<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>In a message dated 4/13/01 2:26:00 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
<BR>crdbronx@erols.com writes:
<BR>
<BR>
<BR><BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">My work has sometimes brought me into a fair amount of contact with the
<BR>police,
<BR>about whom I have very mixed feelings, though I've learned how to work them
<BR>when
<BR>necessary. Actually, I often try to point out to them that their arrogant,
<BR>cowboy
<BR>nonsense really hinders them in their more legitimate tasks, inasmuch as it
<BR>makes
<BR>people distrust and dislike them. The better ones know this. I have a
<BR>friend who
<BR>retired as a detective lieutenant, and who lives ten or so blocks from
<BR>where they
<BR>killed Amadou Diallo. When that happened he said he felt afraid, because,
<BR>as a
<BR>black man, it could have been him. Many many more examples, of course.</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BR>
<BR>Two things remain true:
<BR>
<BR>1. Cops are indoctrinated on the job, an indoctrination which, obviously,
<BR>eschews "class analysis" of anything, glorifies their own role as defenders
<BR>of (an amorphously defined) "society" from "the criminal element" and
<BR>vindicates the use (and utter necessity) of violence. Although this
<BR>indoctrination occurs among all races of cops, it is a white supremacist
<BR>ideology, evidenced by the treatment of non-white suspects by non-white
<BR>officers acting under the direction of white officers (witness Philadelphia).
<BR>
<BR>2. Insofar as cops realize racism or classism do exist within policing,
<BR>their realization occurs only within a context of very light liberalism,
<BR>inspiring calls for small reforms, greater oversight, maybe sensitivity
<BR>training...in short, solutions akin to emptying the ocean with a thimble.
<BR>
<BR>--pre-empt. This whole "I know cops who aren't like that" is kind of silly.
<BR>I have cops in my family, my best friend's dad is a cop, and my experience
<BR>with all of them backs up what I argue...but that is not the point.
<BR>
<BR>I fail to understand why we should not be focusing our energy on the incident
<BR>that started this discussion--and the Cincinatti uprising. You can bet your
<BR>pants that if a white person had a bunch of misdemeanor warrants out, that
<BR>person would still be alive, even if he had impetuously fled. And you can
<BR>bet your shirt that the black victim in question felt he had sufficient
<BR>reason to flee white cops.
<BR>
<BR>stannard</FONT></HTML>