Crumbs don't make a cake, but across the country some measure of
progress is being felt in the fight against police brutality and racial
injustice in law enforcement. Brutal and corrupt cops are finally being
fired for their actions.This is just a start but it's a departure from the norm, in which
officers have almost universally been able to keep their jobs—regardless
of their actions. Make no mistake about it: In cities like New York,
where the officers who killed Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, and others still
have their jobs, progress is slow. But elsewhere, it's being felt.
First off, it needs to be said that losing your job is a ridiculously
small price to pay for what many of these officers have done. Many of
them should be in jail. Others were forced into retirement and received
all of their benefits when they should've been unceremoniously fired,
but they were removed from their jobs nonetheless. Ultimately, so much
of what police do is done because they can get away with it without
consequence. As we begin to see some consequences creep up, our fingers
are crossed that it may, just perhaps, have some downstream preventative
effect.
Small victories shouldn't be ignored. They build momentum to bigger ones. Here are a few of those small victories.
Years after he shot and killed Rekia Boyd, an unarmed Chicago woman who
was committing no crime whatsoever, a Chicago board has finally
recommended that Officer Dante Servin be fired. He should be in jail
right now, but it was beginning to look like he was going to be able to
completely escape all consequences for his awful actions.
The Seattle Police Department finally fired Officer Cynthia Whitlatch
for her abusive arrest of an African-American senior citizen, who she
falsely claimed swung a golf club at her. He was peacefully using it as a
cane.
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