Two cop confrontations, one with white protesters, one with a black kid. Guess who got beat up?
The Sacramento area witnessed two high-profile police confrontations last week with two decidedly different outcomes.
In Rancho Cordova, a white cop pounded on a 14-year-old African American boy because he suspected the boy had “tobacco products.” It was a horrendous encounter that went viral. U.S. Sen Kamala Harris and other notables took to Twitter and decried a video of the egregious, excessive amount of force used on a child.
Meanwhile, at the state Capitol, an unruly crowd of almost entirely white protesters shoved, berated, jostled and disrespected police personnel.
As The Bee reported: “Some demonstrators got within a few inches of officers’ faces, screaming that their rights to assemble were being violated and calling officers ‘traitors’ for defending the government’s orders to restrict gatherings at schools, businesses and churches.”
In the observations during the protests, the question on social media arose: If this were Black Lives Matters, how would the outcome be different? One comment referred to the Sacramento Police shooting of Stephon Clark and the subsequent protests two years ago:
“We all know that if it were Black Lives Matters out there protesting the beating of the 14-year-old kid in Rancho Cordova, the SWAT teams would be out or just like they did on the bridge during the Stephon Clark protests.”
And then, in a strange and stark reminder of the contrast of the two crowds, the two events, and the different types of police actions, Stephon’s brother Stevante Clark appeared on the Capitol steps, joining others to observe.
Did any of you see video of California Highway Patrol officers out of control, beating down the 32 people eventually arrested for losing their minds at a protest that drew an estimated 1,000 people?
Yeah, me neither.
Police actions matter
Both the incidents on the Capitol steps and in Rancho Cordova involved resisting arrest. But the beat-down occurred with the black kid who was afraid and not with the white adults who were enraged.
In terms of being menacing or threatening to the officers in question or to the greater public at large, it was no contest. The loud crowd of people screaming at the Capitol were spoiling for a fight, the African American kid just wanted to go home.
But when he wouldn’t comply with the officer in question, he was dragged to the ground. He was punched and the officer mauled him like a rag doll.
As someone who has been a journalist for more than 30 years and someone raised by immigrants, I don’t have time for the easy excuses that would seek to justify, deflect or outright deny the clear bias that informs how some cops respond far differently to dark-skinned suspects and light-skinned ones.
This is a problem that has eroded faith in police departments everywhere. And do you know why that faith has been eroded? Well, some of you will say it’s because of journalists like me who raise questions about police brutality that are shouted down by “how dare you” denials from police and their most ardent defenders.
Some would blame groups such as Black Lives Matter for “sowing discord” or “playing the race card.”
Again, if that’s your line, then God bless you, you’re entitled to your point of view. I know African American communities and immigrant communities are forgiving and understanding. But faith in cops in those communities – in many communities – is eroded when clear examples of bias are denied by cops. Faith is eroded when cop communities circle the wagons and those of us outside are told that we are not only wrong for raising questions, we are wrong for not believing the denials.
Removing implicit bias
The two incidents in Sacramento clearly demonstrated how this bias can play out: Light-skinned suspects, no matter how belligerent, are given a benefit of the doubt. Dark-skinned ones are not.
Police departments across the country are spending millions of dollars training officers to be aware of their implicit bias.
For the uninitiated, implicit bias relates to unconscious prejudice harbored by human beings. When those human beings wear badges, carry guns and can kill by law, that implicit bias can be deadly.
In a 2018 New York Times story about nationwide incidents involving implicit bias, guess which incident was cited first? That 2018 fatal shooting by Sacramento Police of an unarmed Stephon Clark. He had a cell phone. The suspicion was that he was breaking windows. He was shot eight times.
I would add Joseph Mann, who was fatally shot by Sacramento Police in 2016. Mann was African American. He was clearly having an emotional breakdown. He had a knife but was surrounded in by cops who were trying to peacefully arrest him until two of their colleagues ran up and gunned him down.
There are plenty of other examples nationwide, lethal and non-lethal. The Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training instructing cops across the state on implicit bias.
The point of that training is to improve outcomes to protect the public and the officers. But clearly that work is far from done. And it will never get done if police agencies comply with the training but don’t hold their officers to account when they violate that training.
Check out the videos. Implicit bias in policing was right there in our faces.
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
