Lawlessness in the Criminal Justice System

"Black Lives Matter."  "I feared for my life."  "I thought he was reaching for a gun."

Too often, in recent times, have we encountered situations of police officers killing unarmed persons of color, especially African Americans.  Immediately after the killings take place, the attempt to justify and rationalize the killings begin to set in.  Expressions such as "I feared for my life," and/or "I thought he was reaching for a gun"  become the standard attempt to justify the actions.  As a result of these many occurrences, we now have a movement or what some might consider a mindset of "Black Lives Matter."

Those who are against the notion of "Black Lives Matter" will do everything in their power to minimize or totally dismiss the grim reality of the emerging patterns of misconduct on the part of so-called "enforcement." They will resort to one or more of the following:

1.  Give full credence and justification to the above claims of police officers relative to the action taken.

2.  Be quick to cite the criminal history (alleged or real) of the person killed.

3.  Be quick to cite alleged statistics that indicate that the number of Caucasian persons killed by police officers is much, much larger than the number of "people of color" killed by police officers.

4.  Be quick to point out that in some instances, the police officers involved in the shooting were not Caucasian, but African American, Hispanic, or members of some other ethnic or racial group.

5.  Be quick to talk about "black on black crime."

6.  Be quick to say that "if blacks got off their lazy asses and found employment," there would be less crime.

7,  Be quick to say that these incidents are the "exception to the rule," because the vast majority of police officers are good and honest people who take their job of protecting the community very seriously.

8.  Be quick to accuse "people of color" of "playing the race card."

While every one of the above-mentioned points may contain a kernel of truth, they do not constitute the fundamental problem, i.e. the existence and reality of institutional racism.  There are many sincere and well-meaning people who believe that institutional racism no longer exists.  They believe that racism is a characteristic of individual persons in all ethnic/racial communities.

I believe, with all due respect to those who think this way, that as well-meaning as they may be, that they are very naive.  They participate in a child-like innocence that sees the reality of things through the eyes of "everybody is good and nice." They believe that Caucasian people smiling at and shaking hands with non-Caucasians means that they "are no longer racist."

And then I need to add that there are some naive people in our so-called "communities of color" who believe as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad (founder of the Nation of Islam) said many decades ago, that the people who have been oppressing them are "all of a sudden their friends." They believe that because a Caucasian person invites them home to dinner, or has a beer with them, that they have shed their racist attitudes, be they conscious or sub-conscious.

The reality is, that contrary to what many, if not most people believe, so-called "law enforcement" was not established to promote or protect the interests of "people of color."  It was established to primarily promote and protect the interests and livelihood of the Caucasian power structure, and the interests and safety of the "community of color" as a secondary concern. If anyone has a disagreement with me on that, I invite them to study the history of the criminal justice system.

Why, then, is it, that if Caucasian persons are shot and killed by police officers at a higher rate than "people of color," that we never hear of police officers shooting and killing unarmed Caucasian persons? Is it a reality or figment of one's imagination that not only is there institutional and systemic racism in law enforcement, but also that there is institutional and systemic lawlessness in the criminal justice system?  I will let you the reader draw your own conclusions.

As a Christian minister who has a theological commitment to social justice, I strongly believe and am convinced that we need to keep these issues in the forefront of our agenda in both the communities of faith, and the community in general.  We do not have the luxury of "covering the sky with our hands" and pretending that this is not a problem.  We need to confront the issues head-on and realistically.

In the Name of the Creating, Liberating, and Sustaining God.  Amen.

Dr. Juan A. Carmona