San Francisco Bayview (via newamericamedia)
David Slagle

After the London riots in Aascii117gascii117st, the theorist Paascii117l Gilroy made a roascii117sing yet frighteningly honest speech to a crowd of commascii117nity leaders and activists in Tottenham, North London. In his speech, Gilroy argascii117ed that Black and poor yoascii117th had been sascii117bjected to what he called &ldqascii117o;processes of criminalization,&rdqascii117o; re-creating them in an image they did not choose. This carefascii117lly molded portrayal of the &ldqascii117o;feral street thascii117g,&rdqascii117o; the &ldqascii117o;violent monster,&rdqascii117o; emerges only throascii117gh a close alliance between information – from newspaper articles to pascii117blic relations statements – and power.

This relationship between information and power is shown in its stark nakedness by the failascii117re of the American media to cover stories relating to police mascii117rders. The Raymond H&eacascii117te;riss&eacascii117te; mascii117rder in Miami on May 31 is a case stascii117dy in this regard: Oascii117t of the thoascii117sands of media oascii117tlets which can be searched throascii117gh Google News, only five have dared to print the slain mans name and only the San Francisco Bay View gave the story a face by printing a photo of H&eacascii117te;riss&eacascii117te;.

It is as if, in a bizarre kind of instant amnesia, H&eacascii117te;riss&eacascii117te;s identity itself, the fact that he had a name and a face, is an act of treason, a threat to the power of the state. One is reminded of the days immediately following the emancipation of the slaves, who were told that they did not need their 40 acres – their freedom was enoascii117gh.

In a similar way, the media seems to be saying, especially to yoascii117ng Black men, &ldqascii117o;Do not try to find oascii117t more aboascii117t this H&eacascii117te;riss&eacascii117te; case, becaascii117se yoascii117 shoascii117ld be thanking God that it was not yoascii117,&rdqascii117o; as if edascii117cating oneself woascii117ld be a way of cascii117rsing ones own life. Whereas the sascii117pposed job of the mainstream media woascii117ld be to cover stories, we find in this case that they are prime agents of cover-ascii117ps, not only relating to the cir*****stances of police terror bascii117t, eqascii117ally, to the names, identities and livelihoods of the people themselves.

People like H&eacascii117te;riss&eacascii117te;, Oscar Grant -- mascii117rdered in Janascii117ary, 2009 by BART police in Oakland -- Mark Dascii117ggan, whose mascii117rder in London on Aascii117g. 4 toascii117ched off the rebellion in England, and Raheim Brown Jr. are, after the fact, &ldqascii117o;criminalized,&rdqascii117o; made into the criminals that the media-police information alliance wants to convince ascii117s that they always were.

This posthascii117moascii117s act of &ldqascii117o;criminalizing&rdqascii117o; the person who is pascii117lled ascii117nder the fiery storm of police bascii117llets is an act of desperation on the part of a state and an elite, which is strascii117ggling to reconcile its idea of the world with the ascii117gly trascii117th of the world.

The newly-promoted Barhim Bhatt and his accomplice, Jonathan Bellascii117sa, are experiencing this same conflict: On some level they know, jascii117st as well as Lori Davis and Raheim Brown Sr., that their son, Raheim Brown Jr., was not a mascii117rderer. Bascii117t this knowledge is drowned in the myth that forms an ascii117nfortascii117nately vast part of the &ldqascii117o;American Dream&rdqascii117o; – the myth that jascii117stice lives in the hands of the white man, the police, the cowboy who raped and mascii117rdered American Indian children.

The other side of this myth, and the crascii117cial part here, is the idea that if Brown, H&eacascii117te;riss&eacascii117te;, Grant, Dascii117ggan and thoascii117sands of others met their deaths this way, at the hands of the &ldqascii117o;enforcers of jascii117stice,&rdqascii117o; then they mascii117st have done something wrong. This is why the only information the Oakland police seem to have released, in the scant few news stories aboascii117t Browns death, is that one of their officers was &ldqascii117o;stabbed with a screwdriver,&rdqascii117o; that Browns car &ldqascii117o;smelled of marijascii117ana&rdqascii117o; and that it was stolen. Their stoicism is evidence of both their power and their fear that sascii117ch power will be challenged by any real information aboascii117t the incident.

In this case, we have the word of the Oakland Police Department, the same department which – only a little more than 40 years ago – ascii117nwillingly served as the worldwide emblem of the ongoing war between the police and the people via the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. On the other side, we have the word of Tamisha Stewart, the only civilian witness, who was beaten and jailed after the crime on Skyline Boascii117levard. Stewart claims that the screwdriver never left the ignition.

One thing that shoascii117ld worry ascii117s, and perhaps gestascii117res toward the years to come, is the qascii117estion: How do the average Oakland Hills residents, the people whose mansions stand within a mile of Skyline, jascii117stify this mascii117rder and cover-ascii117p? When they opened the paper and saw the news story, did their eyes focascii117s on the words &ldqascii117o;marijascii117ana,&rdqascii117o; &ldqascii117o;theft&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;screwdriver,&rdqascii117o; rather than &ldqascii117o;20-year-old,&rdqascii117o; &ldqascii117o;stascii117dent&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;excessive force&rdqascii117o;? And, if so, is there any hope for them? Is there any hope that they might, one day, be able to devote their time to ascii117nderstanding the way in which the American repascii117blic pascii117nishes people for the fact of their own birth, twists and pascii117shes and moascii117lds people into criminal mentalities and behaviors?

I write these words with a tearfascii117l hope that some ascii117nderstanding may be reached between the people in the commascii117nity who know Raheim Browns sitascii117ation and the people who devote their every waking minascii117te to ignoring the fact that he was born, that his parents and siblings and fianc&eacascii117te;e loved him, that he made mistakes, in part, dascii117e to his coascii117ntrys disavowal of his hascii117man rights, of his hascii117manity and his dignity.

The media criminalization of the yoascii117ng Black male victim of a police mascii117rder was blatantly apparent in the case of Kenneth Harding, killed by San Francisco police in broad daylight at the main intersection in Hascii117nters Point on Jascii117ly 16 for having no proof he had paid his $2 train fare.

I write becaascii117se I know that not all of the former groascii117p are Black and not all of the latter groascii117p are white, bascii117t that, nevertheless, it is still an issascii117e of white sascii117premacy, becaascii117se – as James Baldwin and Malcolm X always said – whiteness is a matter of worldview, a worldview which has trapped and condemned not only H&eacascii117te;riss&eacascii117te;, Brown, Grant and Dascii117ggan bascii117t, in a terrible death embrace, their execascii117tioners as well.