To: Detroit/Seattle
Workers' Voice mailing list
May 12, 2023
by Pete Brown, Detroit Workers’ Voice
For the last decade the Black Lives Matter movement has marked a new stage in the protests over racist police killings of unarmed African-Americans. First ignited by the vigilante killing of Trayvon Martin, the movement took off after the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. “Black Lives Matter” became a rallying cry nationwide. Anti-racist activists also confronted police with the call, “Hands up! Don’t shoot!”, in remembrance of Mr. Brown. About the same time, Eric Garner was murdered by police in Staten Island, New York, and activists took up his last words, “I can’t breathe!” as a rallying cry. BLM was reignited in 2020 after a flurry of racist murders. Ahmaud Arbery was killed by a vigilante squad in Georgia in February. In March, Breonna Taylor was murdered by police during a botched, illegal drug raid. In May, George Floyd was choked to death by policemen while other cops held back bystanders from intervening. Following Floyd’s death, the nation exploded in anti-racist protests, with tens of millions of people participating in the next few months.
It's now three years after the murder of George Floyd, so what’s the result? Have cities and police departments responded to calls for reform? Not according to a list compiled by Wikipedia of “unarmed African Americans killed by law enforcement officers.” (1) Notice the word “unarmed.” It does not include anyone who actually had a gun or some murderous weapon they were likely to assault anyone with. It doesn’t include any criminal desperadoes who were shooting it out with police. It doesn’t include anyone who actually had a gun anywhere in the area. It only includes people gunned down, for no reason or for only slight offenses.
In the last nine years, from 2014 through 2022, there’s a total of 241 people on the list. That’s an average of 27 per year, or one every two weeks. The number doesn’t change much except for two years, 2015 and 2018, when it jumped into the 30s. Otherwise, it’s pretty regular, in the mid-20s every year. Every single year, about once every two weeks, a black person in America is shot, tasered or beat to death for minimal or no reason by police. Many were people pulled over for minor traffic offenses, and many were suffering from mental illness, not having broken any law, but having a breakdown.
So far this year, the pace continues: one every two weeks. The incidents are fairly typical:
* Keenan Anderson – tased to death after being involved in an auto accident.
* Tyre Nichols – beat to death for the crime (alleged) of reckless driving.
* Alonzo Bagley – shot to death when suspected of being involved in a domestic disturbance.
* Timothy McCree Johnson – shot to death when suspected of shoplifting a pair of sunglasses.
* Irvo Otieno – smothered to death for the crime of having a mental
breakdown. Mr. Otieno had been arrested as a suspect in a
breaking-and-entering case in Virginia. There was no evidence aside
from Mr. Otieno being “in the area”. No problem – he was taken to jail
and held, unable to post bail. After three days, he was found in his
cell naked and covered in feces. Obviously having a mental breakdown,
Mr. Otieno was taken to a local mental hospital. On arrival, Mr. Otieno
became combative. Sheriff’s deputies on the scene subdued him and tied
him up with handcuffs and leg irons. But Mr. Otieno was still moving,
wriggling around on the ground. So, eight deputies jumped on top of him
to stop him from moving. After twelve minutes, they were successful;
Mr. Otieno stopped moving. He was dead. (2)
* The latest case is Kawaski Trawick, a talented dancer in New York City, who suffered some kind of mental breakdown at home in his apartment. Police were called to his apartment building when neighbors complained about Mr. Trawick making noise. Two policemen arrived at his apartment and entered it, warrantless and without announcing themselves. They found Mr. Trawick in his kitchen, holding a bread knife, seeming to be in some kind of mental distress. Mr. Trawick asked the policemen what they were doing in his apartment. Instead of answering, the policemen demanded to know why Mr. Trawick had a knife in his hands. He replied, “Because I’m in the kitchen, preparing food.” The police insisted he drop the bread knife, and when Mr. Trawick was slow to respond, one of the officers shot him with a taser gun and then shot him with a pistol. Dead. Killed for the crime of preparing food in his kitchen. (3)
* Previously we reported on Tyre Nichols, beat to death by members of Memphis’ notorious Scorpion Squad. (4) Pulled over for supposedly indulging in reckless driving, Mr. Nichols was set upon by Scorpion members who pummeled him to death. This was proven, first, by a private autopsy commissioned by the family, and recently confirmed by the results of the official coroner’s autopsy report. (5) This report also officially declared Nichols’ death a homicide, and it evaporated the police officers’ last excuse for pulling Nichols over, alleging that he was driving drunk. The autopsy concluded that Mr. Nichols did have some alcohol in his blood, but it was only about half of the legal limit for a DUI. Modeled after other “street crimes” units such as Atlanta’s Red Dog squad, Scorpion had been hailed by the chief of police and Memphis mayor for its numerous arrests. Yes, Scorpion had a high rate of conviction for such crimes as jaywalking, nonfunctioning taillight, possession of a small amount of marijuana, etc. But it’s doubtful this had anything to do with the reduction in major crimes that Memphis experienced as the pandemic receded; so did other cities in the U.S. And these numerous arrests were only achieved by constantly stopping and harassing young black males.
In some cases, for example Mr. Otieno and Mr. Nichols, some police have been arrested and will stand trial for murder. But in most cases the district attorney involved merely utters phony phrases about it being “such a tragedy”, “an unfortunate set of circumstances”, etc., and no charges are brought against anyone. A frequent defense used by police is “we thought he had a gun” when the “gun” turned out to be a cell phone. Or sometimes it’s just a wallet, as someone reaches for their wallet in response to the demand to show some ID. If all else fails, the police involved cling to the notion of “qualified immunity”, the doctrine that police are immune from prosecution if they had some reason to think the suspect was a danger to someone.
Sometimes, when a policeman acquires a notorious reputation, his department may fire him even if he evades prosecution. But often these same policemen get rehired by another department and continue their racist, abusive ways. Miles Cosgrove, one of the killer cops involved in the murder of Breonna Taylor, was fired from the Louisville police department, but last November his license was reinstated by the Kentucky state board of law enforcement, and recently he was hired as a sheriffs’ deputy in Carroll County, near Louisville. It’s not as if the Carroll County sheriff didn’t know about Cosgrove’s past – he is notorious all over the state, and his hiring sparked a small protest outside the sheriff’s office, with demonstrators holding signs and chanting “Cosgrove has got to go!” (6) But some departments go out of their way to hire “cowboy cops” with abusive pasts. In 2020, for example, the Fraternal Order of Police in Brevard County, Florida posted an ad on Facebook specifically asking for new applicants from the “Atlanta 6” and the “Buffalo 57”. (7)
* The “Atlanta 6” are cops who assaulted two college students on the night of May 30, 2020, shortly after the George Floyd murder. The two had gone out for food and got caught in a traffic jam connected to the nightly protests in Atlanta. Cops suspected the two were protesters and assaulted their car. Bodycam video shows the cops breaking the car’s windows, tasing the driver, pulling him out and breaking his arm as dozens of other cops stand by, ready to assist. This couple weren’t even protesters, mind you, just people suspected of being protesters. To cover their tracks afterward, the cops charged them with “violating curfew.” Atlanta’s mayor insisted on dropping the charges against the couple and firing some of the policemen involved. But the state of Georgia overruled her, refused to prosecute the cops, and some of them have been rehired. (8.)
* The “Buffalo 57” are cops who resigned from the Emergency Response Team (Buffalo’s “riot control” squad) to protest two members of it being disciplined for assaulting a 75-year-old man in the middle of a George Floyd protest. (9) The two policemen were not actually fired, removed from the squad or charged with any crime; they were simply suspended temporarily while the police department “investigated”. That didn’t stop then-President Trump from jumping in to defend them and denounce the protester, Joseph Gugino, as an ANTIFA plant who was using a scanner to disrupt police communications (i.e., Mr. Gugino had a cell phone in his hand). Apparently, this justified the police pushing Mr. Gugino to the ground and then marching by triumphantly as he lay in the street, unconscious, blood oozing from his ear. (10)
* It isn’t a mistake when police departments hire racist, abusive policemen. Police departments often are cesspools of racist ideology. A couple recent exposures of this have occurred. In McCurtain County, Oklahoma, a tape recorder was left on during a meeting of the sheriff and county commissioners. It recorded the sheriff and commissioners exchanging pleasantries about how the local “problem” of blacks could be dealt with by “digging holes”, “hiring hitmen”, etc. Local people have staged protests calling for the sheriff’s resignation, but his response is to threaten to prosecute whoever made the recording. (11)
* A similar scandal has erupted in Antioch, California, a Bay Area
city where many African-Americans have moved in recent years. Recently
text messages between policemen were publicized in which they used
racial slurs to describe black people, calling them “monkeys” and
“gorillas.” They boasted about fabricating evidence, lying about
suspects confessing, and beating on suspects. One cop complained that
his foot still hurt from kicking a suspect in the head. Half of the
department’s 100 officers were involved, including the head of the
local policemen’s union. (12)
Have police departments reformed since the mass demonstrations of 2020?
Far from it. Police killings of unarmed African-Americans go on just as
before. On the positive side, an awareness of these kinds of injustice
has spread. Racist cops like Miles Cosgrove, the sheriff in McCurtain
County, the cops in Antioch, and the killers of Tyre Nichols are
finding it more and more difficult to hide. But at the same time,
Trumpist racists are riding a wave tending to swamp all branches of
government. MAGA Republicans are on a tear, devoting themselves to
restoring their hero to power. Pushing their reactionary program,
they’re determined to never let racism subside. This is why police
murders don’t fade away and why the fight against racism is getting
sharper and sharper. This is why the anti-racist fight is important for
the overall struggle, to prevent the country from being pushed into a
Trumpist morass.
The racist adherents of white supremacy have rallied behind
“replacement theory.” They work to purge the educational system of any
mention of Black History. They rally behind any right-wing cause like
restricting the rights of women, gays and transgenders. They threaten
to drive the government into financial default if they don’t get their
way on cutting social programs. Intent on preventing a repeat of the
demonstrations of 2020, cities and states have passed new laws
restricting protest. Voter suppression laws are aimed especially
against blacks, as is the rampant gerrymandering. Those politicians
who, like Biden, say the police only need ‘retraining’ aren’t much
help. Stopping racist police murders faces an increasingly virulent and
consciously racist right wing.
1. “List of unarmed African-Americans killed by law enforcement officers in the United States”, Wikipedia.
2. Ibid.
3. “Killing of Kawaski Trawick”, Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Kawaski_Trawick.
4. Pete Brown, “The police murder of Tyre Nichols: Memphis police chief initiated overly aggressive police squads.” Detroit/Seattle Workers’ Voice mailing list.
5. Emily Cochrane and Jessica Jaglois, “Autopsy shows Tyre Nichols died of head injuries from police beating”, New York Times, May 4, 2023.
6, “Kentucky sheriff’s office hires former officer who fatally shot Breonna Taylor”, AP News, April 24, 2023.
7. Laura Finley, “Stop Hiring and Re-Hiring Terrible Officers”, Counterpunch, April 27, 2023.
8. Amir Vera and Jamiel Lynch, “Prosecutor rules six Atlanta officers were justified while arresting college students during the 2020 protests”, CNN, updated 8:53 PM EDT Mon May 23, 2022.
9. Neil Vigdor, Daniel Victor and Christine Hauser, “Buffalo police officers suspended after shoving 75-year-old protester”, New York Times, published June 5, 2020, updated February 23, 2021.
10, Alan Feuer, “Trump falsely targets Buffalo protester, 75, as ‘ANTIFA provocateur’”, New York Times, published June 9, 2020, updated February 23, 2021.
11, Ken Miller and Sean Murphy, “Oklahoma sheriff says recording of killing talk was illegal”, abcNews, April 18, 2023.
12. Janie Har, “Racist texts by California police lead to federal lawsuit”, yahoo! news (from AP), April 20, 2023. <>
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