Dr. Ersula Ore
[Beneath The Spin]
The graphic videos show two separate incidents of two cowardly White male cops brutally assaulting two unarmed Black females while obviously in a racist and chauvinistic rage.
In California, on July 1 , 2014, Ms. Marlene Pinnock, a psychologically challenged great-grandmother, was savagely brutalized by an unnamed White California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer on the side of the 10 Freeway in Los Angeles.
On May 20, 20014, in Tempe, Arizona, a Black female Arizona State University (ASU) professor, Dr. Ersula Ore, was grabbed by the neck and body slammed to the ground by ASU officer Stewart Farrin.
Video footage of both incidents clearly show that both assaults could have been easily avoided with just a little humility, common decency, and simple common sense.
The bottom line to both of these incidents is that both of these cops were supposed to use the least amount of force necessary to control these situations. So one very simple question has to be asked and answered to determine whether or not they used excessive force – would they have handled these situations differently if the victims involved had been an elderly White grandmother, or one of their own relatives suffering from Alzheimer’s and a White professor?
I’m certain that the officers would have behaved a lot differently. Thus, that fact alone is prima facie evidence that they used excessive force, and they treated these two Black women differently than they would have treated others under similar or the exact same circumstances.
With respect to the incident involving the Dr. Ersula Ore, she was simply requesting to be dealt with in a dignified manner. So all the cop had to do was say: “I apologize if you thought I was being disrespectful, ma’am. I’m only doing my job. May I see some identification, please?”
But instead, his behavior seemed to say: “I don’t care whether you’re a professor or not. I’m a cop, so I don’t have to respect you. I asked you for identification, and if you don’t give it to me I’m taking you to jail.”
So his behavior purposely aggravated the situation, and purposely set the chain of events in motion that led to the incident witnessed and caught on camera. In addition, there was a second officer on the scene; so the two of them could have easily handcuffed the professor without grabbing her by the neck and body slamming her to the ground.
Both of these ladies could have sustained life-endangering injuries, and for what — traffic violations?
According to the Huffington Post: “The police report acknowledges that Ore was following instructions set forth by the construction signs. So what is the problem? It appears clear from the video that Ore is in no way acting oddly; it appears clear that, as she says, others are doing exactly as she is doing. It also appears clear that she is civil and communicative with the officer, if frustrated and getting increasingly so. But what she says falls within the realm of what many of us in similar circumstances might say or indeed may have said at some point in our lives. In any case her behavior does not seem in any way threatening. Especially important is that Ore even seems to warn Ferrin that he will embarrass them both if he tries to subdue her in the way he is threatening to do, as she is wearing a skirt. He ignores that warning, and what follows is clear on the video.”
Yet, the ASU authorities issued the following statement: “ASU authorities have reviewed the circumstances surrounding the arrest and have found no evidence of inappropriate actions by the ASUPD officers involved. Should such evidence be discovered, an additional, thorough inquiry will be conducted and appropriate actions taken.”
“Because the underlying criminal charges are pending, there is not much more we can say at this time. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has reviewed all available evidence, including the police report, witness statements, and audio and video recordings of the incident, and decided to press criminal charges of assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, refusing to provide identification when requested to do so by an officer, and obstructing a highway or public thoroughfare.”
So at best, the attitude of both of these cops were racist, chauvinistic, and extremely immature.
They were both engaged in a childish game of “King of the Hill.” If instead of these women being, in one case, a Black great-grandmother with obvious psychological issues, and in the other, a Black female professor, it had been Barbara Bush for example, both officers would have been taken off the job immediately, viewed as a rogue cops, fired, ridiculed, and charged with assault – and no one can convince me otherwise.
But that said, the Black community must also bear some blame for what happened to these two Black women. No, I’m not implying that the Black community is responsible for making these two cops virulent racists — and yes, in order to brutally assault these two Black women like they did, they’re not only chauvinistic and cowardly racists, but more. I am saying, unequivocally, that by not demanding that Black women be respected, protected, and honored within our community, we throw the doors wide-open for these types of incidents to occur.
Do you think a Black cop would even think of brutally assaulting a White woman in public without his life being in imminent danger? Ask yourself, why not?
A Call To My Responsible Brothers And the Community: I recognize that the vast majority of you out there are breaking your backs on a daily basis trying to provide a home for your families and raise your children to become intelligent, responsible, and productive individuals. But that’s no longer enough. The situation in our community has gotten out of hand.
While many of us were busy trying to provide for our families, a less responsible – and extremely reckless – minority in our community have abandoned their kids, or at best, set them in front of television sets, watered them twice a day like plants, and allowed them to be raised by BET.
As a result, we now have a generation of young people out here, some as old as 40, who have absolutely no idea of what it means to be either Black, or responsible individuals, and these individuals are spreading dysfunction throughout the community.
But even worse, we’re allowing them to get rich by creating what amounts to 10 minute commercials that’s being disseminated all over the world conveying the message that Black people are frivolous and classless, and all that we’re interested in is getting high, abusing our women, and chasing an unearned dollar, regardless to who we have to kill to get it.
As a direct result of this message, many people in this country, and abroad, believe that the mores of the most dysfunctional 10% to 15% of the community represents the moral code of the entire Black community. That’s what allowed George Zimmerman to get away with brutally murdering Trayvon Martin in the first degree, and the brutality that we see in the videos above. It also places your child in immediate danger, because there are many ignorant people in this country who believe that killing or brutalizing a Black person, under any circumstances, represents good prevailing over evil – and your Black skin is prima facie evidence of the latter.
So we can no longer tolerate this. First, we’ve got to treat these incidents like a Rosa Parks moment. We got to see to it that the cops involved in the videotaped attacks are brought to justice, and we should leave no stone unturned to insure the outcome – and I’m not talking about a slap on the wrist, either.
These cops must go to jail. And one way to make that much more likely is for every one of us to contact our elected representatives and let them know in no uncertain terms that if they don’t come out aggressively against these officers that we will not only not support them in the next election, but we will actively seek someone else to run in their place.
Secondly, we must come together in the very same way to support local activists, regardless to where these kind of incidents occur in the country. There was another incident that took place in Canton, Miss., where a judge, Bill Weisenberger, moonlighting as a flea market security guard, slapped a young mentally handicapped Black man who was looking for work in the head hard enough to knock him down. And thereafter, said: “Run, nigger, run.”
It is essential that we come together as a community and come down on people like these with both feet and all the force we can muster. If we don’t, it’s only gonna get worse, because ever since the election, and then re-election, of Barack Obama, the bigots have been flooding out of the closet in droves.
Finally, I’d like to apologize to both Ms. Marlene Pinnock, who this cop thought he could brutally bludgeon on a freeway in broad daylight with impunity, and Dr. Ersula Ore, a professor at Arizona State University, who was also brutalized by a cop like she was a common thug.
The Black community, and especially Black men, owe both of these sisters our most sincere apology, because we let this happen.
We let it happen by being so caught up in our own personal lives that we’ve allowed things to get way out of hand.