Deadly police violence driven by perception of fear

Editor ,

Trayvon Martin was shot to death in Sanford, Florida, on a Sunday night, Feb. 26, 2012. Fifteen months later, on July 13, 2013, his killer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted by a jury. Protests erupted globally upon news of the apparent injustice sanctioned by the criminal justice system.

Two and a half years later, after many like-fated victims, another murder case hits the international stage. The parallels are striking, but given the history of American racism, unfortunately, not at all surprising.

An 18 year-old African-American, Michael Brown, walked the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, midday on Aug. 9 with his friend Dorian Johnson. A 28-year-old white police officer, Darren Wilson, reacted to the perceived offense with intimidating verbal aggression and told the two to "get the f--k on the sidewalk." The two assured the officer they meant no harm. They continued their walk and conversation. The officer accosted them with physical aggression. He grabbed Brown through the open car window, drew his pistol, and during the physical altercation released his first shot, wounding Mike's hand.

Johnson and Brown ran for their lives. Johnson hid behind a car, thus saving his life, as Brown continued running, but stopped when he felt bullets coming to turn and surrender on his knees with his arms raised. That's when the lynching happened.

Brown was hit by six bullets in the front: four in his arm, two in his head. He was left lying on the street like a dead dog for nearly five hours. Wilson, shielded by the police for weeks, had all the time in the world to build his case against his dead, defenseless and silenced victim, with the testimony from Brown's surviving friend discounted. Wilson's fabrication had to bestialize Mike Brown to a menacing "demon" out of control like "Hulk Hogan" gone wild.

The demonization serves to "explain" the inexplicable: how and why a man running for his life would suddenly turn to attack his pursuer. It doesn't make sense to those who knew Brown. It makes sense once one understands that Wilson needed to construct a case of self-defense to cover his bloody tracks. No one flees running backwards; one has to be running forward to mount an attack. Here is the key for the pathology of rational mendacity. The logic of self-defense is built on the perception of fear. Since no one can discount the perception, fear can act on its right to lethal self-defense and kill. White police officer Wilson feared for his life when faced with the menacing threat of a "huge" black man. He had to do what he needed to do.

The announcement of the non-indictment three and a half months later came in the cover of the night from Nov. 25 to 26. A state of emergency had been declared a week before. The National Guard and police were deployed. One knew what was coming: Lynching is deemed a thing of the past, but the past was about to revisit the present again, disguised in police uniform and legal and political attire.

The haunted conscience of the American psyche can only heal in a radical conversion. Political repentance of reparation to those traumatized by hundreds of years of ruthless racism will stage a long-needed public confession of national guilt to free the collective mind from the unbearable burden of false superiority. Goodness is never exclusive. It includes the humanity of all. The myth of American exceptionalism belongs to the garbage pile of history. Blackness is a natural good, not a political stigma. Police and politicians must admit to the national guilt and act upon it with total reform and complete reeducation free and accessible to all.

Criminals must no longer join the police force and the police must no longer produce criminals. The vicious circle of deadly violence must be broken, here in Albuquerque as anywhere else in the country.

Sincerely,

Joachim L. Oberst

UNM faculty