An Erie PA Policeman's View of Black Death As Seen Through Beer Goggles.......Or Did He See Something Else?

Mr. Starks called me early this morning to tell me about this next story that appears to be gaining more ground in cyberspace, even as we speak. Essentially, an Erie PA patrolman (as seen in the above Youtube clip), spewed a rather callous account of the death of a young man of color while imbibing drinks amongst friends in a local bar. I will leave it up to our readers to come to their own conclusions about this issue but you know after reading this blog for quite sometime, Mr. Starks and I are ever the contrarians. But first, let's get into the facts of this case, courtesy of Goerie.com:

In the case of the notorious videotape of an Erie police officer, we don't know what is more appalling -- the words and actions of the police officer or the stupefying response of the Erie police leadership and Mayor Joe Sinnott.


By now, you know about the video and its exposure on YouTube. Based on what was recorded by a video camera at a bar in Girard, now-suspended Erie Patrolman James Cousins II entertained a small group of fellow drinkers by describing the humor he found at a murder scene and in another police investigation.

The murder victim, Rondale Jennings Sr., 31, died of a gunshot to the head outside the Bullpen tavern, 923 Hess Ave., on March 28. Cousins, a patrolman since 2004, apparently found it hysterically funny that the victim's body was twitching when Cousins arrived at the scene.

He found it endlessly amusing to mock the reaction of Jennings' grieving mother, Yvette Jennings. He displayed a cavalier attitude toward the victim with this comment: "We're looking at it like, 'One less drug dealer to deal with. Cool.'" There have been no published reports linking the victim to drugs.

Erie Police Chief Steve Franklin and Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott should have taken a cue from Erie County District Attorney Brad Foulk and immediately condemned Cousins' comments, apologized to the victim's family and reassured the Erie community that an investigation into the officer's conduct would be the bureau's top priority.

They didn't.

For the remainder of this Goerie.com piece, click here.

I want our readers/radio supporters to be absolutely clear that I would never make light of a young person's death (irrespective of race) or try to excuse the Erie constable's actions. But.....there is a perception that Black folks possess an equally cavalier attitude about the same urban pathologies that this cop is undoubtedly exposed to on a daily basis. We are literally talking about a legion of Black males killing each other in record numbers without so much as peep from established Black leadership or their respective constituencies. I remember noted columnist Stanley Crouch, pointing out that one might hear Black officers making similar remarks based on the preponderance of their negative encounters with criminal minded folks of color. Here's a quote from the Crouch piece in question, courtesy of the March 2000 issue of Salon online:

In fact, one black cop said to me a few years back that if he weren't black himself, he might be tempted to become a racist, given the terrible things that he witnessed on his job. One of the reasons that didn't happen was that he knew dozens upon dozens of Negroes who were not like those who made life in high crime areas so abominable.

So what do you guys think? Are we crossing the line? Can we employ critical self-analysis without being overly sensitive? Again, the police officer's remarks were crass but what is the Black community's responsibility in ameliorating the aberrant behavior that continues to mark our young people for death?