James Baldwin on Black cops

[DrBanneker]

With all the think pieces and sometimes duplicitous rhetoric around the fact that Tyre Nichol's police killers were Black, it is interesting to see what James Baldwin had to say on this almost 40 years ago. The book, The Evidence of Things Not Seen actually got re-released this year (see link on title) so is timely. It was originally a collection of essays about the Atlanta child murders from that time (he was responsible for raising their profile) and he actually rode around with the Black police of Atlanta as a correspondent. It is one of his lesser known works and was right before his death in 1987.

He discusses how Black people have always been suspicious and even fearful of many Black cops but the difference was cops in the 1980s seemed to take it more to heart though the situation was not completely unchanged.

I am not shytting on Black cops since many friends I grew up with had cops dad and were good peeps but if people are wondering how this happened or claiming it proves police beatings of Blacks "aren't about race" this has been addressed long before these think piece authors were even born.

 

[get these nets]

We will always go back to Baldwin, because for as much progress has been made in this country by Black agitation, activism, and sacrifice, deeply entrenched issues haven't and won't go away.
Baldwin's commentary will be relevant 100 years from now, sadly.

I say sadly because I always read Baldwin's work as that of a man who sought to force progress by articulating the cold hard truths and realities. In ways that people inside and outside of the AA experience could digest and understand.

I see many modern think tank writers and public intellectuals as primarily being focused on self promotion and securing their spots as "spokesmen".


At any rate, will try to read the full piece and comment later. Thanks


*reading Baldwin again took me back to teen years, and YES, I did have to look up vicissitudes.

 

[Fiji Water]

Nice post.