Tuesday, December 16, 2014

The Face of the Banality of Evil: Cleveland's Police Union Head Capo Jeffrey Follmer Defends the Killing of Tamir Rice on MSNBC

I would like to thank the kind and generous folks who have donated to the annual fundraiser here on We Are Respectable Negroes and Chaunceydevega.com. As promised, once my goal for the year is met my NPR/PBS-like requests for material support will end.

We are about 50 dollars away from the goal for the year. I hope that we can meet that today or tomorrow--at which point the fundraising drive will be over.

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A question. Do authoritarian racist thug cops self-select into the profession of "law enforcement" or does the culture of police work socialize them into racist authoritarianisn?

I am writing an essay on that very question that I will share here on WARN and elsewhere later this week. Your thoughts and input are much appreciated.

Cleveland Brown's football player Andrew Hawkins wore a t-shirt in support of the families of Tamir Rice and John Crawford--two unarmed and innocent black people killed by the Cleveland area police.

Predictably, as is their habit whenever police thuggery is called to public account, the head of Cleveland's police union attacked Andrew Hawkins during an appearance on MSNBC for not showing due "respect" for the local police.

[A semi-related thought. I support unions for public employees. Wouldn't one think that in a time when unions are under assault by the plutocrats and 1 percent that their representatives would want to hold its members to the highest levels of accountability? Or is that because the police are a conservative and racist social institution that their violence against black and brown people is a way of ostensibly insulating them from the Republicans who want to eliminate organized labor in the United States?]

Jeffrey Follmer's comments reveal that he is a mean spirited, ignorant, and cruel person; for anyone who wonders why police are viewed with suspicion, anxiety, and as being an illegitimate presence in many of America's urban, working class, and poor communities they need to look no farther than the statements of police union representatives such as Jeffrey Follmer.

I am often very critical of the relative silence by African-American athletes and other entertainers about the plague of police thuggery and violence that is killing black and brown folks at least every 28 hours in the United States.

Andrew Hawkins is an outlier. He should be applauded for his honest, direct, and sincere comments about the value of black life which he made in response to the mouth-breathing obnoxious racism and debasement of human life and freedom statements made by Jeffrey Follmer.

What will it take for more athletes and entertainers to model themselves after Andrew Hawkins?

Police brutality and thuggery against black and brown communities is a human rights issue. "Black lives matter" because all people's lives matter.

Thus, where are the white professional athletes and other entertainers on this issue? Why are they--and most other black and brown athletes and entertainers--silent on these critical matters of public concern? 

11 comments:

Paul Breines said...

Yeah, where have the white teammates been? I know only of a white member of the Georgetown men's basketball team, and the white members of Notre Dame's women's team who have worn "I can't breathe" t-shirts in pre-game warm ups. Anyone know of more?


Andrew Hawkins was exemplary on Sunday: courageous, beautiful, powerful, and eloquent in his response to questions, especially his remark that police officers who don't see things in racist ways shouldn't be at all upset by his message.


It's great that you highlight it--and the cruelty of the Patrolmen's Union president's response.


Obviously, there are many difference between the 1950s and today, but the photo of Hawkins entering the field alone with his t-shirt, his beliefs, and his hopes, reminds me of the 1957 photo of Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, walking alone, with her books, through a crowd of enraged, screaming white segregationist women, as she sought entrance into Little Rock High School.



There's a good chance that Andrew Hawkins knows that photo, and he surely knows the photo of John Smith and John Carlos with raised black power salutes at the 1968 Olympics. Those images, as well as his fears for his son's safety, must have inspired him.


And I'll bet that, as I type, there are at least a few hundred black (and some white) high school, and even Pop Warner, football players just in Ohio, who are considering and talking about what Andrew Hawkins did. Some of them, in other words, are getting ready to model themselves on him. Anyway, that's my bet.


My assumption is that when you look at these images, particularly the ones of Elizabeth Eckford and Andrew Hawkins they almost force you to ask the question: where am I in that photograph? Do I fit, or do I have to create a new space in it for me? Am I Elizabeth Eckford, or the racist women hounding her? Am I Andrew Hawkins, or am I one of the many fans watching him. Or do I have still other possibilities?


Like Elizabeth Eckford, John Carlos, and John Smith, Andrew Hawkins has offered to everyone ready to receive it the gift of courage.

Paul Breines said...

Ooops! My mistake: of course, it's Tommie Smith, with John Carlos, not John Smith.

kokanee said...

I know I never answer your questions. But not today. ;)


Question #1: Do authoritarian racist thug cops self-select into the profession of "law enforcement" or does the culture of police work socialize them into racist authoritarianisn?

Self-selection for sure. It could also be the brass who hire the cadets are looking for authoritarian/conservative types.

Question #2: Wouldn't one think that in a time when unions are under assault by the plutocrats and 1 percent that their representatives would want to hold its members to the highest levels of accountability?

No.

Question #3A: Or is that because the police are a conservative and racist social institution...

Yes.

Question #3B: ... that their violence against black and brown people is a way of ostensibly insulating them from the Republicans who want to eliminate organized labor in the United States?

Our elites have no problem supporting unions for the professional classes, the CEO class and of course their henchmen - the po-leese.

Question #4: What will it take for more athletes and entertainers to model themselves after Andrew Hawkins?

A little empathy? Maybe they are waiting for someone else to go first?

Question #5A: Thus, where are the white professional athletes and other entertainers on this issue?

Maybe they think this is a black issue. They are wrong. This is a human rights issue. For the self-interested: First they came...

Question #5B: Why are they--and most other black and brown athletes and entertainers--silent on these critical matters of public concern?


Well, they're rich. They're not like you and me. If you were rich, you most likely wouldn't want to upset the apple cart either. The richer one gets, the more entitled one becomes. There are exceptions of course but in general they will identify with the other white and brown and black and yellow rich folks around the world. I'm still waiting for one billionaire to step up and say that the system is all going to hell in a handbag and actually do something about it.

kokanee said...

You can edit your post. If you feel awkward making an Orwellian edit, you can do so as follows:

<s>John</s> Tommie Smith

Ronald Pires said...

Police unions exists primarily to protect the felonious conduct of their worst members. I have no problems with other unions, even public sector, but police unions should be banned. They are misdirected, abusive, and a clear and serious danger to the public.

Jim Wagner said...

I'm not shocked by very much these days, especially when it comes to police racism, but seeing this dude say with a straight face that, yes, a 12-year-old with a toy gun was "absolutely" an imminent lethal threat to the officers on the scene, and that the video demonstrates this clearly to anyone who has eyes... wow. Then again, self-reflection certainly isn't these people's strong suit. The head of the St. Louis police union this week, after being asked about his organization's ridiculous demand that the NFL punish the Rams players who raised their hands in protest before a game, responded: ""What's interesting is that it's the same kind rhetoric that's used against us. Why can't a police union demand that, after what it deems as misconduct, why can't it demand discipline?" What do you even say to people that utterly clueless and dishonest?

I applaud Hawkins for speaking out -- I doubt I could have mustered that much decorum in the face of the Cleveland PD having the gall to demand that I explain my behavior, especially if my behavior consisted not in, say, shooting a 12-year-old in the street, but in wearing a goddamn t-shirt. But I do have some reservations about Hawkins' statement.

In terms of the optics, of course, he was absolutely right to cover his ass by declaring his respect for law enforcement officers who don't go out and murder people in the street. But personally, I'm getting mighty tired of this kind of weak sauce. I, for one, will have respect for those allegedly non-racist, non-murderous officers when they themselves speak out and take a stand against their brothers-in-arms whose deplorable actions are ruining the reputation of their profession. Hawkins says that "I don't think those kind of officers [i.e. the supposed good ones] should be offended by what I did." I wish he would have added, "They should be offended by the deplorable actions their brethren have committed in their name."

Courtney H. said...

Here is a good article about Black athletes taking a stand:

http://kushiteprince.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/more-athletes-need-to-speak-up-and-stand-up/

IrishUp said...

My mother worked in a "cop bar" for a few years. Place was a hangout for police, owned by a partnership of retired police officers. Truefax: the apartment over the bar was never rented (I believe the owners had a piece of, or maybe outright owned the building); cops go NO WHERE without their guns, and booze + guns = bullets being shot, often through the ceiling.

Many police are family/legacy officers. So in that sense, it's very likely that the attitudes they bring to The Job, are in fact the ones they grow up with. A lot more were former military - hey, how many other jobs really need the skills the military teaches? I have heard that State Troopers tend to attract former Marines. But I also think people are attracted to & stay in jobs where what they bring to the table is valued and rewarded. So yes, I think many of the people applying to be police officers, are attracted to it because racist authoritarianism appeals to them and they like (or at least don't mind) being the one following craptastic orders. Likewise, people who go in with high ideals, are bullied out, if they are not at least willing to go along to get along.

Some years ago, I saw a special on Kent State. I remember watching an interview with Sgt. Myron Pryor - the dude witnesses say was the first to shoot. He had the same look in his eyes & same attitude that Follmer has - an angry, *resentful* look that suggests the REAL problem, is that *anyone* has the temerity to question their judgment and actions. You can almost see “uppity” and “...above your place” (and other words much worse) floating in thought clouds over their heads. If you follow that Pryor link, note how incredibly similar the denial script is – the same elements over and over again – “I was in danger” “They were going to kill me” – and how the victims are framed as the aggressors. That testimony is 40 years old. It’s like there is a play-book somewhere.

amnesia said...

Both a culture of policing and self-selection is evident in the horrendous outcomes of present-day policing, of course following a trajectory that goes deep into the foundational values, ethos, and political economy of this nation. As someone who routinely interacts with police wannabes, I am not only frustrated but alarmed at their expressed narcissism and socio-pathology. I simply cannot find a rational explanation except to intone that there is a factory out there churning them out like hell is breaking loose. The millennial and Genexer crop turns out to be the worst offender: this combined cohort is not averse to making extremely racist, sexist, and homophobic utterances. Often selected for vile diatribes, devaluation, and demonization, is the black/African American group. It is clear to me, absent international condemnation, white supremacy would be happy to see the last of this group- which is ironical given that the former has profited enormously from the tribulations of the latter! The parallel with the inhumane encounter of the Israelis with the Palestinians is, indeed, telling.

The Sanity Inspector said...

I imagine that most pro athletes are no braver than the general run of the population, plus they want to keep their run in the big leagues rolling as long as possible. They don't call it the Not For Long league for nothing...

Wild Cat said...

The upstairs apartment was probably a bordello. Cops in my 'hood have been busted for drug dealing, weapon running, and promotion of prostitution and gambling.


They used to be civic-minded suppliers of the Sinn Fein, but 9/11 probably turned them off to the terrorism business.