Melissa Ross
An on-air discussion of the McKinney, Texas, viral video making the rounds this week quickly turned into an impassioned debate on criminal justice, with one participant’s calls to confront institutional racism set against another’s plea to evaluate police use-of-force incidents case by case.
“We have to look at the institutionalization of racism in America,” activist Wells Todd of the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition said during an appearance on WJCT’s First Coast Connect. “What I see and what I heard was very disturbing. You had a police officer who was cursing at the kids, and there were some racist slurs used by whites in the community before the police even got there. Once again it’s just another of a number of events across this country that have affected African-Americans in a negative manner.”
McKinney police Cpl. Eric Casebolt is on suspension while an investigation is conducted into an end-of-school pool party altercation that involved Casebolt and others breaking up the gathering after police were called. Depending on the narrative you buy, the incident either involved white residents of the suburban community (and barrel-rolling police) harassing a bunch of black teens, or law enforcement officers simply dispersing an unruly crowd. In other words, it’s something of a Rashomon exercise to gauge the viewer’s reaction.
“You’re trying to build an industry basically on police racism,” said the other in-studio guest, Jacksonville labor and employment attorney Tad Delegal. Delegal has represented officers in disputed “use-of-force” incidents. “Some people are using these incidents to support a very broad generalization of all police as racist. Sometimes use of force is legitimate, sometimes not. It has to be looked at on a case-by-case basis. And we do need to look at more effective racial sensitivity training.”
In Jacksonville, African-American activists have long called for an independent review of police-involved shootings, an issue that was vetted yet again during the recent race for sheriff in this city. The victor, Mike Williams, says he’s in favor of opening up the investigative process to the public, but does not see the need for independent oversight.
To Todd, that’s part and parcel of the problem.
“Throughout my life these kind of incidents have happened quite often,” he said, reeling off the names Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, and Jacksonville UPS employee D’Angelo Stallworth, killed in a recent police shooting.
“These issues are more far-reaching than police being out of control. It goes to the heart of the system that we live under. When I speak of institutional racism I’m talking about the exploitation and oppression of African-Americans in this country. We need to start talking about picking up where Dr. King left off because there is unfinished business in this country. I mean, to sit in the front of a bus is one thing, but to talk about economic rights, housing, schools, all those things were left undone. And now it’s boiled up again and come to the surface.
“What I saw in that video was a police officer throwing down a 14-year-old girl and then I actually saw him put both of his knees in her back with all his weight on this little girl. And there’s no way in the world anybody could say that that’s right.”
Todd added, his coalition will be holding an activist “boot camp” Saturday to organize in North Florida on behalf of the local LGBT community and working-class citizens.
Delegal countered.
“Studies show that African-American officers aren’t less likely to use force against African-American suspects. I think it cheapens the discussion to say police are always racist. I think we do a disservice when we bottle all these incidents together. What we’re telling our young people is you’re justified in being oppositional to authority. That’s only going to get them into trouble.”
Delegal pointed out a grand jury review into the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., found the police use-of-force was justified (“That was a flawed process,” Todd shot back.)
The intense discussion was further proof, as if it was needed, of how differently a flashpoint incident like McKinney can be perceived, depending on one’s race or background.
