They get away with it every time

[It turns out that my friend Africa-Man was right: a Grand Jury in Ferguson, Missouri, USA has decided that the shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by white policeman Darren Wilson on 9 August 2014 was “justifiable homicide.” According to Wilson’s account, the unarmed teenager lunged at him, and he had no other choice but to shoot him dead—not on the arm, not on the foot, but multiple-shots dead. Below is a replay of the argument. Interested readers may search the internet to find out how many unarmed black men have been similarly shot dead on American streets in the intervening three and a half months.]

I was not surprised when Africa-Man, the reclusive polymath, phoned me from his hermitage in Vladivostok and weighed in on unarmed black teenager Michael Brown shot dead by white policeman Darren Wilson on 9 August 2014 in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

“They get away with it every time,” he said.

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“He should not get away with it. He should lose his job and serve some years in prison at least.”

“Nice wishful thinking, O. J. You know that’s not gonna happen. Do you know how many black men are shot dead by white policemen every year in America?”

“A few dozen, I guess.”

“Many more than that. Just this one month, five unarmed young black men were shot dead or strangled by police all over the US. Here’s the roll call:

•17 July 2014: Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York

•5 August 2014: John Crawford in Beavercreek, Ohio

•9 August 2014: Michael Brown in St. Louis, Missouri

•11 August 2014: Ezell Ford in Los Angeles, California

•12 August 2014: Dante Parker in Victorville, California.”

“I suppose these were just the ones we heard about?”

“One set of statistics says about 96 black men a year are killed by police—that is, 1 every 4 days, or nearly 2 a week.”

“Incredible!”

“But that’s only the cases reported by the police themselves and classified as justifiable homicide.”

“What’s justifiable about police shooting an unarmed person?”

“These figures come from reports by only 750 police departments, that is less than 5% of the 17,000 police departments in the country.”

“Meaning you should multiply by 20 to get an approximate 100% figure?”

“That’s right. If all 17,000 police departments reported, the number of black men killed by police might rise to 2,000 per year.”

“Na wah-o!”

“But that’s not all. If you add the cases police might classify as unjustifiable homicide, plus the many cases that go unreported, the totals might be 3,000 a year—or 8 black men killed each and every day, nationwide.”

“American horror!”

“In New York City alone, police shootings in 10 years (2000-2011) add up as follows:

•Blacks wounded 13,667; killed 6,667 

•Hispanics wounded 5,750; killed 3,083

•Whites wounded 1,167; killed 1,583.

Meaning, each year: 1,367 blacks wounded, 667 killed (or 2 a day)—in one city alone!”

“Man, where did you get these awful figures?”

“They are all over the media. All you’ve got to do is watch, listen—and read!”

“Na wah-o!”

“Now tell me, how many of these police shootings do you think were (even after protests, debates and investigations) adjudged to be unjust or unjustified, and then punished?”

“Few, I suppose.”

“The police officer rarely ever gets even a slap on the wrist!”

“Is this the same one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all?”

“As we say in Naija, the matter usually ends with it’s alright.”

“But why? Africa-Man, why?”

“Well, I can only speculate. Racism is a thing rooted deep in the history of whites and blacks in America. For some four centuries whites used blacks so miserably, during and after slavery, that they are scared to death of black revenge. They are terrified of black economic competition. . . .”

“But they tolerate blacks in sports and entertainment, don’t they?”

“Only because the money to be made and their need to be entertained are greater than their fears. Their terror drives them frantic trying to repress and wipe out blacks. They will provoke an unarmed man, shoot him—and swear it was in self-defense. And no majority-white jury will ever find them guilty.”

“But why do they always shoot to kill, never to disarm or disable?”

“They are trained to kill. Even when it’s clearly a mentally deranged black woman driving a luxury car out of control with her baby strapped into a child-seat—as was the case with Miriam Carey on 3 October 2013 in Washington, DC. Kill! Kill! Show no mercy!”

“Africa-Man, you’re a bit cynical here. For one thing, there are many exceptions.”

“Of course there are huge exceptions. I have too many white friends to pretend that white people are all the same. There are white people I would trust with my life; and black people who would  dagger me the moment my back is turned.”

“Yes. Think of white abolitionist warrior John Brown in 1859. White attorneys for Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954. White civil rights martyrs of the 1960s. Or whites who stood staunchly in a circle and linked hands with blacks protesting Michael Brown’s murder just last week.”

“Trouble is with the heartless, cruel majority.”

“But they don’t hate Chinese, Indians, Vietnamese or Arabs. These Asians arrived America yesterday morning, but they are all over the place. Thriving.  Triumphant.”

“That’s right. For one thing, they were never slaves to American whites, therefore neither fear nor smoldering resentment. They are, as apartheid South Africa used to call them, honorary whites. The freeway of economic progress is opened to them, while it is deliberately barricaded against African-Americans.”

“In that case it’s a war that will smolder for centuries to come.”

“The conflict of white vs. black in America is not about to end any day soon.”

“In spite of Obama?”

“Obama is a phase—an important phase—like a third or fourth step in a journey of a thousand miles . . . .”

Onwuchekwa Jemie