by Jim Scarantino | Jun 11, 2020 | Politics
What’s with white kids and their parents getting down on both knees on our streets and sidewalks and raising their hands over their heads? And this repetitive call-and-answer chanting of “Hands up!”, followed by “Don’t Shoot!” What’s that all about?
Its practitioners believe it replays a scene of racial injustice and murder. It doesn’t. It never happened.
Believers believe they are reenacting the Michael Brown incident in Ferguon, Missouri. Their catechism is that an unarmed Mr. Brown, accosted without justification by a white police officer, begged to surrender, fell to his knees and raised his hands above his head. They believe that officer then murdered Mr. Brown in cold blood.
This myth is now such a pillar of racialist fundamentalism that bringing out the facts is tantamount to questioning the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. What happened with Michael Brown is nothing at all like what happened to George Floyd, but the two incidents are treated as evidence of a pattern of police violence. That does a great injustice to Mr. Floyd and the police officer who found himself being attacked by Mr. Brown.
The facts are readily accessible in the grand jury testimony. Most of the eyewitness evidence in that proceeding was provided by Blacks who were there and saw what happened. They substantially confirmed the officer’s testimony. Combined with forensic evidence, they told a story of violent aggression by Mr. Brown and a police officer fighting for his life.
You can read the grand jury transcripts here. Give yourself many hours. There are thousands of pages, and nowhere in them does any witness stick to the “Hands up, don’t shoot” mythology.
The facts, not the fable, go like this:
Ferguson, Missouri Police Officer Darren Wilson had just received a radio call of a strong arm robbery at a nearby convenience store (video tape later revealed that robbery involved Mr. Brown). He rolled up on Mr. Brown and another man as they walked down the middle of a street. He asked them why they couldn’t walk on the sidewalk instead. Mr. Brown taunted Officer Wilson and tried to open the patrol car door. He said the officer was “too much of a pussy to shoot him,” and then attacked the officer through the open window. He struck Officer Wilson repeatedly and went for the officer’s gun. Mr. Brown outweighed Officer Wilson by nearly 80 pounds and was an inch or so taller. Much of the right side of Officer Wilson’s face, according to photographs taken that day, showed massive bruising where Mr. Brown punched him. He had other bruises on his neck and chin.
The gun went off as Mr. Brown wrestled Officer Wilson for his gun. A bullet struck part of Mr. Bown’s hand. Mr. Brown’s blood was later found inside the vehicle. Officer Wilson barely managed to fight Mr. Brown off. He said he felt like a child fighting the larger man. Mr. Brown fled. Officer Wilson got out of his vehicle, pursued Mr. Brown for a short distance and ordered him to stop. Mr. Brown turned and charged Officer Wilson.
While witnesses give varying accounts of what Mr. Brown was doing with his hands–balled into fists, under his shirt reaching into his waistband, extended in front–they agree Mr. Brown charged Officer Wilson. Officer Wilson testified that Mr. Brown’s face was contorted with rage and hatred such as he had never seen. Mr. Brown was closing the distance as Officer Wilson fired, striking Mr. Brown in the arm. Mr. Brown did not slow down. Officer Wilson hit him three more times in the arm and still he came on, until a shot to his head killed him, eight feet from Officer Wilson.
Forensic evidence confirmed the eyewitness accounts. Mr. Brown’s DNA was found inside the patrol car and on the gun. Mr. Brown’s finger had gun discharge, confirming Officer Wilson’s testionty that Brown had reached for the gun and his hand was on it or very close when it discharged inside the patrol car. A blood trail showed Mr. Brown covering a distance of approximately 25 yards from where he was first hit in the arm to where he was stopped, and showed he had been running at Officer Wilson.
At no point did Mr. Brown ever offer to surrender, or fall to his knees, or raise his hands and plead, “Don’t shoot.”
Violent, destructive rioting–that destroyed scores of Black owned businesses and took Black lives–spread for weeks from Ferguson across the country. Vowing to “ensure that justice is done,” President Obama ordered his Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct a thorough, independent federal investigation. The Department of Justice and FBI reviewed all the grand jury testimony, reinterviewed witnesses, examined the forensic evidence, and pursued their own lines of inquiry.
The Obama Administration cleared Officer Wilson. The DOJ found no credible evidence that he had murdered Mr. Brown. It found no credible evidence that Mr. Brown had ever knelt, raised his hands and said or implied, “don’t shoot.” You can read the entire DOJ report at this link.
That report was released in March 2015. How much some people forget–or choose to forget–in just five years.
by Jim Scarantino | Jun 10, 2020 | General
It is easy to lay down on a street for a few minutes, to rage and swear at police, to accuse them of all sorts of despicable actions and evil attitudes and toss off demands for sweeping systemic reform.
It is especially easy with the police protecting you from getting run over.
It is a whole lot harder to be the radically changed police you want to see.
“Be the change you want to see in the world.” That advice is widely attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, but those are not exactly his words. What he said was:
“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”
Michael Jackson put it this way: “I’m starting with man in the mirror…If you want the world to be a better place, take a look at yourself then change your ways.”
How many of those kids who want better cops can find in themselves the commitment, strength, courage and dedication to be one of those better cops?
I can’t directly ask any of those high schoolers if they would consider a career in law enforcement to demonstrate in their working life the changes they want to see. It would be inappropriate for me to message or call them to ask this question. I would have to go through each of their parents before I could speak with them. Instead, I will put that question to the young people and their parents at the end of this article.
To make it more palatable in the current environment, let’s call police officers “public safety officers.” That still covers what police do but adds a somewhat politically correct cachet to their job duties.
So how many of those vocal people condemning police, demanding change, demanding accountability, training, disarmament are willing to be those same peace officers, and practice what they preach?
The politicians with the bullhorns, grabbing attention and angling for more power for themselves, bossing others around–they’re not going to help drunks from choking on their own vomit, or risk life and limb to restrain an enraged husband who has been beating the life out of his wife, or pull broken bodies from a car wreck, or disarm a man cranked on Lord-knows-what brandishing a machete in a homeless camp.
Those politicians who engage in social justice performance art by draping themselves in Kinte cloth and kneeling for a few minutes, they are not going to step out of the safety of their car in pitch blackness on an empty road to approach a vehicle fitting the description of a car that just pulled away from a drive-by shooting.
They will never respond to an armed robbery in progress and realize they will be a target for bullets as soon as they arrive at the scene.
Or be the officer responding to a call of a strong arm robbery at a minority-owned business, and roll up on Michael Brown because he matches the description of one of the robbers, then have a split second to react when he reaches inside the patrol car to grab a gun.
Or endure getting hit with bricks and bottles to protect Black owned businesses from a mob with crowbars and Molotov cocktails.
Or respond to a call of a man trying to pass counterfeit money and find it is George Floyd.
But those impassioned young people calling for justice and an end to violence can be the man or woman in uniform who saves the Black lives they want to matter, while still upholding the law.
Forget the pandering politicians. They are just cashing in on tragedy. The kind of change being demanded would likely put them out of a job. Real change is always left to individuals willing to go out on the streets, to patrol isolated roads alone, to avoid being pricked by used syringes while pulling a hungry, battered child from a locked closet. It is people who care less about themselves than they do others who are willing to put themselves between an attacker and his victims. And they do this all for a hell of a lot less pay and publicity than the people chairing the next televised hearing about the hottest issue of the day.
Parents marched with their children at the protest that blocked Sims Way. They were proud of the spirit and organizational skills of their sons and daughters. They were proud they had raised young people who would boldly speak out for a better world.
How many of those parents are encouraging their children to enter the field of law enforcement–make that peace keeping, excuse me–to live the ideals they want others to honor?
I know those parents and some of the young people who participated in the June 5 demonstration are reading this. I have seen them in our comments or on other Facebook pages talking about what we write here. If any of them are willing to live to be the examples of the reformed, racially sensitive, non-violent peace officers they want, please say so below or on our Facebook page. If you won’t step up here, maybe because of peer pressure right now against even saying good things about police, keep your resolve strong and contact our local law enforcement. Get to know them, visit them at work, and see if you can ride along sometime to see what it takes to be a peace officer in the real world. I hope you will be inspired, because the people you will be riding with are. It’s why they do their jobs.
[Hat tip to author Joseph Ranseth for associating the faux-Gandhi quote with Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”]
by Jim Scarantino | Jun 4, 2020 | Politics
Port Townsend has avoided the mayhem and destruction that has hijacked many of the otherwise civil demonstrations against the murder of George Floyd. Another George Floyd demonstration is planned for Friday, June 5. This event, entitled “Justice for Black Lives: Standing in Solidarity with Minneapolis,” is being organized by high schoolers.
Sequim saw a large demonstration on June 3. Rumors flew about Antifa exploiting that event to wreak mayhem and commit wanton violence against innocent people, businesses and police. Those rumors were shown to be baseless. No violence occurred and local law enforcement handled the situation exceptionally well.
Concerns about possible trouble for Port Townsend’s youth march were brought to our attention, and we passed them along to law enforcement. We learned Port Townsend police had already been alerted and had some of the same information and names that had come to us.
It would have been nice to disregard out of hand worries about people bent on trouble and not justice for Mr. Floyd. But that wasn’t possible.
People already known to the police through past encounters and criminal acts were associated with the concerns. When we put out an inquiry on our Facebook page for more information, what we’d been told over the phone was confirmed in comments and personal messages. A local circle of cop haters held themselves out as part of something called A.C.A.B.. That acronym stands for All Cops Are Bastards. There is no established organization with that name, but they had been using it loosely to identify themselves or give the impression they were part of something larger.
Sadly, we also learned more about a culture within our community that celebrates violence against police. Last year the words “Kill Cops” were scrawled on the side of the Uptown Theater. A woman–whom we were told had held herself out as A.C.A.B.–posed for a photo shoot by that message and the image was picked up by the widely followed Jefferson County Washington Facebook page. Not everybody reacted with disgust and disapproval. The words and photo were defended, even applauded by some. Those who objected found themselves targets for derision.
The woman posing with those hateful words was arrested in mid-April and is facing charges of vehicular homicide. She is charged with killing the passenger in her car when she went off Center Road at a high speed. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s office reported that drugs or alcohol appeared to have contributed to the fatal accident. She is on bail pending further proceedings.
In comments to our inquiry we were told that “there are a lot of youth in this town who don’t like cops” and messages such as “Kill Cops” may have been painted “out of frustration and anger.”
Words matter, especially words that encourage murder. In the past week people with the words “kill cops” on their minds have shot and beat police, set them on fire, run them over, hit them in the head with bricks and sent them to the hospital by the hundreds. The officers who have been murdered were Black, as are many of those seriously injured, a tragic irony against a backdrop of protests demanding that all Black lives be treasured.
It’s not just frustrated and angry youth defacing buildings that make it difficult to dismiss breezily concerns about potential violence here. Some individuals in our community celebrate the idea of murdering police. There is “Murder Police for Satan” clothing designed and produced locally. The artwork depicts a police officer on his knees, apparently begging for life and about to be stabbed with a blade the size of his forearm. He kneels against the background of the anarchists’ encircled five-pointed star. The same “artists” behind that clothing line put out lyrics fantasizing about the bleached bones of murdered police officers. “By logic and reason, it’s always in season to murder police for Satan,” goes one of their lovely ditties.
People among us wear that clothing and listen to those songs.
Suggestions have been offered on local social media on how demonstrators can arm themselves with bricks, street signs, fence posts, even flower pots to “protect” themselves against police. “Happy protesting!” Wink, wink.
“Murder _____________________ for Satan.” Fill in a name of one of the living, breathing men and women who protect our community. Fathers, mothers, wives, sons, and daughters. Your neighbors. Say their names and try to swallow the explanation that these hateful exhortations are “just harmless art.”
With this vile subculture exposed it can better be contained and resisted. It is now highly unlikely there will be any stealth hijacking of a youthful assembly honoring a good and decent man who suffered a horrific, unjust death. [Since I wrote that description of Mr. Floyd I have learned it is far from the truth. While he did not in any way deserve the death he suffered, based on his long criminal record George Floyd was not a “good and decent man.” He was found guilty for a home invasion in which he pressed a loaded gun into the stomach of a pregnant woman. He had an earlier armed robbery conviction as well and a string of drug and other offenses in between. At the time of his death he was under the influence of fentanyl and methamphetamine. To repeat, none of that warrants a death sentence, but I wanted to correct my misstatement as to his character].
The lead organizer for Jefferson County Black Lives Matter issued a statement on Wednesday June 3, that the organization does not condone violence against police. Bravo. That is a step up from his earlier exchange of messages with me in which he had declined to disavow violence against police.
Concern still remains about outsiders. Somehow our “welcoming community” has fixated on outsiders lately. First it was tourists who might bring COVID infections. Now it is Antifa and others who may see Port Townsend as a soft target.
This is no idle concern. The looters and thugs of Seattle’s riots took their act to Bellevue, and then attempted to hit smaller towns where they calculated they could avoid the kind of ramped up law enforcement and National Guard presence now securing Seattle’s streets. Groups of rather heavily armed citizens deterred the criminals from venturing into Marysville, Snohomish and elsewhere. Those citizens had seen that the police could not protect them and formed their own defensive line. It worked and their communities were spared.
We have been informed that a number of Jefferson County residents intend to follow those defensive examples. We won’t know until the day arrives if they will follow through. They say that on Friday while the youth march works it way from the police station to the traffic light at McDonald’s they will take up positions elsewhere at intersections and business locations They tell us they intend to send the message that the violence and looting that has happened elsewhere will not be tolerated here. Jefferson County, they insist, will be a community of only peaceful demonstrations.
by Jim Scarantino | Jun 2, 2020 | General
Once again the experts were wrong. We were warned that those reckless and irresponsible people on the steps of the Capitol in mid-April protesting the statewide lockdown would cause a spike in COVID cases. Unmasked cries of “Give me liberty or give me death!” would guarantee both for foolish freedom lovers.
The first organized protests against Governor Inslee’s order started sporadically across Washington within three weeks of his Stay at Home edict. They culminated in the first large rally on April 19 attended by thousands of protestors. Port Townsend Free Press contributor Tod Brundage was there and wrote about that event: Face Toward the Enemy: Protesting Governor Inslee’s Stay At Home Order.
More than six weeks have passed. The COVID virus manifests itself within 10 to 14 days of exposure. Tod Brundage is doing just fine and there have been no reports of any attendees at the Capitol rally getting sick.
Olympia is in Thurston County, which has not experienced an explosion of COVID cases and was green-lighted to move into Phase 2 due to its low infection rate. The Thurston County Department of Health reports that 9,233 people have been tested with only 2% coming back positive. Only one person has died in that county of a COVID-related illness.
On May 19, the Reopen Jeffco: Rally for Civil Rights and Justice event was held in Port Townsend, attended by just under 100 people at its peak. Only one protester wore a mask. The gestational period for the virus has passed. No one who attended the rally got sick or has been diagnosed with the virus. (A child, with no symptoms of fever, wracking cough, etc. was on June 1, reported to have tested positive during routine screening at the hospital. That child’s family did not participate in the rally, and is it not yet known how the child was exposed.)
For about a month now, a weekly Freedom Rally has been held in Port Angeles, growing larger every week. None of the protestors have gotten sick or been diagnosed with the virus.
An anti-lock down rally of hundreds of people was held in Lynden in Whatcom County a month ago. That county has seen no spike in COVID cases.
There have been rolling protests across the state, with large rallies in Spokane Yakima, Richland and Snohomish County, to smaller demonstrations in Tacoma, Sequim, Monroe, Leavenworth, Wenatchee and elsewhere. Not one public authority has linked any new COVID diagnosis to a demonstration. (The new Yakima cases have been identified as arising in nursing homes and agricultural industry settings).
As the late Fred Ward would say, “Whaw hoppened?”
Public health authorities seem to have been avoiding an answer to that question. Those that condemned the protests in advance have been silent since. Thousands more people are tested every week. The new positive diagnoses are reported to be among mostly the nursing home population, followed by agricultural industry workers, health care workers and those in contact with people in those groups. Not one press conference or news release from the Governor of Department of Health identifies any rally as the cause of new infections.
It is not this writer’s place to speculate as to why the dire predictions failed, only to observe that, once again, the experts and doomsayers were wrong. We deserve an explanation from officials who attempted to use fear to suppress peaceable assemblies. In that answer may lie truths about the limits of the COVID threat we need to know, and which can better inform our decision makers.
As for the riots and looting we’ve seen this past week, the jury is still out whether they will be the super-spreder events Governor Inslee thought would result from the peaceful protests targeting him. When the City of Seattle announced it was organizing a street protest of the killing of George Floyd, we note he issued no statements condemning that effort for creating an unreasonable risk of spreading the COVID virus.
by Jim Scarantino | Jun 1, 2020 | Local Businesses
Port Townsend is finally doing something to help businesses that have been closed by the Governor’s COVID lock down order. City Council will consider at its June 1, 2020, meeting a resolution to turn city street parking spaces and sidewalks into extensions of restaurants and retail businesses and waive a $250 special temporary use permit fee.
Under the proposal the city will declare a special event for the Phase 2 reopening of Jefferson County. That intermediate step towards full reopening allows restaurants to offer inside service at 50% capacity and retail stores to admit customers so long as social distancing and other protective measures are observed. Adding sidewalk and street parking spaces to a business operation gives it a place for customers to wait outside, freeing up inside space for use, and, for restaurants, gives them additional seating space for diners, increasing their capacity and allowing for a greater volume of service.
The declaration of a special event is necessary, according to city staff, to avoid possibly violating the city’s shoreline management plan.
Normally, businesses would have to pay $250 for a special use permit to use sidewalks and street parking spaces. The proposal would have the city waive that fee, and allow the public space expansion, subject to a review within 60 days to confirm that the business was operating within Department of Health guidelines.
An application process is being drafted by city staff, which will require an interested business to apply to the police department, per their standard practice of overseeing special use permits. Though the permit fee is being waived, businesses may be required to indemnify the city for losses and injuries occurring on city sidewalks and streets.
Observations: The proposal recognizes that our businesses are suffering. “Due to the long closure, the City,” the proposal states, “is concerned about the viability of many of our local businesses.” Since time is of the essence for businesses on the brink, the city should allow businesses to immediately use the adjacent public areas while review of their application is pending. Further, the city should not require indemnification as a permit precondition. That may force businesses strapped for cash to buy riders to their insurance policies, which will take additional time to negotiate and procure. These businesses already have liability policies which cover their operations, though they likely do not list the city as a beneficiary or contain indemnification clauses. Retail stores and restaurants are not inherently dangerous operations. Any risk to the city is outweighed by other considerations. Considering the emergency situation confronting our businesses, nothing should be added to the time or burden of reopening a business struggling to survive.
The full proposal and city staff analysis may be read at this link.
