CAMERAS AND CHARACTER
©Wendell
Griffen, 2015
April 10, 2015
Justice Is A
Verb!
Cain said to his
brother Abel, “Let us go out into the field.”
And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel,
and killed him. Then the LORD said to
Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He
said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?
And the LORD said, “What have you done? Listen, your brother’s blood is
crying out to me from the ground!” And
now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your
brother’s blood from your hand. When you
till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a
fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Genesis 4:8-13
(New Revised Standard Version)
…Nor shall any
State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law… (Fourteenth Amendment, Constitution of the
United States)
Walter
Scott was shot to death last Saturday, the day after Good Friday and before
Easter, in North Charleston, South Carolina.
He was a 50 year old son to his parents, brother to his siblings, father
to his children, neighbor, co-worker, honorably discharged Coast Guard veteran,
and child of God.
Walter
Scott was shot to death in the back by Michael T. Slager, a white North
Charleston policeman. Slager claimed
that Scott tried to overpower him and take his Taser after Slager stopped Scott
for allegedly having a broken tail light.
Slager claimed that he felt threatened.
The
North Charleston Police Department knew that Walter Scott had been shot in the
back. They knew that Slager killed
Scott. But they accepted Slager’s claim Saturday,
Sunday, and Monday.
From
Saturday until Tuesday the North Charleston Police Department never treated
Slager as a murder suspect.
From
Saturday until Tuesday the North Charleston Police Department never treated Walter
Scott as a possible murder victim.
From
Saturday until Tuesday the North Charleston Police Department viewed Walter
Scott as merely another dead black man killed by a fellow policeman who felt threatened
and exercised lethal force to protect his own life.
From
Saturday until Tuesday, the North Charleston Police Department didn’t treat
Michael Slager as a liar and murderer despite the fact they knew Walter Scott
had been shot multiple times in the back.
But
Feidin Santana was some distance away, but within view of the encounter between
Slager and Scott. Santana had a cell
phone. He videotaped the last moments of
Walter Scott’s life. His video shows
that Michael Slager killed Walter Scott in cold blood as Scott was running for
his life.
Santana’s
video shows that Slager fired eight shots as Scott was running, empty handed,
away from Slager. The video then shows
Slager approach Scott’s fallen body and handcuff Scott. The video shows Slager leave Scott, walk back
to a spot several feet away, pick up an object from the ground, and take that
object and place it near Scott’s body.
Feidin
Santana’s video shows that Michael Slager murdered Walter Scott in cold blood
as Scott was running from him, unarmed.
Santana’s video shows that Slager planted something near Scott’s body. The video shows that Michael Slager didn’t
attend to Walter Scott’s wounds. The
same was true for a second police officer who arrived on scene.
The
killing of Walter Scott, preserved on video that has now been viewed around the
world, has strengthened the rising demand that police officers wear body
cameras to document their encounters with the public. I do not oppose body cameras. But Walter Scott wasn’t killed because
Michael Slager didn’t have a body camera.
Walter
Scott was killed because Michael Slager is a sociopath. Slager lacked the character to be trusted about
whether to use lethal force. That
character deficit cannot be corrected by issuing a camera.
Let’s stop pretending that body cameras
will solve the problem of abusive and homicidal conduct by people in law
enforcement. The problem isn’t caused by
lack of cameras, but lack of character.
The character problem should be thoroughly investigated, explored, and addressed
before someone is given a police
badge, firearm, and unfettered authority to mistreat and slay other people. It says a lot about the culture of policing
in the United States that more attention and emphasis is placed on how well
someone can shoot and kill than how well they can relate with the people they
are to protect and serve.
But
the character deficit doesn’t exist only within the police culture. Judges, prosecutors, legislators, mayors, and
the general public bear a lot of responsibility for enabling the police culture
with the opportunity and authority to engage in abusive and homicidal conduct
with impunity.
There
is abundant evidence that the police disproportionately mishandle and kill
unarmed men and women who are persons of color and/or poor. Despite what the Fourteenth Amendment declares about people not being
deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of law, the police
who mishandle and kill unarmed persons are almost never charged, prosecuted,
tried, and convicted after doing so. It
says a lot about the character of prosecutors, investigators, judges, and
jurors that the overwhelming majority of those tragic situations are deemed “justified.”
We seem unable to realize the moral and
ethical contradiction in blithely accepting the abuse and death of unarmed
people by others who are armed and sworn to protect and defend all persons.
The hard truth shown by the death of
Walter Scott, as was shown by the deaths of Eric Garner in New York, Tamir Rice
in Ohio, Eugene Ellison and Monroe Isadore in Arkansas, Michael Brown, Jr. in
Missouri, and so many other unarmed men and women of color, is that our nation
has nurtured a culture that allows the law enforcement community to recruit,
select, train, promote, and protect people who place little value on the lives
of people who are black, brown, and poor.
Judges and juries excuse these sociopaths. Prosecutors and police leaders refuse to
treat these killers as sociopaths. The
general public rushes to defend killers who carry badges even when they kill
unarmed people. That character deficit
is widespread and deeply entrenched. That
may explain why Feidin Santana feared for his own life. People who expose murderous law enforcement
agents have good reason to be afraid in a society that enables law enforcement
agents to mistreat and kill unarmed people with impunity.
Rather
than admit that we have a sub-culture of sociopaths within law enforcement and
address that disease, we talk about issuing body cameras. Sociopaths who kill unarmed people will not be deterred by cameras they
can disable and video footage they can alter or destroy. We are fools to think otherwise.
