Yesterday, I received a noteworthy text message from a friend, Gloria McCollum, a formidable attorney from St. Louis who represents The Ethical Society of Police, the largest organization of African-American law enforcement officers in the state of Missouri. McCollum was exasperated – and for good reason.
The Ethical Society – and McCollum — were outraged after the St. Louis Police Officers Association, a predominantly white group, demanded that the NFL and the St. Louis Rams discipline five African-American players who used the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” pose in support of 18-year-old Michael Brown, shot to death by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri this summer.
The St. Louis County prosecutor’s office announced last week that it will not indict Wilson for the fatal shooting generating protests across the country. Stedman Bailey, Tavon Austin, Jared Cook, Chris Givens and Kenny Britt were unfairly criticized by the St. Louis Police Officers Association who said the five players offended police officers across the nation.
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“Now that the evidence is in and Officer Wilson’s account has been verified by physical and ballistic evidence as well as eyewitness testimony, which led the grand jury to conclude that no probable cause existed that Wilson engaged in any wrongdoing, it is unthinkable that hometown athletes would so publicly perpetuate a narrative that has been disproven over-and-over again,”
Jeff Roorda, a business manager for St. Louis Police Officers Association, said in the statement. Roorda and the group want an apology. Nonsense. I’m glad that Black cops in St. Louis are steadfastly supporting the Rams players for taking such a public stand.
“We think that their actions were commendable and that they should not be ridiculed, disciplined or punished for taking a stand on this very important issue which is of great concern around the world and especially in the community where these players work,” according to a statement by The Ethical Society.
I share McCollum and The Ethical Society’s outrage and I’m glad the NFL and the Rams announced that they will not punish the players for what amounts to freedom of speech and expressing their concern in a society where black men are being racially profiled and killed by police at an alarming rate. As McCollum pointed out in her text message, the issues regarding race and police are broad, disproportionate and unjust.
“I often have officers that complain about the disparities in the way they are disciplined as opposed to white officers,” McCollum told me. “They also say they are not being promoted for supervisory positions for which they qualify. I bring these issues to the attention of those in charge in hopes that they will work with the Ethical Society to resolve as many as possible.”
The “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot,” pose by the five Rams players reminded me of the poignant Black Power salute by Tommie Smith and John Carlos during the medal ceremony at the 1968 Olympics. Smith and Carlos wore black leather gloves and held their fists in the air during the ceremony to symbolize the black struggle for civil rights in America. The Rams players stood in solidarity for human rights last Sunday just like Smith and Carlos stood for human rights 46 years ago.
Smith and Carlos didn’t apologize for their actions in 1968 and Bailey, Austin, Cook, Givens and Britt won’t apologize for their protest today. And they shouldn’t.
“We kind of came collectively together and decided we wanted to do something,” Cook told ESPN. “We wanted to come out and show our respect to the protests and the people who have been doing a heck of a job around the world.”
Cook is certainly not alone. President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, two of the nation’s most powerful men, are trying to bridge the divide between police and the communities of color. The President has instructed his team to draft an executive order creating a Task Force on 21st Century Policing, and announced that Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey will chair the Task Force.
Obama is also proposing a three-year $263 million package that will increase use of body-worn cameras, expand training for law enforcement agencies and add more resources for police department reform.
“Part of the reason this time will be different is because the President of the United States is deeply invested in making sure that this time is different,” Obama said. “I will be signing an executive order that specifies how we are going to make sure that that program is accountable, how we are going to make sure that that program is transparent and how we’re going to make sure that we’re not building a militarized culture inside our local law enforcement.”
Meanwhile, while Obama and Holder are correctly proposing national policies on race and policing, Gloria McCollum works tirelessly in the trenches helping black cops fight for racial equality. On Tuesday afternoon, she was meeting with a group of black police officers.
“It is important for me to represent African-American police officers,” McCollum told me, “because they need a strong voice.”
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