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Ronald Watts, a black police officer, was allegedly threatening multiple black men in Chicago with jail time, if they did not pay. These 15 black men all told this story, and said that if they did not pay, they would end up in jail, because Watts would put drugs in their pocket.
According to time, it was the largest mass exoneration in Chicago. Common police power abuse has lead to convictions being overturned, but a case of this size is new.
The participants themselves says they can't do anything about it. They said that Watts would plant drugs if they refuse to pay, do jail time, and then Watts would threaten him again.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of this case is that Watts was a black police officer. One might think that he has a better sense of sympathy within the struggle of Chicago. One would not expect a black police officer to in a sense, betray his own people.
Overall, I think it is a great injustice that such a case happened. In Chicago, where the streets aren't the nicest place to be, people are struggling out there. For the police officer to target the weak is a problem that should be fixed. The already weak who go to jail miss out on the responsibilities they may have and those convictions stay on record, making it hard for them to build a life.
Discuss: How are we able to stop police corruption? Did race play a role in this case?
14 comments:
I believe that race did play a role in this case. Although the police officer was not directly discriminating against the black men, he did choose to target them because they were thought to be socially weaker targets. The officer believed that he would be less likely to be convicted if he were to arrest other black men than if he were to arrest a white man. Although this may have changed since a century ago, the fact that a black officer would try and use that discrimination to his advantage demonstrates how he has accepted discrimination. That said, we do not know why the officer would resort to these actions. Whether it was financial need, or plain greed it is unclear why he would "betray his people" as you said. As we discussed before in my class, police corruption is actually not as common as media may portray it to be. All the officers caught on camera or reported in the news are not good representations, as an officer performing his job correctly is not news-worthy or needing to be filmed. That said, there are still some percentage of officers who are corrupt. I don't believe there is a good way to stop police corruption, because even with screening at job interviews and such, there is no telling what officers could do in the future.
Race is definitely part of these convictions. Throughout history, black people were usually in a worse social position than white people, so the police officer was able to go after these black men. However, this corruption could also be due to the inadequate system of police enlistment. America does not have a Federal standard for what a police officer should act like. Instead, the police is considered just a normal job, and there are no solid foundation for what makes a police officer impartial and up for the task. Just like in this case, there are many leaks and cracks in how people become part of the police force. Racist and very discriminatory people are able to obtain these jobs because the recruiters do not do a good enough job. But this is not the only factor for this corruption. This police officer went through what is called as a "power trip." As a person of power, he probably believed himself above the law and thought he could attack others. There is actual evidence of this through the Stanford Prison Experiment where college students were separated into prisoners and guards. After about a day, the guards suddenly became aggressive and believed they had massive amounts of power. With this evidence, I believe we can somewhat stop police corruption by making the police more vulnerable to going to jail or paying a fine. By creating this weak point for the police force, we should be able to hinder some corruption present in this already messed up police system.
Race is a factor but, it's not the main case as why he targeted these 15 people. He did it because the people he choose were poor that happen to be black, he didn't convict them because they were black. Even if the police officer were to go after a poor white man. I don't think it would make much of a difference. The police officer like Alex Jun said was going through a power trip because becoming a police officer in a sense, give you a sense of authority, which is power. Power can corrupt people or other wise make a bad person even worse. Although we should definitely help improve the police force as much as possible. There will always be corruption but we can always keep depleting it
I think that this policeman may have taken advantage of how black men are racially stereotyped by others and this is very harmful because he is trying to reinforce harmful stereotypes that suppress his people. I think police officers need to hold each other to higher standards and look out to make sure not only that criminals aren't taking advantage of the weak but that other policemen aren't either.
Police corruption can not be stopped because it is taught in the system, and the system is corrupt. This case has everything to do with race because black people are constantly targeted as vulnerable especially in 2017, with repeated tragedies happening across America. I do not think that a black cop would have done this to a group of poor white men, because poor white men are not targeted in America like black men are. This is definitely a race problem especially because it is black on black crime.
I disagree with Nikki declaration that race “is not the main case as why he targeted these 15 people.” I believe race is the only factor that was dominant in the police officer’s min when arresting. He was guided by stereotypes that have polarized the race. The fact that even a black police officers subdues to the stereotype reveals how deeply ingrained and accepted these stigmas of black people are in our society. Yes, being a police officer gives one power, but this situation would never be the same if a white individual, regardless of financial status was targeted. If power was the only reasoning behind police misconduct, we would see more lower class groups, including whites and minorities, being victimized by police brutality. However, that is not the case right now and it never has been. This type of discrimination takes on a modernized form of de facto segregation that has prevailed through the everlasting effect of slavery, prejudice and inequality of blacks. We as a society can not completely rid of this issues, as sentiments like such may be deeply ingrained in some people’s minds, but we have to reform the police training system, utilize technology (like boyd cameras), and decriminalize black Americans in order to try and serve whatever justice may be possible.
When black police officers implant drugs into the pockets of these inmates, they perpetuate the stereotype of black criminals who carry drugs with them. However, this story would likely have outraged the public if it was a white police officer, instead of a black police officer, that had been screwing with the 15 black individuals. Who were these 15 black individuals, however, and why were they powerless to remove the drugs from their pockets? What were they supposed to be paying for? Police corruption ought to be reduced by having national security organizations (such as the FBI, NSC, Homeland Security) conduct periodic investigations into allegations of police corruption. Furthermore, incoming police officers need to be warned of the punishments linked to practices of corruption.
The sad part is that many of these exposed police officers don't receive the appropriate justice themselves because police unions so often protect the officer no matter what they do. I'm not surprised that it took so long for these 15 individuals to be exonerated for being the victim of a crime, and I wouldn't be surprised if it took even longer for this officer to be punished.
Based on the facts that were provided in the post, the notion that race has anything to do with this incident to me is ridiculous. This was a black man threatening other black men, how could this possibly have to do with his race or racism. Why would a black man be racist to other black men, it makes no sense. There is no evidence whatsoever to lead one to believe that race had even the slightest effect on this incident. This is just another example of how the left picks out incidents that often have nothing to do with race and try to spin it in order to make them conform to their idea that america is a racist nation. The fact is that if you sag your pants, it doesn't matter what race you are, people are not going to think very highly of you when they first see you. If you dress well and look presentable, it doesn't matter what race you are, people will think highly of you when they first encounter you. Yes, I will acknowledge that there are stereotypes that are associated with certain races but these stereotypes do not manifest themselves into racist actions nearly as much as the left claims them to.
I disagree with John, as a white male it's fairly simple for one to deny the fact that racism played a part. First, let's start off by saying that if there is a white and black male sagging, who will a police officer attack first? not a white male. It doesn't matter if the actions are the same, black people are still being victims of injustice. If it hasn't been clear enough, (while apparently it clearly hasn't) black people are continuously being mistreated by police and other people. Let's see, there was Alton Sterling cooperating with police officers, yet still killed. but wait, what was he doing? oh yeah! selling CD's to support his family. What about Trayvon Martin? How often do we see police officers attack while people? hardly ever. So no, you can not compare a white person to a black person when it comes to injustice. And to answer the main question, there is no way to end police corruption. Like Sam said, it's unfortunately taught in the system, passing it on and on creating cycle. Some times it's not always necessarily taught in the system, but one can be influenced by what their family has taught them as well. It also does not matter at all if it was a black on black hate. a minority can be racist towards another minority. you don't have to be white to be racist, you can be black, hispanic, asian. Does not matter. Racism is still racism.
I also disagree with John, one race can be racist to their race. That plays no part (in this case). You can look like a business man everyday, and you can look "respectable" but if someone is racist, they are going to be racist no matter how you're dressed. Racism is also passed on from generation to generation, it is taught. Here's another example for you John, just like a "white man" can be taught to be racist, so can a "black man." Your color does not define whether you can be racist or not. Are you saying it is not valid if a person of color is racist?
Same with Marlene, I also disagree with John. I think even if you're the same race, it doesn't change the fact that you can discriminate against minorities. There are many people with internalized racism, homophobia, and sexism that can lead minorities to discriminate against "their own people." For example, I've had a woman tell me I shouldn't pursue science as a career since it's "more of a man's job." This is a small issue compared to the one at hand, but it's an example of how one group can say or do discriminatory things to another member of their group.
I think Watts saw a group of people who were at a disadvantage and attempted to use them for his own gain--regardless of the fact that he was African American as well. It's no secret that African Americans are often viewed as "thugs" or aggressors, and are more likely to be victims of police brutality, In addition, according to The Center For American Progress's website, 1 in every 15 African Americans are incarcerated, as opposed to 1 in every 106 white men. This is an obviously uneven distribution (Link to website https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2012/03/13/11351/the-top-10-most-startling-facts-about-people-of-color-and-criminal-justice-in-the-united-states/). While I can't assume, I do think it is unlikely that Watts would have gone after an all white group and attempted to extort them, and that African Americans were more of an easy target for him.
You can provide anecdotal evidence of events which may lead one to believe that racism still remains a major problem in the US but that does not accurately describe the bigger picture. The statistics show no evidence of any significant racial profiling. The reason why blacks are incarcerated more often than whites is because they commit more crimes. I don't care how "offended" or "outraged" you might be that I believe such a bigoted thing such as the fact that blacks and other minorities are more likely to commit crimes but that is the truth whether you want to believe it or not. Why is it that 13% of the population commits half the murders in this country. Is it "racism" that is forcing these people to commit such crimes at such a high rate, the answer is no. "How often do we see police officers attack white people?" Well the answer is that whites are killed at about twice the rate of blacks by police so the idea that it is ONLY blacks that are victims of police brutality is leftist propaganda at it's finest. And I know what you will all say, "These numbers are still disporportionate to their percentage of the US population". Well if you actually paid attention to the statistics, the reason for this disproportionality is because of the disproportionality of the crimes that each race commits. Equal opportunity will not result in equal outcome because people are unequal. Some will use their opportunity in different ways than others which will result in different outcomes.
I agree with most of the commenters that race played a role in this incident. Like Arthur said, he must've targeted black men specifically because they are made out to be the weaker race and generally receive less justice than people of other races would. Furthermore, it can be proven that race was a factor because there are 15 black men who were involved. With that many people of the same race, its clear that this police officer saw some benefit in targeting these men. I also agree with Jason because it has been shown countless times that police do not receive any sort of punishment for their crimes. Maybe they get a suspension but these punishments are meaningless most of the time, as police are back on duty quickly. However, I don't think that it is too late to start and maybe it would be beneficial to everyone if the police started by giving this officer a reasonable punishment. This would for sure scare police in the future to not commit such outrageous crimes.
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