FCNNEWSSOURCE Editorial
We all properly recoiled in horror at the story of the abuse suffered by young Megan Williams in West Virginia; a band of six Whites including one mother and a daughter and one father and a son who raped her, abused her, defiled her with animal waste, and forced her to drink from toilets. But imagine if such abuse went on for more than a year?
Well, Diane is a 50-year old school janitor and mother of three who was subjected to multiple acts of abuse by a group known as the “Skullcap Crew.” Her tormentors beat and choked her, threatened her with a loaded gun, with needle-nosed pliers, and a screwdriver, convincing her they were going to rape and kill her. They tore up her home then desecrated religious objects that were sacred to her. They brought a middle-aged neighbor into her home and forced her son to beat him for their amusement.
Diane was helpless to escape because her tormentors were Chicago Police officers whose sworn duty was to protect citizens, not to abuse them.
When Diane complained to the Chicago Police Department, the officers denied her allegations and the department failed to sustain any of her complaints.
The members of the “Skullcap Crew” who abused Diane at will–like so many other rogue cops who were exposed by a shocking new report from the Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic of the University of Chicago Law School–were protected by the infamous “blue wall of silence,” which transcends race and class and binds police into a solidarity which protects wrong-doers based on the color of their uniforms.
What is worse, according to the report by Craig B. Futterman, H. Melissa Mather, and Melanie Miles, is that this conduct and its strict code of silence may be typical of rampant cases of brutality and corruption in police departments across the country.
Aggressive stops, street interrogations and violent home searches at any time of the day or night have become routine realities for those living in the inner cities. Analyzing data going back to 2001, the researchers found that officers with the most complaints are found mostly within units assigned to neighborhoods with public housing developments in predominantly Black and Latino communities.
Police who are accused of constantly terrorizing the residents that they are sworn to protect, are not assigned to the toughest areas as a result of punishment for misbehavior or brutality, but rather because they tend to be involved in groups with officers where they can get away with it, according to Prof. Craig Futterman, one of the authors of the report. “Birds of a feather, flock together,” he said.
There is a “deeply ingrained culture of denial which enables certain officers to operate with impunity in certain communities,” stated the report in regards to the Chicago police department. The city’s police department “goes to great lengths not to know about or address its bad apples and the harm they inflict” on the public and the system of justice. As a result, the Mayor of the City of Chicago has created The Independent Police Review Authority from the former Office of Professional Standards which was an internal department responsible for investigating claims of police misconduct. This new agency reports directly to the Mayor.
Sadly, with the attacks and wholesale killings of primarily Black, Red and Brown youth increasing in the United States, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has been delivering a series of messages, guidance and instruction to youth and adults. The lectures are titled: “Justifiable Homicide: Black Youth in Peril.” In one of the lectures, Minister Farrakhan informed the public that an ‘executive decision’ has been made at the highest levels to eliminate Black youth–Black male youth.
“Who, but a beast, could prey upon innocent people, burn them, hang them, murder them and castrate them?” the Hon. Min. Farrakhan asked in his Oct. 28 lecture. “I read of the Belgians in that which was called the Congo, one powerful White man took an 11-year-old Black girl and with something that resembles a machete, struck that girl in the head; came clean down that girl and split her in half. Injustice has killed millions in the Congo; millions in Africa; millions in the Caribbean and in Central and South America. Is that an act of a human or is that an act of a human with a heart of a beast?
“Let me ask you: Have you been under the balance of justice, or have you been under that which is the heart of a beast, and if so, how could you grow up under this with sanity? Because the society is so filled with injustice, the people are losing their sanity, and we have become a society of people who have gone absolutely savage.
“Justifiable homicide; Black youth in peril. In today’s world, this enemy now comes in the neighborhood and he has pepper spray; he has a baton that he can put a chokehold on you and take our life. He has tasers. No more .38–that’s ‘punk stuff.’ He’s carrying a Glock 9, but in the trunk of his car, he has a shotgun and heavy stuff. Then, he has on a bulletproof vest and helmet.
“This is SWAT Team, right? Why would the police dress like this? Is this a society of human beings? No. It is a society of animals, and they are frightened. So when they come in our community, they see youth with their pants hanging off their behinds. Youth showing off their muscles, playing basketball and cursing every second word. So the enemy says: ‘We can’t deal with these people…they are crazy as hell! I got a call; I’ve got to go in that neighborhood, but I want to get home to my family, so my gun is at the ready position. A bunch of them–they are on the corner. I’ve got to call for back up right away, but I’m not going to ask any questions. I’m shooting first.’”
And the behavior we are seeing, now in official reports bears witness, almost word for word, with Minister Farrakhan’s description of our condition.
The solution he has prescribed is very simple. It is our unity, and our upright, civilized behavior.
“Don’t disgrace your ancestors by killing each other,” says Min. Farrakhan. “Let’s form a brotherhood, no matter what gang you belong to, because all of us are one family. If we unite with each other and learn to love one another, it makes it hard for the enemy to do what he does when the community is united in love.
“The enemy is not asking what your religion is when they shoot us down in the street. Before they fire the gun, do they ask you if you are a Jew, a Christian; a Hebrew Israelite; a Muslim? They’re not asking you anything. Your uniform is the color of your skin. When the wagon comes, it will come for us all, so let us all come together as a family,” says Min. Farrakhan.
