch phrase.

Clueless..Oh well

Agreed! DF

Your own screenname references your race!

So what? That screen name is completely innocuous and doesn't approach the hostility of the "examples" you provide cigarz. Gratuitous outrage through false equivalency is one of the more useless rhetorical tactics here on the Vine and it should be beneath anyone who wishes to be taken seriously. In 1990, a rapper named Vanilla Ice had the fastest selling hip hop record of all time and he still goes by that equally innocuous handle. Show me a picture of you picketing his concerts and I won't believe that your post reflects blatant hypocrisy.

You're manufacturing unwarranted and unnecessary umbrage, cigarz. The air must be mighty thin way up on on that high horse.

People are way too paranoid! There is bigotry and racism flowing eaqually from each side> Not every Cop or Lawyer Or Baker Or trash collector is racist!. But isn't that the first thing we all do- label some one a racist? If I see some one I don't like for what ever reason, especially if he is not of my skin tone-first thing siad is I am a racists. Every race looks at another as different and has a certain uneasiness with them. Just reading the posts here every white cop is now a racists and can't be trusted- Come on folks , lighten up a bit. Stop going to the extremes on everything!

Not every Cop or Lawyer Or Baker Or trash collector is racist!.

Please provide any reference where anyone has said this. You are manufacturing umbrage based on a prevarication.

But isn't that the first thing we all do- label some one a racist?

No. I only label someone a racist if they say or do things that warrant such a label. I suspect that most people do the same. No doubt that some people try to make anything racist as 18.1 demonstrates. Some have difficulty discerning that which is racist vs. that which is racial. Still others have difficulty discerning between policies that are not racial in form (i.e. drug laws) from their disparate racial impact (incarceration rates). The bottom line is that race is a complex issue that too many people either approach thoughtlessly or with a particular agenda. I believe that the umbrage in 18.4 is thoughtless.

There is bigotry and racism flowing eaqually from each side

Even assuming that this statement is correct (I don't believe that it is), it is irrelevant. Racism is abhorrent regardless of the direction from which it comes and the "others do it too" meme is an intellectually bankrupt response. Is racism from one person somehow justified or otherwise ok because another person engages in it? Ridiculous.

Just reading the posts here every white cop is now a racists and can't be trusted-

Then clearly, you either aren't reading closely enough or you're ignoring those posts that don't allow you to exercise outrage.

As far as paranoia is concerned, your walk through life is not mine. I don't know how many times you've been detained by law enforcement officers for no reason but that has happened to me several times. I don't know how many times your son has been stopped walking to or on his campus but it happened to my son throughout his freshman year. Read the names in post 1.31 of the black men injured or killed by police when they weren't breaking the law. They are the tip of the iceberg.

until the day that you find yourself spread eagle for no other reason then you 'look' a certain way in a 'certain' place...

keep your emotional pleas for family cops to a minimum... its emotional.

these people step into a profession that requires they hold a line. Many have failed and succumbed to the pitfalls...

if you don't hold them to accounts, your not a 'good' cop. Your merely protecting their job.

Besides Georgia, New York has the worst cops in the country when is comes to racism...............

Jacqlyn I don't know about those specific states but I would say the confederate south has more than their over abundance of racist cops.....and I would add once you become a cop in a lot of instances they become the "Blue" race.

we were interested in your comments until you started bashing republicans. What was the reason for that? the article has nothing to do with political parties yet you find and area to interject your own brand of hate and bigotry. Why are you any different than the cop in this story?

kelldon

I said nothing that injects hate or bigotry into this seed.

I made a defacto provable statement about what is happening on the state level in all the states where union-busting is happening. There is no way to deny that these are mostly states where we have Republican Governors who adhere to the belief that if they reduce the budgetary cost to the states, the union members are the biggest payout in terms of real dollars.

Police unions are not being left out of the attempt to reduce the amount of public service rank and file employees. Police unions have an overwhelming amount of members across this nation, and they will feel the pinch. These union members are not exempt from the cuts.

With the savings from the layoff, these very same govenors are offering businesses tax credits to bring possible jobs creation to their state. It is all about privatization, whether these Majority Republicans will admit it or not.

Of course I could overload this seed with personally and factual reasons as to why this is being done, but I will let it go with what I posted because I don't want to offend the senibilities of the seeder or be off-topic.

Suffice it to say that the day may come when we, as a nation, will have more to worry about concerning public safety than police brutality. That has always been a problem, but I will never say that all law enforcement officers resort to such behavior. I have always financially contributed to issues that confront our police officers, such as officers who are killed in the line of duty. Therefore, I am no bigotm and I am offended by your claim.

When it comes to police protection, there are no ivory towers. It is far better to have it and don't need it, than to need it and don't have it.