She is recovering from an ailment that even chemotherapy has
had a difficult time curing. The treatment not only kills the live
cells but it can also bring about a demise to your hopes and spirits.
During these times nothing counteracts the negative aspects of her treatment
more than the routine visits she receives from her caring son. A good
child that in his twenty years of living she never had to worry about him
doing those bad things that have far too often attracted the attention of
young men his age. That was predominantly the reason she became
worried when the afternoon turned into night and she did not receive any
word from him. A call to her relatives did little to ease her spirits,
no one saw her son. Unable to bare the haunting feeling that
something was drastically wrong, she got dressed and departed the hospital
to go and look for her child.
As she called around to other neighbors she realized that a disturbing
pattern was slowly developing. A substantial number of the black boys of the
community were missing. There was a sick and heavy feeling that
settled in her stomach. Those fears that are associated with hoping
for the best but expecting the worst engulfed her. "Where is my
child?" is all she could recall asking herself.
It was not until the early morning hours that she received the answer to her
question. Little did she know that while she was in the hospital
receiving treatment from an evil ailment that was spreading throughout her
body, there was an even more sinister ailment spreading throughout the body
of her community. Her son was sitting in a police holding pen with
many of the other boys from his community. He was arrested. His
arrest as well as 190 other male-blacks, was in connection to the NYC Police
department's response to an incident that took place early in the day where
a Police Officer was shot in the leg.
All official released reports have indicated that the 'perpetrator' is a
male black in his 20s wearing non-distinct clothing. Common sense
dictates that the painfully vague description was supplied by the only
available eyewitness, the injured Police Officer. The shooting
allegedly occurred when the Police Officer approached a man who he allegedly
observed in possession of a marijuana cigar. According to the NYPD,
the officer, upon approaching the young black man, observed a firearm in his
waistband at which time the officer drew his firearm and demanded that the
black man surrender the marijuana. The reports are unclear, but it
appears as though during the reported incident the officer was shot in
the leg during the encounter.
An immediate mobilization of manpower resulted in the
stopping, frisking and subsequent arresting of scores of 'young black men'
in the surrounding vicinity. On June 14 shortly after 8am, to be young
and black in Cambria Heights, St. Albans or Laurelton was to be a suspect
and thusly a prisoner. Roadblocks and helicopters replaced bicycles
and birds. The innocuous clothing description became irrelevant as
young black men of varying hairstyles, builds and attire was summarily
apprehended and transported to the 105 pct. for interrogation/interview
regarding the 'alleged' shooting incident. A segment of the community
was among the missing as their friends and loved ones tried desperately to
locate them.
So ravenous was the appetite for revenge that normally
summonsable violation offenses such as 'Disorderly Conduct' resulted in a
trip to central booking. Questionable and quite possibly unlawful
street searches resulted in countless arrests. Why worry about the 4th
amendment when a police officer has been shot? It appeared that the
NYPD policy became 'cast the wide net'. One young victim of the mass
arrest initiative summed up what the police sentiment was on that day when a
Police Officer told him 'A cop was shot. There are no laws".
The Cambria Heights incident is not an anomaly.
Think of Charles Stewart in Boston circa 1989 who after shooting and killing
his pregnant wife blamed a fictitious Black man. His allegation
resulted in rampant police abuse in Boston's Black community. Closer to home
and more recently, in December 2004 in the confines of the Ocean Hill
housing development, an NYPD police officer initially accused an anonymous
Black man of shooting him. It took 24 hours of rampant search
warrants, countless stop and frisks and numerous arrests before the Police
Officer admitted that he had in fact shot himself.
If we fail to raise the legitimate and honest questions about these and
other issues we are encouraging the selective abuse and disrespect that we
find ourselves entrapped by. The government must be responsive and
sensitive to all communities. We cannot allow the Black man to be
always suspect and mere fodder based on unsubstantiated allegations.
The true tragedy of this incident is not that the toxic ailment of police
abuse has invaded the body of our community, it is the lack of our response
to seek a true remedy. These are our children. This would not
have happened in any other community, but ours. Outside the
community of color, police respond to emergencies by interviewing the
residents to gather information. Inside our community they conduct
mass arrests. It is a policy of stabilization vs invasion.
Think about it.
