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Jewish World Review Jan. 18, 1999/29 Teves, 5759
Larry Elder
Police brutality? What about policy brutality?
(JWR) --- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com)
"LARRY, HOW DO YOU FEEL about Tyisha Miller?" asked the radio critic during
our interview.
"Who?" I said.
Wrong answer.
"What do you mean, who?" she said. "Everyone's talking about it."
"Well," I said, "I've been on vacation. I've heard about her, but I don't
know enough yet to form an opinion."
"You don't know enough yet to form an opinion!?" She sounded almost
indignant.
"No, and I'm not gonna make one up just because you asked."
Tyisha Miller is a 19-year-old black woman shot to death by the police.
Responding to a 911 call, four white Riverside, Calif., police officers (one
Hispanic) found her locked in a car with a gun. (The autopsy determined her
50 percent above the legal limit of alcohol, with traces of marijuana in her
system.)
The facts remain under investigation, but Miller might have been asleep, or
in a coma, or experiencing a seizure. To retrieve the gun, the cops smashed
the driver's side window. Then, something went seriously wrong. Did she
reach for her gun? Did she shoot? In any case, the police fired more than
two dozen times, striking her 12 times. She died. The department placed the
four officers on paid leave pending the department's investigation, and the
FBI also launched a review. At this point, this looks like excessive police
force by fidgety officers.
Now back to the radio critic's indignation at my failure to deliver an
opinion on demand. This irritated me. Why? Guilt-ridden white liberals and
black "activists" embrace a bogey man -- "The Great White Bigot." This
worldview says, "We trace everything wrong with the 'plight of minorities'
to white bigotry." It's the Johnnie Cochran Doctrine -- "Race plays a part
of everything in America."
A serious issue, police brutality. But overall, racism in America is very
much on the run. Many cities have black police chiefs and diverse forces. In
Los Angeles, 50 percent of the street cops consist of women and minorities.
But the "activists'" almost pathological focus on racism obscures the real,
day-to-day assaults on our quality of life through failed policies.
Take schools. The Democratic Party, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the National
Organization for Women all oppose vouchers, although "choice" seems
effective, and urban parents want it.
Take crime. University of Chicago economist John Lott estimates that
citizens use guns to thwart would-be attackers perhaps as often as 2 million
times per year! Yet liberals and black leaders continue to decry the
"proliferation" of guns in our society, demanding yet more restrictive
gun-control laws. Might as well prescribe a pack of Marlboros to a lung
cancer patient.
Take the "war on drugs." Attorney General Janet Reno blames the drug trade
for perhaps as much as half of all street crime. Columnist William F.
Buckley says the drug war costs Americans more than $200 billion a year.
High taxes, excessive regulation and silly licensing laws conspire to
sneak-hike the cost to operate businesses in our cities.
This destroys jobs
and erodes the tax base. Where is the anger? Where is the podium-thumping
press conference by outraged politicians? Why does a black woman need to get
a beautician's license to braid hair? Why can't a guy start a jitney service
without an expensive government issued license?
But police brutality? Let's march! String 'em up -- trial to follow!
Note how loud the noise with a black victim and white cop. A couple of
years ago in Compton, Calif., a videotape caught a black cop taking a
nightstick to an Hispanic suspect. A two-day story. See, the perp's "wrong
color" failed to give the story legs.
And, a few years ago in Atlanta, some cops on a stakeout got involved in a
wild shoot-out. An investigation later called the death of a suspect
tantamount to an execution. Again, minor story. Why? The cops were black.
The suspects were black. And the police chief of Atlanta is black.
Yawn.
Many "activists" use alleged police brutality to stir up emotion, thus
creating the illusion of problem-solving, of being "down with the people."
(Do "activists" take out malpractice insurance?) And white liberals focus on
police brutality because it shows that they "feel our pain."
Yes, we have bad cops, and they must be rooted out. But considering the
problems facing urban America -- illegitimacy, bad schools, crime, lack of
business opportunities -- Mark Fuhrman falls way down on the list.
Attacking bad cops, well, that's easy. But attacking big government and the
regulatory tax-and-spend mind-set that creates or makes worse many of our
problems, well, that's hard. That requires rethinking assumptions, naming
names and running the risk of getting accused of "blaming the victim."
That
requires courage. But, then, isn't that why we call them
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