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DARE TO STRUGGLE! DARE TO WIN!
When
one looks at the roots of the state's police, we can see, clearly, the
historical traces of what we see today; police as agents of state, corporate,
white power, organized to protect their interests, and to oppose the interests
of the poor and the black; to "keep good order and discipline amongst the
negro population."
The
recent case of a young Black teen named Donta Dawson, killed by a Philadelphia
cop in October 1998, illustrates this point beyond question. The killer
cop, named DiPasquale, was charged with (surprise) manslaughter, was recently
dismissed from that charge by a Municipal Court judge, who, in the very
first week of 1999, determined that his shooting of an unarmed teenager,
did not rise to the level of a crime, and given his "fear" at the time,
wasn't manslaughter. At least 5 other cops testified that they too, would
have done the same thing, had they the opportunity, and the judge after
a few hours, agreed. Case dismissed.
A
19 year old youth, sitting in his own car, sitting in his own neighborhood,
minding his own business, because of some twisted picture in those cops'
heads, was shot to death. His crime? It doesn't even rise to driving while
Black (DWB); it was sitting in his car, and being Black.
Most elected and appointed Black officials, their souls sworn to the very state that armed, trained, and pointed that police pestilence upon their neighborhoods, have had nothing meaningful to say about it. Their silence on the death of their youth at the hands of a maddened murderous police force, betrays, once again, their complete obedience, and slavish complicity to the system, not to their people. But words are not Power, and no matter what they say, they don't have the power to transform that fatal and tragic reality, nor of offering any hope to the tens of thousands of youths who face the fate of becoming tomorrow's Donta. How can they speak out against their political bedfellows, those they have sworn their careers to? The press, ever vigilant in their role as public prosecutors of the poor, ran no editorials calling for DiPasquale's prosecution on harder charges, nor for his conviction on tougher charges. Their job wasn't to convict him. Their job wasn't to prosecute him. The young life of Donta Dawson, his murder, and the trial and serious conviction of those who slew him, wasn't really a priority; wasn't important, and wasn't done. Once again, the death of Donta Dawson was an expression of the cheapness of African-American life. Donta's life was cheap to the police. Donta's life was cheap to the judiciary. For both have cheated him, and by extension, his family, and his community. John Africa wrote, many years ago: "Politics have robbed you blind and dug a pit to trap your witness. Why do you think you have policemen, who do you think jails are for? Crime lies in the den of excess, prison is for those in need, as a need is an instinct that must be fulfilled, and the jail is the smoke screen to curb that fulfillment. While the jails are abundant with people of crime, it is those who misled them that are the chief criminals." [John Africa, "On the MOVE!", 7/15/1975;] The system ain't no solution. They are the problem. copyright 1999 Mumia Abu-Jamal |
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Taste of Philly Justice