RAW POLITICS: You Are, Elijah McClain
Untwining The Ugly History Of Racially Biased Policing
By Penfield Tate
For the GPHN
It’s a cool summer night. You are at home, a bit restless, and decide you want to walk to your local corner store to grab something cool to drink. Perhaps some ice cream. It’s a trip you have made many times before.
On your way back home, unknown to you, someone calls the police and says you look suspicious. The police approach you and tell you to stop and demand that you provide identification. You tell them you’re not good with strangers. You tell them that you aren’t comfortable with the encounter. More importantly, you tell them you live in the neighborhood, and you’re just walking home.
That explanation does not suffice for the police. They physically confront you, detain you, and then handcuff you and throw you to the ground. Understandably because you’ve done nothing wrong, you resist and insist that they get off you. Ignoring your cries, they call for “assistance” in the form of paramedics. The paramedics, without speaking with you or assessing the situation, drug you with ketamine – a lethal decision. You are transported to the hospital, pronounced brain dead, taken off life support and die.
You are, Elijah McClain.
How we relate
Before Ahmaud Arbery in February 2020, Breonna Taylor in March 2020, and George Floyd in May 2020 and the national movement sparked by his videotaped murder, there was Elijah McClain, who was murdered in Aurora in August of 2019.
The officers who murdered George Floyd have been tried and brought to justice. Now, two years after Elijah’s murder, those responsible have just been indicted by a grand jury composed of Colorado citizens, convened by Attorney General Phil Weiser.
In addition, a scathing report issued by the AG’s office outlines a history of racial bias and excessive force by the Aurora Police Department. As a result of that year-long investigation, Weiser will be seeking a consent decree with Aurora’s police department due to “a pattern of racially biased policing and use of excessive force routinely” in violation of state and federal law. Those practices resulted in the Aurora police treating Blacks and other people of color differently and more harshly than white people. Aurora’s new police chief, Vanessa Wilson has promised to address the problems.
While court cases are important, they should not and cannot be the only response. The real solutions will come from changing how we relate to one another to overcome the history of policing in this country, and changing and demanding that policing in our community be done differently and more effectively.
Statistics are not an accident
As frequently reported, policing in America has its roots in slavery. Among the earliest reported “police” forces was the Charleston City Watch and Guard in the 1790s, formed to keep whites safe from the city’s majority slave population. Since then, race and policing have been intentionally intertwined in our country. To un “twine” it will require equally intentional effort.
As a society we must acknowledge the consequences of the racial roots of policing. The statistics we see today are not accidental or coincidental. If we ignore them, we are running around missing the point.
Similarly, while candlelight vigils, marches and protests express the outrage of the community, they won’t solve the problem. Systemic and intentional reform is required. I am not talking about defunding the police. Instead, I say it is time to reexamine how law enforcement can play a legitimate supportive role in our society. To be equally applied and administered in all communities, regardless of race, color, ethnicity, or socio-economic status.
Mental health professionals and social workers should play a more prominent role in keeping the peace and keeping us all safe. Not every 911 call warrants an armed police officer response.
Who called the police on Elijah?
Let us not forget the 2005 killing of Paul Childs in Denver. The 15-year old Black boy was shot dead in his mother’s doorway holding a knife because a police officer said he feared for his life. That responding officer was not able to help the family deescalate the situation as his predecessors had in the past. It was a failure to see Paul as a person, rather than respond with lethal force find another way to handle the situation.
More diverse and adequate training for police officers is needed. Relying on restraints and pistols should not be the only available tools. Talking someone down or calling on others trained in doing so should be available.
Reforming law at the federal, state and local levels is vital. Aurora City Council voting to ban the use of ketamine is a positive step. State legislation banning a police officer from directing paramedics to use ketamine is another positive step. Federal reform is coming.
And we need to change how we relate to one another and how and when we involve the police in the lives of others. In Elijah’s case, I am yearning to learn who precipitated this by calling the police, and why they felt it was necessary. Why didn’t they know a child in their neighborhood? Why didn’t they know his family and call them?
We start with conversations about a new path forward. Colorado Humanities, the state’s humanities organization, has a program my wife Paulette started. It’s called Changing the Legacy of Race and Ethnicity. These online programs consist of bringing people from different walks of life together to discuss and seek solutions to our issues.
On Oct. 6 at 7 p.m., I am moderating a program in the series, “Policing in Communities of Color,” with Aurora Chief Williams, former Denver Independent Monitor Nicholas Mitchell, McClain family attorney Qusair Mohamedbhai and Juston Cooper, deputy director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. Register and join at tinyurl.com/LegacyOfRace.
Send your thoughts and opinions to me, at PTate2011@gmail.com. Let’s fix this together.
Penfield W. Tate III is an attorney in Denver. He represented Park Hill in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1997 to 2000, and in the State Senate from 2001 to February 2003. He lives in Park Hill.