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Cops Beat
By Joe Williams III
Sometimes when the racists turn up the heat, it makes you want
to go out and buy a shotgun. I watched as the New Orleans
police punched, kicked, and cussed an old black man. TV
camera rolling, they punched, and punched, and punched.
Robert Davis eye was so big, and blood oozed from his body onto
the hurricane streets of New Orleans. Thousands of New
Orleans residents had just become homeless, some dead, but the
bloody rage of a few cops spoke of how senseless a black life
appeared to them.
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I tried to explain it to my son, but
words could not reach his tender mind concerning the
historical reality behind the beating.
It is his first time, but it was a
repeated scene from my whole life. I grew up in
New Orleans, when a black man couldn't party in the
French Quarters. I was a victim of a couple of
those "cop beatings." They don't really
hurt that much when you are young, but a 64 year old,
retired teacher, it must have hurt. It must have
raised anger inside of him. It must have made him
feel less than human, to be beat down like an animal.
I wish he would have been packing. |
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Former Secretary of Education, William Bennett,
better known in the black community as "Wild Bill," said
that every black baby in America should be aborted. Well, I
guess we need to buy ourselves some "protection" against
politicians like Bennett. When Bennett speaks of the womb of
white women he cries, "Pro-Life," but when he speaks of
the womb of black women, he screams, "abortion."
Now, if Bennett was just an ordinary
politician, then I would not be screaming, Bloody Mary."
However, he was the Secretary of Education. He was in charge
of what our children and grandchildren learned in school.
Oh, by the way, that black man the cops beat in New Orleans was a
school teacher, but that didn't matter, just like Bennett doesn't
care if the aborted womb was Condoleeza Rice, and the New Orleans
officers didn't care if their punching bag victim was a Colin
Powell.
tedoil@aol.com
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Joe, I'm glad you mentioned that story.
I got the AP story and the photos. They beat him just like a
nigger. And they didn't care that he was middle-class and owned a
few properties. They busted him up again and again and locked him
up. And now the Negro said it had nothing to do with race.
When is black oppression ever about race? When
will Negroes leave the traditional political parties and organize
independently? Why are Negroes afraid to think of a black
political party? Why are they afraid to even talk about it,
discuss it? I am not talking about a revolutionary party, or a
socialist party, or a Black Panther Party, just a plain black
political party that's willing to defend the poor, that is
for the liberation of the poor, and stand for elections on
that issue? Are we the walking dead, zombies on the man's
plantations, unwillingly to go out in the wilderness, on our own?
I know the plantation is comfortable. There you
got some roof, a regular meal (though not too much meat), a few
rags passed down for our bodies. A little salve for our sores.
Assurances that tomorrow will be no worse than today, more or
less, why are we so content? Who speaks of integrity and
dignity these days? We love the little life that our oppressors
have granted us and we are convinced, damn near
unanimous, that we cannot do without our masters. Is that all that
black life is now, just getting by?
Just because they took the signs down,
that didn't make us free. Integrating into evil has not made us
free. Do we have any love for our women, our children, our
grandchildren, the coming generations. What legacy will we really
leave for them, that a few did well? Well, what about the rest?
Have they convinced us so easily, that half of us is of no
account, no matter, dispensable?
You speak of William Bennett, the Republican
operative. Well, James Carville, Clinton's man, "the most
influential Democratic strategist of our time," spoke
here in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins on the hopes of a Democratic
win in 2008. Here is his message for Democratic Party Negroes:
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Carville also demanded greater personal
responsibility from the poor, urging teenagers to "stay
in school longer and get pregnant less". . . that the
public accept the need to work longer before retirement
and include smaller cost-of-living increases in Social
Security for the sake of the country" (Johns
Hopkins News-Letter, 29 September 2005). |
He ain't talking about helping the poor. He's
talking about more of the abuse of the poor. For Carville, the
poor not only have to work two and three jobs to make ends meet,
not only do they have to withstand criminalization, but we must
endure also snide remarks about our lack of morality and in
addition allow the national budget to be balanced on
the backs of the aged, after he and is kin have given trillions of
dollars to the rich. Like Bennett, black babies don't appeal to
him. What gall!
Now I haven't heard one Negro politician
complain about Carville, Clinton's boy from Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
who is married to a right wing Republican. Now they are all in the
same bed. But we are going to go out next year and vote for these
Democrats and we're going to go with their game in 2008. And we
will be so pleased with ourselves. Keep in mind that New Orleans
is a Democratic city. Is there no such thing any more as Negro
shame, nor pride? -- Rudy
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Justice Department Probes New
Orleans Beating
Retired Schoolteacher Disputes Police Report
of Drinking
By Ross Sneyd, AP
NEW ORLEANS (Oct. 11) - Robert Davis stood at
the corner of Bourbon and Conti streets in the French Quarter and
stared in disbelief at the brown stain on the sidewalk.
"It that my blood? It must be," said
the 64-year-old retired elementary schoolteacher, who was arrested
and repeatedly punched by police over the weekend. "I didn't
know I was bleeding that bad."
The confrontation, captured on videotape and
broadcast across the country, has put another unwanted spotlight
on the beleaguered, exhausted police force in this storm-struck
city.
Three officers pleaded not guilty to charges
stemming from the incident and the U.S. Justice Department opened
a civil rights investigation.
Davis disputed contentions by police that he
had been drinking.
"I haven't had a drink in 25 years,"
Davis said Monday.
"I didn't do anything. I was going to get
a pack of cigarettes and taking my evening constitutional,"
he said, using an expression that means an evening walk.
The two city police officers accused in the
beating, and a third accused of grabbing and shoving an Associated
Press Television News producer who helped capture the encounter on
tape, pleaded not guilty to battery charges and were released
Monday.
After a hearing, at which trial was set for
Jan. 11, officers Lance Schilling, Robert Evangelist and S.M.
Smith were released on bond. They left without commenting. They
were suspended without pay Sunday.
Police Superintendent Warren Riley said any
misconduct found in an investigation would be dealt with swiftly.
He noted the video showed "a portion of that incident."
"The actions that were observed on this
video are certainly unacceptable by this department," Riley
said.
Davis is black; the three city police officers
seen on the tape are white. But Davis and police officials have
said they don't believe race was a factor.
Two other officials in the video appeared to be
federal officers, according to police. Numerous agencies have sent
officers to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and police
spokesman Marlon Defillo said it would be up to their commanders
to decide if they would face charges.
Davis had stitches under his swollen left eye,
a bandage around a finger and complained of aches in his left
shoulder and soreness in his back. His lawyer said he suffered
fractures to his cheek and eye socket.
The confrontation came as the New Orleans
Police Department - long plagued by allegations of brutality and
corruption - struggles with the aftermath of Katrina and the
resignation last month of Police Superintendent Eddie Compass.
Davis said the confrontation began after he had
approached a mounted police officer Saturday to ask about curfews
in the city when another officer interrupted.
"This other guy interfered and I said he
shouldn't," Davis said. "I started to cross the street
and - bam - I got it. ... All I know is this guy attacked me and
said, 'I will kick your ass,' and they proceeded to do it."
The APTN tape shows an officer hitting Davis at
least four times in the head. Davis appeared to resist, twisting
and flailing as he was dragged to the ground by four officers.
Davis' lawyer, Joseph Bruno, said his client did not resist
police.
Another officer also kneed Davis and punched
him twice. Davis was pushed to the sidewalk with blood streaming
down his arm and into the gutter. The officers accused of striking
Davis were identified as Schilling and Evangelist.
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During the arrest, another officer, identified
as Smith, ordered an APTN producer and cameraman to stop
recording. When producer Rich Matthews held up his credentials,
the officer grabbed him, leaned him backward over a car, jabbed
him in the stomach and unleashed a profanity-laced tirade.
Davis had returned to New Orleans over the
weekend from Atlanta to inspect six properties owned by members of
his family, intending to clean them up or figure out how to
rebuild them.
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He's no longer sure he'll return permanently to the
city he's called home for 28 years.
"That's up in the air. The chaos that's
here - I don't know," he said.
Associated Press writer
Rachel LaCorte contributed to this report. 10-11-05 08:34 EDT
posted 12 October 2005 * * * * *
updated 13 October 2007
/updated 28 2008 |
