As someone who has been racially profiled not just by cops, but by people in general, both of my race and not, and as someone who is married to a big guy like Garner, I am literally terrified for my husband everyday he walks out the door.
I have been racially profiled by people my entire life, I've had store staff following me around thinking that I was going to steal, which I got them back by using them as my personal shoppers. I've had quite a few White people be genuinely floored over the fact that I am educated, didn't have kids and am married, and many more of them didn't know that "Black people came in that color." Conversely, I've had people in my race assume that I was stuck up because of my skin color, and accused me of "acting White" just because I chose to do something positive with my life and not to get caught up in other people's b.s.. I've had cops tell me that I have an "honest face", while looking at my best friend as though he were suspicious, even when he's in his fatigues, the difference being our stark difference in skin color.
My husband is 6' 6" and is very well built, and is what you would call a gentle giant, and my biggest fear used to be some punk with a gun thinking that my husband is a bigger threat than he is because of his size, and being just as quick to pull the trigger for the same reason. After the Garner situation, I became more fearful of the cops for the same exact reason.
I am terrified, not because he is a thug, which he isn't, because I know exactly how some cops like to escalate certain situations, I've seen and heard it happen. They like to egg a person on and try to wear them down and try to get them to react, just so that they have a reason to use force against them. There are some people who join the force, just so that they can have some authority, and just as many of these people have joined the military as well. A uniform and a badge doesn't make a person a saint.
Just look at Daniel Holzclaw for an example. He was a serial rapist, who used his badge to prey on more and more women, and his department covered for him until they couldn't anymore. That is usually how these bad cops end up with the power they have, because they know that the blue wall will support them. They likely covered for him after he raped the first woman, but after the other 27 came forward, then they knew that they were in over their heads.
When you have these people with these issues joining the force, then problems will arise. While, in NYC, we do have some protection, in the fact that the people in my family are either cops, or work for them, I do know that outside of NYC, that we are just n*ggers to these cops.
To make matters worse, they do the same thing to their own when they are off duty, but because of the consequences they'd face for speaking up, they'd have no choice but stay silent whenever there is a bad cop amongst them. It's been said that more than 25% of Black NYPD officers fear their colleagues when they're off duty, and just as many have their own harrowing stories about the abusive treatment they got from these cops.
Even though my husband and I have never broken the law or had any issues with the cops, we've noticed that every single time we drive South while on vacation, usually in Delaware, that there will be at least 1 incident with the cops. And it never fails.
Some cops are simply looking for reasons to start up with you and when they do, we know to keep a cool head and to give them whatever it is they're asking for.
But in places like Ferguson, MO, where civil asset forfeiture serves as income for the city, and arrests are regarded as incentives where you are rewarded for meeting your quota, and bad cops remain unpunished, then you will end up with a lot more of these incidents. Through this program, the police have successfully stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from innocent people all across the country, who were also poor, and couldn't afford to legally pursue the return of their property, didn't have time because they had to work or simply didn't know their legal rights.
I would not be surprised if the witnesses who supported Wilson, did so in exchange for a lighter charge or dismissal of fines in their own arrest. If the DA has coerced inmates and alleged witnesses to lie, in exchange for a lighter sentence and buried evidence just to make a case, then it wouldn't surprise me if that's what's happened here.
Case in point, most recently, it was discovered that an inmate admitted to having lied for the prosecution, in exchange for a lighter sentence, which sent an innocent man to be executed. In North Carolina, a similar situation happened, except the witness came forward and admitted to lying and the former death row inmate was exonerated and released.
In some states, they still refuse to release the innocent person, and continue pushing for execution simply because they'd be too embarrassed to apologize and make it right, and don't want to go through the hassle of having to reexamine every case by the prosecutor who put the innocent man on death row in the first place.
Although I think both parties were wrong, I think that there was more wrong on the side of law enforcement.
They botched the case, released the alleged "robbery video" to incite public doubt and to discredit the victim, even though, there wasn't a robbery, since another video showed him paying and the altercation was about whether or not he had id to buy the cigars. They antagonized the protesters, they didn't file a report with Wilson, they allowed him to "wash off" evidence and despite reports of a physical altercation, there were no scratches or contusions. And despite Wilson's account of how big and scary Mike Brown was compared to Lil' ol' him, the fact of the matter is that they were the same height.
At least, in Zimmerman's case, there was evidence of a scuffle, but it was a night and day difference. Now it is coming to light that not only has their key witness (the one who said she came there to visit a friend from high school and wanted to "study" Black people) been discredited, but that the DA allowed witnesses they knew were lying about seeing anything, and constantly changed their story to testify on their behalf.
I don't agree with the looting at all, but there will be scumbags who are looking for an excuse to be well, scumbags. They were looting for Hurricanes Katrina, Irene and Sandy, just as they were for these situations, especially since, "infiltration by the enemy" (be it, someone supporting the bad cops or the KKK in this case) if it is a recognized, legitimate and age old tactic to undermine the peaceful message behind a protest. (See Mexican protests. The guy who set fire to the door of the presidents mansion was not a student and was recognized as a troublemaker by the other protestors and there is footage of him being protected by armored police.)
And just as quickly as the media was eager to portray the looters destroying the community, they were just as unenthusiastic about the fact that the looters weren't from Ferguson, let alone showing footage of the protesters, local residents and even gang members helping to clean up the places that were destroyed by the troublemakers and even protecting these businesses from those returning to do the same.
But really, the media doesn't care about the truth, it cares about ratings and what better way to get them, than to sensationalize, selectively report, use divisive terminology, fear-mongering tactics and even creatively doctored footage (like, for example, when a FOX Baltimore news station altered footage of a anti police brutality protest to say "Kill A Cop.") to get reactions out of the most paranoid and unintelligent people.
Although I was saddened by the Ferguson and Garner decision, I was not surprised.
Just like I won't be where Akai Gurley's and Tamir Rice's decisions are concerned.
Not only did Gurley not have a record, but the cop that killed him, wasn't supposed to be in the building in the first place, didn't call for an ambulance and texted his union rep for 6 minutes as Gurley lay dying.
The cop in Tamir Rice's case, not only was he deemed unfit to be a cop, and had a slew of other problems, but, he killed the kid within seconds of arrival, even though the 911 caller said that the gun he had was likely a toy..
But nevertheless, they too will walk, when Tamir Rice and Akai Gurley are made to stand trial for their own deaths.
The good thing that came from all this, was that people of all races, religions and classes are standing together against police brutality. Which is a night and day difference from what occurred with the Rodney King and Amadou Diallou protests.
