BLEA applauds President Obama for recently expressing
his concerns over the killing of Trayvon Martin of Florida. As Black Law Enforcement Professionals, it is
our opinion that our President is right on point by stating: “my main message is to the parents of Trayvon
Martin. You know, if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.
As Black Law Enforcement Professionals we face this
challenge every day. When an incident of questionable police shootings and
police brutality happens in the communities we serve; we either know the
victim, we know someone that knows them or the victim is a family member. BLEA
believes that there is a systemic pattern of biasness
that exists in the institution of law enforcement. There has been many
studies that concur on the issue of racial biasness playing a factor in a law
enforcement officers decision to shoot or don’t shoot a subject.
Our United States Attorney General Eric Holder
stated clearly that we should not be “Cowards”
of having dialoged of the role that race
plays in the institutions and the very fiber of
this country. There is no police department in the United States that is
not immune. Because there is no true accountability,
in New York State alone, there have been 204 questionable deaths by the hands of law
enforcement since the death of Amadou Diallo in 1999.
To this
end, Blacks In Law Enforcement of America has introduced a free pamphlet and a
online seminar recording entitled “How do
you survive Police Confrontation.”
It is imperative that every parent teach their children how to act
whenever their confronted by law enforcement. We now live in a time that what
our children say or do when confronted by law enforcement can put themselves in
a life and death situation. Knowledge is Power. The purpose of this pamphlet is to empower the parents
and children with a plan of action when confronted by law enforcement. http://bleausa.org/citizens_plan_for_action.pdf
As a law
enforcement organization, we understand that educating our families is not
enough. It will take more conversation, dedication and legislation from our
elected officials. It is imperative
for our elective officials, especially our black elected officials to publicly express
their outrage and concerns. Like our President, other Black elected officials
must have the testicular fortitude to stand up and address the need for
oversight and accountability. It’s time
for true dialogue amongst our local, state and federal elected officials
regarding law enforcement’s use of force policies, training of officers and investigations
of complaints into questionable actions by Law Enforcement Officers.
Our Black elected officials must
realize that they are not immune to the chance that
the next young man that is killed might be their close friend or family member.
The only way to truly address this disease is to pass local, state and federal
legislation for oversight of law enforcement’s use of
force policies, training of officers and independent investigations of
complaints of questionable actions by officers.
With the recent wave of police incidents in many of
the big cites of the United States. It has shed a bright light that doesn’t
matter if you’re a star college student, law enforcement officer, professor, US
Marine Veteran or just a young man walking home with a bag of skittles and Ice
Tea, as long as you skin is dark, there is no restraint for representative of
law enforcement to not to pull the trigger and label it- Justifiable Homicide.
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