Re: Seattle Police Officer Ian P. Walsh who punched the
17-year-old girl so squarely in the face when she physically
interfered with the restraint of another girl being detained
for jaywalking: GOOD SHOT! I bet that young woman has
gotten away with that nasty behavior all of her life. Maybe
she’s finally learned she’s not immune to what she’s been
used to dishing out. But probably not, with the majority of
the urban African American community doing what it
always does – supporting self-defeating, anti-social
behavior instead of chastising it. She’s bound to think
she’s some kind of victim, instead of a perpetrator of a
criminal act.
The National Urban League, formerly the National League
on Urban Conditions among Negroes (according to Wikipedia)
and allegedly a non-partisan civil rights organization that
advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial
discrimination in the United States, has of course denounced
the punch in the face of the girl as an “over-reaction” on the
part of the officer. They’re all for educating the white
community to recognize institutional discrimination and to
hold those in authority accountable for their behavior and
policies towards the members of the non-white community.
For them, it’s always about how their portion of the community
is being treated and never about how their behavior is creating
the very reaction they decry.
I’m always kind of amazed that organizations like this don’t
work on educating the people they purport to represent how
to behave in public places and when confronted by persons in
authority. If this organization wants to claim that a Caucasian
girl wouldn’t have been arrested for jaywalking, wouldn’t have
been punched in the face, they’re probably right. Most
Caucasian girls don’t immediately get loud, vicious, and
violent and show both lousy upbringing and poor social skills
when confronted by an officer. It’s not routinely part of
“white” American culture to get violently confrontational
with law enforcement and while “non-white” American
communities have a different history with law enforcement
in this country, modern law enforcement also reacts
differently based on ongoing experiences in those
communities.
What would be the difference in a situation like this, a trivial
little jay-walking offense? A white-bread, middle class girl
would probably ask what she did wrong if stopped – and in
a normal speaking tone, sans profanities. She would show
her ID if requested. She would most likely apologize for her
transgression, even if she didn’t know she was doing wrong.
The police officer would then probably write her a citation or
let her off with a warning. Would he do it just because the girl
is white? No. He does it because she behaved in a civilized,
compliant fashion – and not like some shrieking, ignorant
harpy who’s presenting a very real, continuing physical
threat to the officer and the community by her behavior.
The officer was there enforcing the law because obviously
there had been a complaint about persons jaywalking –
which if you live in an urban area in certain neighborhoods,
the pedestrians like to stroll in groups through the streets,
playing chicken with motorized traffic. And if you confront
them about blocking traffic, they take it as an excuse to go
bug-nuts on you – like it’s your fault they’re blocking traffic,
endangering themselves and others. And that’s what these
girls did because that’s what’s expected in their community.
So the officer confronts the girls about jaywalking, and they
do what too many African Americans have been trained to
do and that is go immediately stupid, loud and violent. And
what could have been a simple warning or citation (which
would probably be dismissed in court it’s so trivial) becomes
a felony arrest for resisting with violence, battery on a law
enforcement officer, interfering with an officer in the
performance of his duty. And I’m sure if the girls had
gotten a little crazier and escalated their resistance to an
outright attack on the officer instead of a strong shove that
resulted in a retaliatory punch, one or both of them might
have been shot or Tased – and not for jaywalking, but for
endangering a law enforcement officer in the performance
of his duty.
The Urban League should get its collective heads together
and quit protecting community scofflaws because they
happen to be the same color and get serious about a
campaign to get their communities into civil, legal and
behavioral compliance with the rest of polite society.
They need to quit promoting a culture of resistance to
persons in authority simply because they ARE in positions
of authority, because until they do, the Urban League is
part of the problem, NOT a tool for the solution.
Florida Cracker
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