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From Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo (pictured below
right) to Sean Bell (pictured left) and Oscar Grant, Black men in the United States of
America are murdered, beaten, and violated by officers of the law sworn to
“protect and serve” them. Men, such as Darryll C. Price, Lorenzo Collins, Roger Owensby Jr., Jeffrey Irons, andTimothy Thomas, were all found guilty and lynched for the crime of being Black in
America.
From the Civil Rights era
of hoses, tear gas and dogs, to the iconic imagery of the late-Rodney King being beaten by officers, Black America has a special and urgent need to
understand the pathology behind police brutality.
The 4th amendment clearly states that “the right of the people to be
secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated and no warrants shall issue
without probable cause.”
In this investigative report, NewsOne will venture behind the Blue Line to explore the culture of police
brutality in this country.
In data researched and
compiled by the Malcolm
X Grassroots Movement,
Black Left Unity Network, and U.S.
Human Rights Network, the picture of how often —
and fatally — Black people are victimized by police in this country becomes
startling clear. Below are the details of the Black men and women who have been
murdered at the hands of police so
far this year:
Pattern
of Murders By the Numbers Since January 1, 2012
Thirty cases of state
sanctioned or justified murder of Black people in the first 3 months of 2012
alone have been found (due to under reporting and discriminatory methods of
documentation, it is likely that there are more that our research has yet to
uncover)
Of the 30 killed people, 20
were definitely unarmed. 2 probably had firearms, 8 were alleged to have
non-lethal weapons.
Of the 30 killed people:
12 were innocent of any
illegal behavior or behavior that involved a threat to anyone (although the
killers claimed they looked “suspicious”);
8 were emotionally
disturbed and/or displaying strange behavior.
The remaining 10 were
either engaged in illegal or potentially illegal activity, or there was too
little info to determine circumstances of their killing.
It
appears that in all but two of these cases, illegal and/or harmful behavior
could have been stopped without the use of lethal force.
In most cases, where planned,
investigations of the deaths have not been completed.
Note: Only seven of the 30 killed people were
over 30 years old and two of the six were 31 years old. Two were women.
These murders include the horrific case of 19-year-old Kendrec McDade(pictured above), who was unarm
