4A
EDITORIALS/ The Charlotte Post
April 17, 1997
Cljarlotte ^ost
Published weekly by the Charlotte Post Publishing Co.
1531 Camden Road Charlotte, N.C. 28203
Gerald O. Johnson
CEO/PUBLISHER
Robert Johnson
CO-PUBLISHER/
GENERAL MANAGER
Herbert L. White
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Nowicki
McCrory
Review board’s time has come
GERALD O. JOHNSON
Public confidence requires it
Citizens review
board is now a
city necessity
Last week’s shooting of an unarmed black woman in
Charlotte has put the city at odds with itself. On one
hand is an outraged African American community that
sees itself under fire from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg
pohce that is sworn to protect all citizens in every commu
nity. On the other side is the larger community and public
officials, including Mayor Pat McCrory and police Chief
Dennis Nowicki, who see the police as doing a good job.
But with the death of Carolyn Sue Boetticher, no one can
deny that there is cause for concern and anger among
blacks. The Boetticher shooting is the lat
est in a series of fatal confrontations
between African Americans and police.
That more blacks are dying by poUce bul
lets has also sparked a movement to estab
lish a citizens review board to investigate
possible police misconduct. The proposal’s
author, city council member Patrick
Cannon, has worked tirelessly to move the
so-called “Cannon Amendments” before
city council’s Public Safety Committee.
Despite being turned away over the last three years by
council members and police who fret over
citizens’ role in police discipline, a review
panel is an idea whose time as come.
Competent and professional officers who
do their jobs by the book won’t have any
thing to fear from such a board, propo-
j nents say. It’s the extreme actions that
H result in the death of suspects or other
civihans that deserve full pubhc scrutiny.
Tragicallly, it has taken some needless
deaths to bring the process to this point. In
order to restore confidence in the police,
city council should deliberate seriously
about the merits such a board would bring
to investigations regarding allegations of
police misconduct. We urge council to take
whatever steps are necessary to assure all
' Charlotte-Mecklenburg, not just its afflu-
ent enclaves of privelge, that the police are
Cannon on duty to guard everyone’s rights.
Jackie Robinson’s legacy
Even the most casual of sports fans know the signifi
cance of this week’s celebration of Jackie Robinson’s
desegregation of major league baseball. Before Martin
Luther King’s dream or Rosa Parks’ deciding not to give
up her seat to a white man in Birmingham, Robinson
changed the way America plays and how we look at each
other.
When Robinson broke in with the Brooklyn Dodgers on
April 15, 1947, the U.S. was an apartheid society split
along racial hnes. Despite vicious taunts on the field and
threats of death and second-class treatment off it,
Robinson endured a difficult debut and ultimately tri
umphed over racism. While his success is the final prod
uct, several ingredients helped lead to Robinson’s exploits.
There were the Negro Leagues where Robinson caught
the attention of Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey,
who selected him as the first African American signed to
a major league contract. There was also the constant
prodding and cajoling of the black press, which pushed
relentlessly for desegregation of the sport, as it did other
areas of American society. Legendary sportswiiters like
Wendell Smith of the Pittsburgh Courier and Sam Lacy of
the Afro-American newspapers in Baltimore and
Washington were the most powerful activists for a change
in the way baseball did business. And there was the black
communily, which supported Robinson at every turn, giv
ing him encouragement and following his exploits.
Much has changed since 1947. Black athletes don’t have
to survive the bhsteiing hate heaped on Robinson, nor do
they have to stay in hotels separately from their team
mates unless they choose to. And the money is 100 times
better, thanks in large part to the popularity of men and
women who have followed in his footsteps.
Joe Louis gave Afiican Americans hope; Muhammad Ali
caused a nation to examine itself. Jackie Robinson’s
strength gave us the will to succeed and tolerate.
As much as I questioned the
relevancy of a citizen’s review
board, I am beginning to ques
tion the actions of the police
force more.
The actions of the pohce force
have resulted in the deaths of
four African American citizens.
It is still tmclear in all of the sit
uations if the deaths were pre
ventable. Unfortrmately, police
reports clearing the officers of
any wrongdoing has done little
to convince the community that
all is well.
This is especially true since
the request for cameras on
pohce cars was written off as
too expensive and unneces
sary. In addition the initial cry
for a citizen’s review board feU
on death ears. The political
rush to flood our streets with
more pohce officers and build
more prisons to make our
streets safer has resulted in
more officers, but not necessar
ily a better police force. It is
beginning to look hke we have
a very young, inexperienced
pohce force dealing with a very
fast growing crime community.
Questionable incidents con
tinue to happen, officers con
tinue to be cleared of any
wrongdoing, and the community
continues to be restless. It is
quite likely that the police
reports about officer conduct are
accurate. The community is not
buying it. Hence, the police
department has a public rela
tions issue that must be dealt
with. Consequently, a citizen’s
review board is a step in the
right direction. It would go a
long way in helping rebuild the
community trust in the police
department.
However, in order for it to
work, the citizen review board
must be completely independent
of the pohce department, work
in an open forum and have
access to ah information.
There are several good work
ing boards in the country to
model after. The one with the
most notoriety is the Berkeley
Police Review Commission in
Berkeley, Calif. The PRC has
been quite successful because it
has the fuU cooperation of gov
ernment officials, and the pohce
department.
They have proven if it is done
right, a citizen’s review board is
an invaluable tool in building
trust between the community
and the pohce department.
GERALD O. JOHNSON is
publisher of The Charlotte Post.
Authorities tell cops it’s OK to shoot us
And officers
aren’t about to
disobey orders
By Robert Mackins
SPECIAL TO THE POST
The policemen are not solely
the blame, orders come down
from the top, and not up
through the rank and file. If a
Caucasian mayor said to the
police, “If anyone shoots an
unarmed person, that police
man vrih be fired.”
Show me one policeman that
would disobey. The mayor and
the pohce commissioner are 90
percent of of the blame. When
the pohce receive their orders,
they receive the OK to murder
African Americans because it is
always hunting season on them.
Then, they send out their execu
tioners into our neighborhoods.
Have you ever heard of a
Caucasian policeman shooting
down a Caucasian? Absolutely
not. In Charlotte, there is a lot
of hate against African
Americans in the Caucasian
community. This hate manifests
itself in people that have
authority, hke the mayor, the
prosecuting attorney, the city
council, and the pohce depart
ment, as weU as the judges and
the juries.
'The latest killing of an Afiican
American woman by the
Caucasian pohce, was shovm on
TV and this is what I saw: Two
arrogant police that were not
going to be outdone. They could
have called for the car to be
intercepted. Not obeying a
pohceman is an offense, but not
one that warrants the taking of
a life, even if a person has a
mouth fiiU of drugs, let alone an
innocent person. I saw two
policemen running alongside
the car, and later behind the car
pumping bullets into it. Now
they were on the drivers side,
and could have very easUy shot
him, but they didn’t, because he
was Caucasian. Being an elder,
and a victim of the atrocities
done to our people by these
Caucasians, I know exactly
what went on in the minds of
those pohcemen. The one that
fired the fatal shot, I can hear
him thinking, they are about to
■^et away from me, they are dis
respecting me, and what is that
black woman doing with that
Tyhite man anyway? Well I can’t
shoot him but I can shoot her,
because we got orders to shoot
blacks whenever we feel like it.
I might even get a medal. And
that is when he took aim and
fired that fatal shot. It is much
easier to hit a moving target
when it is moving away from
you than it is when it’s moving
across, she was a sitting duck.
We understand that the
Europeans follow orders, right
or wrong, I first observed this
when I was in the mihtary. 'The
police are saying that the car
was coming toward them, but
how can you shoot someone in
the back of the head coming
towards you unless the car was
backing up? If you noticed, you
will see that they have edited
the tape they no longer show aU
of it on ’TV.
I am sure that you have
observed that when any of them
violates anyone outside of their
lily white superior group they
all come together to uphold the
perpetrators no matter how
hideous the crime might be.
They have this kind of alle
giance to one another. When we
watched Rodney King violated
on TV, we all saw the same
thing, the only difference was
that Afiican Americans called it
what it was, and Caucasians
called it justifiable. It was justi
fiable according to their agenda,
which is to continue instilling
fear in our hearts so that we
will be afraid to question any
thing they say or do.
The killing of young African
American men has a deeper rea
son than just plain hate,
although hate is a part of it, the
deeper meaning is to keep us
confused...disoriented, so we
will not be able to come together
to biuld, as well as to kfll off aU
of our potential leaders. Right
now almost every African
American across the Nation is
tip toeing around in fear, that
he will somehow anger the so-
called white community. We
don’t think there is any use in
coming together to try to create
something as a group, because
they just won’t allow us to do it.
When I talk to some of our peo
ple about doing something they
look at me as if I was crazy. So
what do we do, just wait to be
pushed, to be shoved, to be dri
ven, to be directed. Willie
Lynch’s method of control is still
veiy much aUve.
The National Coalition of
Blacks for Reparations in
America (N’COBRA) is asking
that a commission be estab
lished to study the effects of
institutionalized slavery, Jim
Crow, racism, discrimination,
and physical and mental abuse,
and cruelty on the descendants
of slaves. The U.S. should make
a formal apology, commitment
to good faith, restore our people
and dissolve the conspiracy of
genocide that is in effect.
Let us join the struggle for
reparations and peace. Be an
N’COBRA member. Call 567-
8277.
ROBERT MACKINS lives in
Charlotte.
Prop 209 decision went too far
By Erwin Chemerinsky
SPECIAL TO THE POST
[A]t the very least, judges are expected to fol
low the law.
'They are to obey procedural rules and customs
and base their decisions on precedents.
'Tuesday’s decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court
of Appeals upholding the constitutionality of
Proposition 209 is enormously troubling
because it is so at odds with the law. Three very
conservative judges obviously were determined
to uphold the anti-affirmative action initiative
and were not about to let the law, procedural or
substantive, get in their way.
First, it was inappropriate for these judges to
be the ones deciding the case. Each month, the
court designates three of its judges to sit as the
“motions panel.” As its title implies, the motions
panel is there to hear the myriad different
kinds of motions that might be made to a court.
The motions panel is not supposed to rule on
the merits of an appeal; that is left for the “mer
its panel.”
The judges, out of their apparent desire to
uphold Proposition 209, ignored customary, vir
tually universal practice about the limited role
of a motions panel.
After Proposition 209, any group — newspaper
owners, doctors, law professors- can use the
political process to gain protections or special
programs, but not women or minorities. This is
discrimination, and if the 9th Circuit judges
wanted to reject this argument, they at least
should have offered a clearer explanation of
why the claim is flawed.
In other words, plaintiffs will have no chance
for a trial to try and prove that Proposition 209
is impermissibly discriminatory. Even though
the ultimate issue of the constitutionality of
Proposition 209 was not before this court, they
decided it anyway.
For decades, conservatives have railed against
judicial activism. The 9th Circuit’s decision ...
only can be understood as conservative judicial
activism of the most aggressive sort.
ERWIN CHERMERINSKY is a University of
Southern California law professor.