War Against the People: Killer Cops and Community Terrorism

Abstract

In the 21st-century USA, increasingly militarized systems of killer cops are the perpetrators of a new episode of state violence, as their increasing murders of unarmed black people demonstrate. Immediately after Ferguson, MO, cop Darren Wilson murdered unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown on 9 August 2014, and the city’s police mounted a show of militarized power, which represented the rising tide of police-state terrorism in growing numbers of urban communities throughout the United States of America. Treating the community as a war zone, the cops occupied the streets, suggesting that they were protecting the city from the violence of black protestors. Rather, the militarized cop presence in the city of Ferguson only served to exacerbate community anger, outrage, and resentment. Young Brown’s parents, Leslie McSpadden and Michael Brown, Sr., were left to grieve for their son, who was left dead in the street for four hours. Since the murder of Michael Brown, killer cop Darren Wilson has been exonerated by bankrupt and corrupt local and national systems of (in)justice. Moreover, he has gone into hiding, scarcely seen in public. Obviously full of anguish, despair, and frustration, Brown’s parents have announced not only their desire for justice, but also their lack of confidence in the Ferguson, MO, (il)legal system. Significantly, their fears are reasonable, because in past cases of killer cop (or want-to-be cop) murderers of unarmed black and brown people the perpetrators have gone free. Although these slaughters have taken place under different circumstances – for example, Amadou Diallo in New York City in 1999; Sean Bell in Queens, NY, 2006; 7-year-old Aiyama Jones in Detroit, MI, in 2010; Trayvon Martin in Sanford, FL, in 2012; Eric Garner in New York City, in 2015; and too many others – the killer cops (and want-to-be cops) also were exonerated. These occurrences – the cold-blooded murders and exculpation of killer cops – represent the absolute disregard for the sanctity of black humanity. I am outraged by the increasingly common and wanton practice of police violence and murder in this nation’s urban communities, as well as by a bankrupt and corrupt (il)legal system that allows killer cops to walk free. Yet it is striking that American laws are written by, and to protect and serve the interests of, dominant white elites. Hence, I find myself mentally rehearsing why I have come to resent cops and the order of urban community terrorism they enforce. Growing to manhood in Los Angeles during the 1950s, I learned to fear and hate the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). This resulted from a combination of experiences, most notably the