Elementary My Dear Watson –Racism – Effective Police Work
Most of us will connect the phase, “Elementary my dear Watson” with Sherlock Holmes talking to his assistant, Dr. Watson. In fact the phase does not appear in any of the Sherlock Holmes books, but does appear in some of the films. The phase was actually first reported being used by P. G. Wodehouse in Psmith Journalist, 1915.
We could, of course, even more accurately say, “It is axiomatic my dear Watson.” But that would not carry the same ring.
Recently I have thought of this phase in relation to the fighting among many different groups of we humans throughout the world, but especially when thinking of the current struggle in Baltimore which has been scripted and/or reported as a struggle between local law enforcement and the African American Community. On the surface it seems as if racism is the primary issue. Reading some of the racial disparity statistics as quoted by individuals as Bill Quigley in Common Dreams on Tuesday, April 28, 2915, would seem to be all one needs to make this argument. Listen to Mr. Quigley’s ten points:
· Blacks in Baltimore are more that 5.6 times more likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana than whites even though marijuana use among the races is similar. In fact, Baltimore County has the fifth highest arrest rate for marijuana possession in the USA.
· Over $5.7 million has been paid out by Baltimore since 2011 in over 100 police brutality lawsuits. Victims of severe police brutality were mostly people of color and included a pregnant woman, a 65-year-old church deacon, children, and an 87-year-old grandmother.
· White babies born in Baltimore have six more years of life expectancy than African Americans babies in the city.
· African Americans in Baltimore are eight times more likely to die from complications of HIV/AIDS than whites and twice is likely to die from diabetes related causes as whites.
· Unemployment is 8.4 percent city wide. Most estimates place the unemployment in the African American community as double that of the white community. The national rate of unemployment for white is 4.7 percent and for blacks it is 10.1
· African American babies in Baltimore are nine times more likely to die before age one than white infants in the city.
· There is a twenty-year difference in life expectancy between those who live in the most affluent neighborhood in Baltimore than those who live six miles away in the most improvised.
· 148,00 people, or 23.8 percent of the people in Baltimore, live before the official poverty level.
· 56.4 percent of Baltimore student graduate from high school. The national rate is 80 percent.
· 92 percent of marijuana possession arrests in Baltimore were of African Americans, one of the highest racial disparities in the USA.
I want to now add a couple of other statistics:
· The median income for Maryland is one of the highest in the United States at $69,272.00 (2010 census)
· Commissioner Anthony Batts and Deputy Commissioner of Patrol Garnell Green, both of whom are African American, currently administer the Baltimore Police Department. (Wikipedia)
· During Martin O’Malley’s administration as major, the department has become 43% African American.
· The first African American Police offices were hired in 1937 or 1938 although initially they were only assigned to certain duties.
How, one might legitimately ask, could there be such a disparity seemingly based on race in arrests and types of arrest as well as reported cases of police brutality in a city whose police force is headed and staffed by many African Americans?
There are many other questions we could ask. Among them might be how it is possible that one the states in the nation with the highest median income has such a high percentage of people living below the poverty level.
How is possible that AIDS, diabetes, and school drop out rates are so high in certain sections of the city?
Can African American be racist towards African Americans? How and why might this happen.
It is not my goal to answer all these questions in this short blog. It is my intention to propose a framework for the beginning of a discussion, which could lead to a different, and, hopefully, more effective approach to changing some of the statistics quoted by Mr. Quigley.
Let us consider the following:
· The job to which we assign the police officer in all cities, but especially in cities such as Baltimore is impossible. We want them to be kind, fair, insure the safely of our persons and our possessions, help insure justice (whatever that is); work long hours, and constantly put themselves in dangerous situations. We want them to be emotionally, spiritually, and physically healthy while working changing shifts as well as long hours and going home to be model partners, parents and community members.
· Once a pattern is established, i.e. high crime rate areas of the city, we have the same expectations in addition to expecting them to not be biased towards those living in a high crime area.
· Except in very limited circumstances police officers have little influence over what happens in the home or the school system.
· The effects of historic racism are long lasting. One cannot mistreat a group and teach others to think of them as less than and expect overall healing in a few generations. The job of oppression was done well and continues to be done by many in this country. Oppression does not have healthy outcomes. The fact that some people thrive in spite of oppression does not negate the overall affect of oppression.
· In we consistently identify a certain population as less then and treat them accordingly they will not, as a whole, heal and become invested in the larger community. This is true whether the members of the group are people living below the poverty line, people who do cannot get jobs, people who are entrusted with law enforcement or the local politicians.
· Systems are systems are systems. If A acts a certain way and B acts another way there is an imbalance in the relationship (system). The system can become balanced by A behaving the same as B, by B behaving the same as A, or by one of them leaving. If the system does not become balanced it will remain in a state of imbalance. With imbalance comes conflict. With conflict comes a tendency to react rather than act.
· Once we have a pattern of imbalance we have an us and them situation. Now there is little hope of balance.
· Systems can be changed by either A or B deciding the treat the other in a loving, kind, respectful way. This decision has to be based on the knowledge that (1) there is no one at fault or we are equally at fault (2) we are exactly the same no matter how the conflict started.
Basically I am suggesting that it is easy for segments of the community to become victims (hopeless, angry, self destructive, reactionary.) It is possible that segments of the community as well as segments of a police force can unintentionally fall into this victim role and react by blaming the other.
If we want to make a change we must accept that there is no us and no them. We are simply mirrors for each other. We are all more than the roles we have fallen prey to. If we want meaningful change we have to quit being victims or reactors. We have to resolve to become problem solvers – to recognize that all of we humans are vulnerable to being sucked into certain roles. We do not, however, have to be prisoners of those roles.
It is not easy to change these patterns. On the other hand I do not believe it is impossible. We humans are capable of enormous courage and loving-kindness.
Most of us will connect the phase, “Elementary my dear Watson” with Sherlock Holmes talking to his assistant, Dr. Watson. In fact the phase does not appear in any of the Sherlock Holmes books, but does appear in some of the films. The phase was actually first reported being used by P. G. Wodehouse in Psmith Journalist, 1915.
We could, of course, even more accurately say, “It is axiomatic my dear Watson.” But that would not carry the same ring.
Recently I have thought of this phase in relation to the fighting among many different groups of we humans throughout the world, but especially when thinking of the current struggle in Baltimore which has been scripted and/or reported as a struggle between local law enforcement and the African American Community. On the surface it seems as if racism is the primary issue. Reading some of the racial disparity statistics as quoted by individuals as Bill Quigley in Common Dreams on Tuesday, April 28, 2915, would seem to be all one needs to make this argument. Listen to Mr. Quigley’s ten points:
· Blacks in Baltimore are more that 5.6 times more likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana than whites even though marijuana use among the races is similar. In fact, Baltimore County has the fifth highest arrest rate for marijuana possession in the USA.
· Over $5.7 million has been paid out by Baltimore since 2011 in over 100 police brutality lawsuits. Victims of severe police brutality were mostly people of color and included a pregnant woman, a 65-year-old church deacon, children, and an 87-year-old grandmother.
· White babies born in Baltimore have six more years of life expectancy than African Americans babies in the city.
· African Americans in Baltimore are eight times more likely to die from complications of HIV/AIDS than whites and twice is likely to die from diabetes related causes as whites.
· Unemployment is 8.4 percent city wide. Most estimates place the unemployment in the African American community as double that of the white community. The national rate of unemployment for white is 4.7 percent and for blacks it is 10.1
· African American babies in Baltimore are nine times more likely to die before age one than white infants in the city.
· There is a twenty-year difference in life expectancy between those who live in the most affluent neighborhood in Baltimore than those who live six miles away in the most improvised.
· 148,00 people, or 23.8 percent of the people in Baltimore, live before the official poverty level.
· 56.4 percent of Baltimore student graduate from high school. The national rate is 80 percent.
· 92 percent of marijuana possession arrests in Baltimore were of African Americans, one of the highest racial disparities in the USA.
I want to now add a couple of other statistics:
· The median income for Maryland is one of the highest in the United States at $69,272.00 (2010 census)
· Commissioner Anthony Batts and Deputy Commissioner of Patrol Garnell Green, both of whom are African American, currently administer the Baltimore Police Department. (Wikipedia)
· During Martin O’Malley’s administration as major, the department has become 43% African American.
· The first African American Police offices were hired in 1937 or 1938 although initially they were only assigned to certain duties.
How, one might legitimately ask, could there be such a disparity seemingly based on race in arrests and types of arrest as well as reported cases of police brutality in a city whose police force is headed and staffed by many African Americans?
There are many other questions we could ask. Among them might be how it is possible that one the states in the nation with the highest median income has such a high percentage of people living below the poverty level.
How is possible that AIDS, diabetes, and school drop out rates are so high in certain sections of the city?
Can African American be racist towards African Americans? How and why might this happen.
It is not my goal to answer all these questions in this short blog. It is my intention to propose a framework for the beginning of a discussion, which could lead to a different, and, hopefully, more effective approach to changing some of the statistics quoted by Mr. Quigley.
Let us consider the following:
· The job to which we assign the police officer in all cities, but especially in cities such as Baltimore is impossible. We want them to be kind, fair, insure the safely of our persons and our possessions, help insure justice (whatever that is); work long hours, and constantly put themselves in dangerous situations. We want them to be emotionally, spiritually, and physically healthy while working changing shifts as well as long hours and going home to be model partners, parents and community members.
· Once a pattern is established, i.e. high crime rate areas of the city, we have the same expectations in addition to expecting them to not be biased towards those living in a high crime area.
· Except in very limited circumstances police officers have little influence over what happens in the home or the school system.
· The effects of historic racism are long lasting. One cannot mistreat a group and teach others to think of them as less than and expect overall healing in a few generations. The job of oppression was done well and continues to be done by many in this country. Oppression does not have healthy outcomes. The fact that some people thrive in spite of oppression does not negate the overall affect of oppression.
· In we consistently identify a certain population as less then and treat them accordingly they will not, as a whole, heal and become invested in the larger community. This is true whether the members of the group are people living below the poverty line, people who do cannot get jobs, people who are entrusted with law enforcement or the local politicians.
· Systems are systems are systems. If A acts a certain way and B acts another way there is an imbalance in the relationship (system). The system can become balanced by A behaving the same as B, by B behaving the same as A, or by one of them leaving. If the system does not become balanced it will remain in a state of imbalance. With imbalance comes conflict. With conflict comes a tendency to react rather than act.
· Once we have a pattern of imbalance we have an us and them situation. Now there is little hope of balance.
· Systems can be changed by either A or B deciding the treat the other in a loving, kind, respectful way. This decision has to be based on the knowledge that (1) there is no one at fault or we are equally at fault (2) we are exactly the same no matter how the conflict started.
Basically I am suggesting that it is easy for segments of the community to become victims (hopeless, angry, self destructive, reactionary.) It is possible that segments of the community as well as segments of a police force can unintentionally fall into this victim role and react by blaming the other.
If we want to make a change we must accept that there is no us and no them. We are simply mirrors for each other. We are all more than the roles we have fallen prey to. If we want meaningful change we have to quit being victims or reactors. We have to resolve to become problem solvers – to recognize that all of we humans are vulnerable to being sucked into certain roles. We do not, however, have to be prisoners of those roles.
It is not easy to change these patterns. On the other hand I do not believe it is impossible. We humans are capable of enormous courage and loving-kindness.
RSS Feed