OPINION
j
r The Chronicle
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Erinesi II. Pitt
NDI BISI Egemonve
Elaine Pitt
F\nnie Henderson
T. Kevin Walker
K a? Sti lt7.
Publisher/Co- Founder
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Business Manager
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File Photo
student at Quality Education Institute cuts out pictures of
t~-*Kenyans for a project featuring the continent of Africa.
p:
; All-black is
| not all bad
>
The N.C. Center for Public
- -Policy Research has served
the state well over the last 25
C ^ears. informing state resi
__ "dents about the pros and cons
? of hot-button topics and urg
?? ing lawmakers to look past
politics to focus on the real
issues at hand.
NCCPPR's latest report
j, released this week tackles the
J subject of charter schools.
Although the report, like all
? research conducted by the
?Z public-policy organization, is
well-balanced. some of
NCCPPR's recommendations
?; are shortsighted, to say the
least.
? The group is throwing up
?Z caution signs over the
increase in one-race charter
schools. The biggest concern
is schools that are all- or near
ly-all-African-American,
according to the report.
There are nearly two
dozen such charter schools in
the state. The center says that
one-race schools are not liv
ing up to the goals set for
charter schools by the General
Assembly when lawmakers
gave charters the green light
seven years ago. One General
Assembly provision was that
the schools reflect the make
up.of society.
We should be concerned if
our kids are not seeing the
world as it really is. If our
kids are not aware that there
are people who look different
than them and act differently,
then we should address that
issue. But it is unfair to
assume that just because stu
dents, black students in this
case, are not around w hites or
I
Hispanics in school that they
are missing out on something
or are less enlightened.
Black students have found
something in some charter
schools that does not exist in
public schools. The all-black
schools have become places
where black culture is
embraced every day and year
round. not just a topic that is
glossed over one month a
year.
People who are not black
and have not experienced
what it is like to be invisible
in textbooks and in lesson
plans would not understand
how important it is to be in a
place where you feel appreci
ated and included.
That feeling is something
that cannot be examined in a
report or even debated on the
floor of the General Assem
bly.
NCCPPR should be
applauded for wantin ' young
people to be united. I tlure
are more pressing is _s. All
black charter schools are little
guppies in a big sea. Bigger
problems are court-sanctioned
segregation of public schools
and the apparent neglect of
some mostly-black public
schools.
Certainly charter schools
have contended with issues
such as finances and test
scores. Those issues are fair
game for NCCPPR. But the
group and legislators should
stay away from the issue of
race in charter schools, until
they are willing to put their
necks on the line and call for
public school education to be
more black-friendly.
I
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^"TCPVOUR LAWN
ON MONDAYS-"
ORIGII^L 9IM DURING U FIRST D&OUGWT
Feds won't do much in Jackson beatins
Earl Ofari
Hutchinson
Guest
I C olumnist
The instant black activists
saw the videotaped beating of
16-year-old Donovan Jackson
by an Inglewood police offi
cer. they demanded that the
Justice Department prosecute
the officer. The call for a fed
eral probe has virtually been
their mantra in just about every
case inhere police are accused
of beating, assailing and gun
ning down young blacks. They
flat-out don't trust local police
agencies to investigate them
selves. Nor do they trust dis
trict attorneys, grand juries,
police commissions, and local
officials, because of their cozy,
rub-shoulder relationship with
the police, to be any more
impartial when it comes to
investigating police.
The Justice Department
supposedly is a far different
story. Indeed. Attorney Gener
al John Ashcroft talked tough
about the police beating and
dispatched his top civil rights
lawyer to handle a federal
probe. This seems like a good
sign that the Justice Depart
ment will do something about
the beating.
But this is probably wishful
thinking. Despite the wave of
dubious police shootings and
beatings of mostly young
blacks and Latinos the past
few years, the Justice Depart
ment has done almost nothing
to nail abusive cops.
According to a 1998 report
on police misconduct by
Human Rights Watch, an inter
national public watchdog
group, federal prosecutors
bring excessive-force charges
against police officers in a
minuscule number of the cases
involving allegations of police
abuse.
There was some hope this
might change when President
Bush and Ashcroft publicly
pledged to take a hard and long
look at racial profiling and
police misconduct. After three
days of rioting in Cincinnati in
April 2001 triggered by the
slaying of 19-year-old
unarmed Timothy Thomas by
white Cincinnati Police Offi
cer Stephen Roach during a
traffic pursuit. Ashcroft
announced a full Justice
Department probe into police
violence in that city.
When a Cincinnati judge
summarily acquitted Roach of
criminal charges in the
Thomas slaying months later,
the Justice Department gave
no sign that it would even con
sider filing civil rights charges
in the case. And Bush has been
mute about the need for more
aggressive federal prosecu
tions to crack down on police
violence since his initial vow
to do something about it.
Yet. the Justice Department
has always had on the books a
strong arsenal of civil rights
statutes to prosecute abusive
police officers. More often
than not, however, it has taken
major press attention, large
scale protests, and even a
major riot, such as the L.A.
riots in 1992 after the Rodney
King verdict, before the Jus
tice Department used its legal
weapons. It was only because
of the intense media focus on
the police killings of Tyisha
Miller in Riverside. Calif., in
1998. and Amadou Diallo in
New York City 1999. and the
threat of mass street demon
strations against police abuse
that then-President Clinton
spoke out against police vio
lence in the waning days of his
administration.
The Jackson beating is no
different. Ashcroft almost cer
tainly acted swiftly because
angry protesters stormed the
Inglewood City Hall and
demanded action. This
prompted horrific visions of
another civil disturbance in the
making.
Federal prosecutors say
they can't nail more cops
involved in questionable
police violence because they
are hamstrung by the lack of
funds and staff, victims who
aren't perceived as Criminals,
credible witnesses, and the
public's inclination to always
believe police testimony. They
also claim they are pinned in
by the almost impossible
requirement that they prove an
officer had the specific intent
to kill or injure a victim in
order to get a conviction.
These are tough obstacles to
overcome, and since the Jus
tice Department is in the busi
ness of winning cases, many
prosecutors are Store than
happy to take a hands-off atti
tude toward police misconduct
cases.
However, this is no excuse
for federal prosecutors not to
at least make the effort to pros
ecute more officers when there
,is substantial evidence that
they used excessive force. This
is the legally and morally right
thing to do. And it sends a
powerful message to law
enforcement agencies that the
federal government will go
after lawbreakers no matter
whether they wear a mask, or a
badge. But more important, it
puts police and city officials
on notice that they must take
stronger action to halt the use
of excessive force in their
departments.
The reluctance of federal
prosecutors to go after cops
who overuse force and commit
abusive acts perpetuates the
dangerous cycle of racial con
frontation and deepens the dis
trust and cynicism of blacks
and Latinos toward the crimi
nal justice system. Black
activists did the right thing in
demanding a federal probe,
and Ashcroft did the right
thing by answering their
demand.
Just don't expect it to go
much further than that.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is
an author and columnist. Visit
his news and opinion Web site:
wuw.thehutchinsonreport.com
File Photo
The beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers sparked an uprising by blacks who
were angry that the officers were acquitted in a criminal trial.
Photo b> Michael Riddick. Michael's Photography
Joe C. Hopkins, attorney and co-publisher of the Pasadena
Journal, addresses a rally held in Inglewood, Califfollow
ing the Donovan Jackson incident.