A couple of years ago, when American were glued to the TV set watching video of a police officer choke a Black man to death (while his three fellow officers watched the spectacle unfolding and didn’t do a damn thing), another senseless murder took place in Georgia.
A 25-year-old Black man was jogging through his community when two White men in a pickup truck (and another White guy in a chase car with camera to proudly document the hate crime) cornered the jogger and one of the men jumped out and shot the Black man to death with a shotgun. The leader of the assault team, Greg McMichael, was a retired, 30-year veteran of local law enforcement. His son, who aspired to be a cop, did the shooting.
One wonders what kind of “culture” exists in the law enforcement agencies that that produced these vigilantes?
Yesterday, I read about a group of Mississippi gentlemen, all sworn peace officers, who decided to rough up two Black men who were houseguests of a White woman. The police officers (who called themselves “The Goon Squad”), having no evidence of a crime being committed and possessing no warrant, broke into the woman’s home and proceeded to torture the two Black men for six hours. The horrendous treatment included, repeated tasering, physical beating, waterboarding, sexual humiliation, and assault via racist taunts. One officer put his pistol barrel into one captive’s mouth and fired, causing the innocent victim permanent disability and disfigurement. The “lawmen” then concocted a cover-up to justify their heinous crimes.
Mississippi, where this most recent travesty of “justice” occurred, was the last State to remove the Confederate flag image from its official banner, only a mere 150 years after the abolition of slavery. Cops in Mississippi have a sad history of perpetuating racial injustice, working hand-in-hand with the KluKluxKlan during Jim Crow. Sworn peace officers by day were often KKK vigilantes by night. Recall the three civil rights workers that were killed in 1964? The ring leader of the KKK assassination squad was a local deputy sheriff named Cecil Price.
Whatever happened to “Southern hospitality”? You know, the stereotype of the South where people are “welcoming, warm, and friendly”. Is that just for White people?
What about the supposed “Southern charm”? As in “kind, witty, and considerate of others, having grace under pressure and making others feel welcome and comfortable”? Again, is this just how White people treat other White people?
At the same time as the Mississippi law enforcement Goon Squad was tuning up the two innocent Black men for amusement, a country/western song by good ‘ol boy Jason Aldean glorifying vigilante justice was the No. 1 Country hit out in the Bible Belt.
How charming!