Racists vigilantism and police attacks , p.5
Dublin Core
Title
Racists vigilantism and police attacks , p.5
Description
"Lynching a black person along with baseball’s hot dogs and 4th of July picnics is an American tradition. Scapegoats politics or blame the victim vigilantism, always services whenever the political establishment turned its back on civil rights for minorities.
The most reasons that recently publicized example of a racially- motivated random violence occurred in a middle class, white neighborhood in Queens, New York, last month. Three black men were forced to walk through the white area when their car broke down. Stopping briefly to purchase a pizza, they were harassed by a gang of white youths who shouted: “Niggers s you don’t belong here!”
The Black man was chased and beaten with fists, tree limbs and a baseball bat. One victim managed to escape, and another brutally beaten man survived only by pretending to be unconscious. But the third black man, 23-year-old Michael Griffith, was beaten and forced to flee across a highway.
Struck by an automobile, Griffith body smashed the windshield, was thrown against the centerline divider, and he was killed.
Although several white suspects were quickly arrested, the crimes provoked an uproar as well as some hypocritical posturing by local white politicians. Mayor Ed Koch quickly termed the incident “a racial lynching” and “the most horrendous incident” of his years in office. But Koch, a vicious political opponent of most Black and progressive causes, had directly contributed to the anti-Black political culture in the city.
Black leaders in the New York understood the real issue behind Griffith’s death. Civil rights. Attorney C. Vernon Mason noted that it had become “more acceptable for whites to take the law into their own hands” when they encountered Black people.
New York Urban League Director Harriet Michel observed, “ The attackers felt that they had a right to punish Michel Griffith, and punish him because he was a Black… Since this is not an isolated incident, finding the culprits is not enough.”
We should expand Michel’s critiques to the entire country because in the 1980s racist violence and police intimidation have become almost commonplace. In Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, A New Orleans suburb, Sheriff Harry Lee announced a “new strategy for combating crime” last month. “If there are some young Blacks driving a car late at night in a predominantly white area,” Lee stated, “they will be stopped.”
After the harsh criticisms from civil rights groups, Lee was forced to rescind the order. But most local whites, Republicans and Democrats alike, rallied behind the sheriff.
In Tampa, Florida several weeks ago, New York Mets pitching star Dwight Gooden and his friends pulled over for careless driving. The white police officers claim that Gooden leaped from the driver’s seat, swore and began to attack them.
Gooden was forcibly subdued and charged with resisting arrest and assaulting police offices. But eyewitnesses tell a very different story. Joseph Riley, a Black construction worker who saw the arrest, states that Gooden hit no one and that the police “grabbed him when he was reaching for his wallet.”
Gooden was smashed in the face with a flashlight and went down. Jerry Halstead, a white executive who also witnessed the incident, states that Gooden was lying on the ground when the police “were hitting him with nightsticks or flashlights.”
Even some policemen accounts of the case at variance with the details provided by other arresting officers. The Gooden case shows that neither money nor social status can protect innocent blacks from becoming victims of racist brutality.
There are literally hundreds of similar cases each year, most of which are never publicized last summer in Brooklyn, for instance, a white gang attacked a black bus driver without any provocation. Beating him senseless with baseball bats and garbage can covers, a crowd of neighborhood whites applauded and cheered the vigilantes. No arrests were made in the case. These and other incidents are directly attributed to the Reagan administration contempt for saw rights in silver liberties. The president has fostered the general attitude that blacks have “been given too much” and that affirmative action is “reverse discrimination"
As New York black activist Charles Barone relates, political leaders and the legal system “are sending a clear message to police and vigilantes. This racist it has climate related less respect for Black life”. As long as the Black Freedom Movement remains on the defense in its struggle against both Reaganism and racism inside the political arena and criminal justice system, these vicious attacks will continue unchecked. Dr. Manning Marable teaches sociology and political science at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. “Along the Color Line” appears in over 140 newspapers internationally."
The most reasons that recently publicized example of a racially- motivated random violence occurred in a middle class, white neighborhood in Queens, New York, last month. Three black men were forced to walk through the white area when their car broke down. Stopping briefly to purchase a pizza, they were harassed by a gang of white youths who shouted: “Niggers s you don’t belong here!”
The Black man was chased and beaten with fists, tree limbs and a baseball bat. One victim managed to escape, and another brutally beaten man survived only by pretending to be unconscious. But the third black man, 23-year-old Michael Griffith, was beaten and forced to flee across a highway.
Struck by an automobile, Griffith body smashed the windshield, was thrown against the centerline divider, and he was killed.
Although several white suspects were quickly arrested, the crimes provoked an uproar as well as some hypocritical posturing by local white politicians. Mayor Ed Koch quickly termed the incident “a racial lynching” and “the most horrendous incident” of his years in office. But Koch, a vicious political opponent of most Black and progressive causes, had directly contributed to the anti-Black political culture in the city.
Black leaders in the New York understood the real issue behind Griffith’s death. Civil rights. Attorney C. Vernon Mason noted that it had become “more acceptable for whites to take the law into their own hands” when they encountered Black people.
New York Urban League Director Harriet Michel observed, “ The attackers felt that they had a right to punish Michel Griffith, and punish him because he was a Black… Since this is not an isolated incident, finding the culprits is not enough.”
We should expand Michel’s critiques to the entire country because in the 1980s racist violence and police intimidation have become almost commonplace. In Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, A New Orleans suburb, Sheriff Harry Lee announced a “new strategy for combating crime” last month. “If there are some young Blacks driving a car late at night in a predominantly white area,” Lee stated, “they will be stopped.”
After the harsh criticisms from civil rights groups, Lee was forced to rescind the order. But most local whites, Republicans and Democrats alike, rallied behind the sheriff.
In Tampa, Florida several weeks ago, New York Mets pitching star Dwight Gooden and his friends pulled over for careless driving. The white police officers claim that Gooden leaped from the driver’s seat, swore and began to attack them.
Gooden was forcibly subdued and charged with resisting arrest and assaulting police offices. But eyewitnesses tell a very different story. Joseph Riley, a Black construction worker who saw the arrest, states that Gooden hit no one and that the police “grabbed him when he was reaching for his wallet.”
Gooden was smashed in the face with a flashlight and went down. Jerry Halstead, a white executive who also witnessed the incident, states that Gooden was lying on the ground when the police “were hitting him with nightsticks or flashlights.”
Even some policemen accounts of the case at variance with the details provided by other arresting officers. The Gooden case shows that neither money nor social status can protect innocent blacks from becoming victims of racist brutality.
There are literally hundreds of similar cases each year, most of which are never publicized last summer in Brooklyn, for instance, a white gang attacked a black bus driver without any provocation. Beating him senseless with baseball bats and garbage can covers, a crowd of neighborhood whites applauded and cheered the vigilantes. No arrests were made in the case. These and other incidents are directly attributed to the Reagan administration contempt for saw rights in silver liberties. The president has fostered the general attitude that blacks have “been given too much” and that affirmative action is “reverse discrimination"
As New York black activist Charles Barone relates, political leaders and the legal system “are sending a clear message to police and vigilantes. This racist it has climate related less respect for Black life”. As long as the Black Freedom Movement remains on the defense in its struggle against both Reaganism and racism inside the political arena and criminal justice system, these vicious attacks will continue unchecked. Dr. Manning Marable teaches sociology and political science at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. “Along the Color Line” appears in over 140 newspapers internationally."
Creator
Manning, Marable
Publisher
Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988)
Date
1987-1- 17
Collection
Citation
Manning, Marable , “Racists vigilantism and police attacks , p.5,” African American Fourth of July, accessed April 29, 2024, https://africanamerican4th.omeka.net/items/show/9.