The Husk of Police/Black Community Unity!

As the racial repercussions of a fatal officer-involved shooting radiate from Madison, Wisconsin, I look again at the husk of police/Black community relations and ask, "Is there any hope of unity?"

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Despite the grainy polar opposites on re-broadcast display this weekend in Selma, Alabama, police/Black community relations still don't seem much beyond the brutal impasse of Bloody Sunday 50 years ago. Not even all-time high numbers of Black cops, supervisors and chiefs has advanced this dysfunctional relationship. If inner cities policed themselves via better behavior and street patrolling, then this impasse wouldn't be so glacial. Since there is little to no self-policing evident in the inner city, I wonder how much will external solutions like body cameras worn by officers do to remedy this situation? There are bad cops and agencies enabling them- no question about it. At greater issue in police/Black community relations in the Mike Brown era is how much focus do we-meaning Black citizens-put on ending aggression and violence which collide so disastrously with police? Our current absence of focus on our role in this matter won't end bad outcomes when some cross police paths. If anything, it seems sure to increase losses.

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