Black and White and Dread All Over

By Mark David Blum, Esq.

Last night I was one of only fifty people in a City of nearly 150,000 souls who bothered to show up at the Common Council Safety Committee Meeting to hear and review the results of a recent study purporting to show significant racial disparities on policing. The intent was apparently to hold a public discussion on the data and conclusions of the study. From what I saw, all that really happened was a mutual masturbation and vent session and within a week or two this entire issue is going to again be swept under the carpet and forgotten … until next time. You could just read the boredom and “yeah whatever” attitude in Councilman Ryan’s eyes as tale after tale of woe and misery was shared with the panel.

Presenting a summary of the study was William Horrace, an Economist from Syracuse University. Having pocketed approximately $25,000.00 of taxpayer money, the best solution proposed by Mr. Horrace was to continue collecting data and expand the data collection. In other words, more money more money more money.

Horrace’s study is the fourth such study to be published and disclosed since the year 2000. First, there was the finding that DDT units were arresting 90% Black males for quality of life violations. In 2002, the Syracuse Newspapers did a study and found an overwhelming disproportionate stop and arrest rate for Blacks in the City of Syracuse. Then, in 2003, Jeffrey Chin from Syracuse University also came up with data that revealed significant disparate treatment of Blacks in Syracuse. Now comes Mr. Horrace and despite this fourth study is nearly as many years establishing a serious and significant problem with how Blacks are treated by police, the best they can come up with is more studies and more spending.

The most amazing moment came when Horrace, a relatively young Black Male described the problem as being, “that is the way society is.” He says that the phenomena is not blatant racism. Rather, he just apologizes and almost implies that the only thing we can do is just suck it up and throw more money at studying the problem. I could barely contain myself when I heard these words.

Two interesting statistics came out his report; numbers which were repeatedly mentioned by speakers and Horrace alike. Specifically, his numbers established that when stopped by Syracuse Police, a White person is more likely to be arrested than a Black person. Again apologizing, he posited that police are probably less likely to arrest a Black person out of fear of being labeled a racist. Frankly, I have never heard such ignorant horeshit in my entire life.

Simply put; if you take the analysis of Horrace: When a White person is stopped, their chances of being arrested are higher than if a Black person is stopped. What this means is that when police approach a White suspect, they are actually approaching them specifically BECAUSE they are indeed a suspect or person of interest in a specific identifiable crime. At the same time, Blacks are not arrested because it is more likely than not that the reason the Black person was stopped was just to search or engage in some other illegal activity. Blacks seem to be targeted as a class whereas Whites are sought out individually. Nothing else explains this statistical disparity.

When Horrace was done with his presentation, Councilman Ryan opened the floor to questions. With the room half full of reporters, only one question was taken. When my hand went up, Ryan then shifted the discussion away from questions and allowed previously ordained and selected speakers to have the floor. Heard from was the CRB, the Human Rights Commission, the NYCLU, and Alan Rosenthal. Only Mr. Rosenthal used the magic word, “racial profiling” in his depiction of the study results. Ms. Davis of the CRB referred to the problems as being “real” or “imagined”. Two of the speakers pointed out that Syracuse Police Chief Gary Miguel had been given the study back in February and he promised to come back last night and respond. He did not. Throughout the entire discourse, Miguel sat mum and watched without emotion.

As soon as the last reporter ran out after the third pre-ordained speaker, then Councilman Ryan opened up the floor again to the public. Clearly, he had his own agenda and wanted to control what information actually got out to the public. Of course I too would have been on the list of persons permitted to speak under time, but Corporation Counsel Terri Bright intentionally blocked my emails from getting through to the Councilman so I could not prearrange and pre-prepare a presentation.

After hearing the speakers and the outrageous comments by the Black apologist economist, I could take it no longer and got up to speak. In short, I made it clear that Syracuse Police are not engaged in a policy of racial profiling. Theirs is a problem that comes from the top. Everything that is in this report I tried to recall and summarize for the Council. The applause at the end was the first of the night and clearly showed the Councilpersons present that I am not alone who has a real handle on the situation. If not for the petty turf wars between the leaders of all the local social movements, perhaps they too would have joined in the applause. But alas, each has to protect their own.

At the end, Chief Miguel rose up and defended his Department. Though he stood alone, he did not once specifically address the questions presented. Of course he pointed out his token appointment to assistant Chief. He also mentioned how on a single occasion, officers came to the rescue of a Black woman; as if they went above and beyond the call of duty in doing their jobs.

Instead of accepting the possibility of an institutional problem, Chief Miguel pawned it off on a “few bad apples”. While the bad apples are surely there, the problem is not just them. In fact, the Department tends to promote bad apples. Just this past week, an officer facing a civil rights lawsuit and two who were sanctioned by a Federal jury were promoted. By promoting the bad apples and keeping them on the job, coupled with the protectionism offered by the Corporation Counsel and the Common Council, the Chief does nothing more than carpet the community with rotten applesauce.

The bottom line is that despite all the lip service paid and the community voices expressed, nothing is going to happen. Yes, the Common Council may shell out more tens of thousands of dollars for more studies to confirm what is already known. Until however, our leaders accept responsibility and realize that police are public servants, not public dominators, more generations are going to be lost.

Terri Bright and Bill Ryan may be able to balance their budgets. Doing so on the backs of Black Americans is just a downright shame.