The Police were originally created in order to capture and return runaway slaves to their owners. They were called slave patrols or pattyrollers. They were designed to empower the entire white population with the power to police the comings and goings and movement of black people. They enforced slave laws by brutality, using guns and whips. Slave patrols were popular during the Civil War and lasted until the end of the Civil War (1861-1865). During the Reconstruction period (1865-1877), they transitioned into informal police patrols and rural police squads. They were enforced by Southern police officers and organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan.
In the last few weeks, I have spent many hours watching television about the numerous killing, of black men by white police officers. I was reminded of how racist this country can be. On Saturday, I woke up to the funeral of Prince Philip in England. It was an event of mostly all-white folks. Reflecting on the idea that England has had in its mostly all-white history, I was reminded of how racist the world can be. The police killings in America also reminded me that the police are a creation of the Slave Patrols and Slave Patrollers, created to catch black slaves and return them to their masters. Then there was the killing of a young nineteen-year-old black man, Duante Wright, when the police officer says she mistook her taser for her much heavier gun. I saw a United States Army Lieutenant, in uniform, get pepper-sprayed, although he had done nothing wrong. He was only driving his new car with his tags taped to his window. He had both hands out his car window, open and visible. He was pulled out of his car and arrested, after being told he should have a reason to be afraid. He’s still alive, maybe because he was smart enough to drive to a well-lighted gas station before stopping. I watched a thirteen-year-old child, Adam Toledo, get shot and killed by the cops after obeying their command to raise his hands. He raised his hands and the cops say he still had a gun which a video showed he had gotten rid of it. We heard the words of a song by Mickey Guyton that says, “If you think you live in the land of the free, you should be black like me.” The Republican Politicians of mostly white folks responded to all this trauma by creating The Anglo-Saxon Caucus. Somebody called it the “KU KLUX KAUCUS”. It’s supposed to be made up of the original Anglo-Saxon Americans. Others wonder if their history books left out the Native Americans, aka as the so-called Indians, who were the original inhabitants of America, not white folks. The group says they are merely keeping up the Donald Trump program based on his big lie that he won the Presidential election. It’s hard to believe that these people believe they are superior because they are stupid enough to believe this great lie. The George Floyd arrest and related trial took a while, due to public pressure to arrest and charge Officer Chauvin. When white supremacists attacked the United States Senate on January 6, 2021, arrests took forever and still have not been completed. In August 2020, a 23-year-old young man, Elijah McClain was approached, arrested, and killed by the police. Like Emmitt Till, Michael Donald was killed in Mobile, Alabama, and hung. Travon Martin, Sandra Bland, and others who were also killed were victims of white racism. From the death of Rodney King in March 1991, to now, there have been many more black men who have been killed, so frequently, by the police, it’s enough to keep you hurting and causing you to be angry. Laquan McDonald was shot sixteen times by the cops in 2015. We’re still waiting on justice. I heard the police in Chicago took off their badges, took a picture of the black mayor, and rubbed her picture in their crotch, then returned to work, pretending to protect and serve the black community. Someone called them, “The white power party. We also discovered that a woman has been arrested for making threats against our Vice President, Kamala Harris. Think about it, this was just one week. Ask yourself, “What are we supposed to do?” There was a bit of positive information related to the fact that acres of beachfront property in Manhattan Beach, CA is to be returned to the Willa and Charles Bruce family. It was taken by the city of Manhattan Beach one hundred years ago (1920’s) for discriminatory reasons by eminent domain, depriving generations of Bruce’s of their wealth. The Manhattan Beach project is being handled by Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn. Other potential good news is that the television channel MSNBC has chosen a black president. Also, Reparations is not dead yet, so we should keep on pushing. We also learned that the George Floyd Justice and the John Lewis Voting Rights bills are working their way through both houses of Congress. Americas’ top law firms have vowed to fight to secure voting rights. What’ s Next? |
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