by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
You catch just the briefest snippet of a news story on the radio, one line which says simply that a man died while in police custody. That's not much information, but based on the times in which we live, most people would quickly make several assumptions about the information in the story: 1.) The man was most likely black. 2.) The man probably died of something other than natural causes. And, 3.) There is a case developing which suggests that the police may have done something to bring about the man's death.
If the police are ultimately thought to bear some responsibility in the individual's death, one or more officers may be brought to trial during a period of time in which public emotions are re-ignited, and those officers are usually exonerated by the courts - and those verdicts will further inflame public resentment of police departments and the courts.
Justice is seldom served when a black man dies in police custody. That repeating cycle of events brought about the "Black Lives Matter" movement in which advocates for the victims organized to bring public awareness to what has long been happening in police departments across the United States, and to point out the racial inequities in how the police treat people they detain and arrest.
This week a story has been back in the news about a U.S. Army veteran who "died while in police custody" at a prison in York County, Pennsylvania, in April of 2018. Everett Palmer, Jr., 41, a black man and former paratrooper with the U.S. Army, had telephoned his brother and said that he was planning to drive from his home in Delaware to visit their sick mother in New York. Palmer said that he planned to stop in Pennsylvania along the say to check on an old DUI warrant and make sure that his license was still good. Two days later the family received word that Everett Palmer, Jr, had died while in the custody of the York County Prison.
When Everett's body was returned to the family, a forensic researcher whom they had hired to determine an exact cause of death, was surprised to find that his body was missing its heart, throat, and brain. Now, fourteen months later, there is still no word as to what became of those organs - all of which could contain valuable information regarding the cause of the young man's death.
The prison officials are claiming that the victim bashed his skull in by beating his head against the prison bars, and that he did so as a result of withdrawal from meth. The family said that while Everett did have a history of some drug use, he had no involvement with meth. The prison says that they sent the body to a funeral home, and if organs are missing they must have been removed there. The funeral home denies ever opening the coffin and having any firsthand involvement with the corpse.
A black man died while in police custody. Confusion ensued and evidence was lost - and one side feels they are being harassed by a black community while the other side thinks that police are covering up a crime which they themselves perpetrated.
It's an old story, but not everyone has heard it. Some people just quit listening when it becomes apparent that the victim was black because to them black lives have never mattered.
But they do - and they must.
Crimes against any one person are crimes against society, and if those crimes are perpetrated by the police, they represent the state encroaching on our rights to life and liberty. Black lives do matter, and they must matter because sooner or later we may all be targeted by the authoritarian state.
Citizen Journalist
You catch just the briefest snippet of a news story on the radio, one line which says simply that a man died while in police custody. That's not much information, but based on the times in which we live, most people would quickly make several assumptions about the information in the story: 1.) The man was most likely black. 2.) The man probably died of something other than natural causes. And, 3.) There is a case developing which suggests that the police may have done something to bring about the man's death.
If the police are ultimately thought to bear some responsibility in the individual's death, one or more officers may be brought to trial during a period of time in which public emotions are re-ignited, and those officers are usually exonerated by the courts - and those verdicts will further inflame public resentment of police departments and the courts.
Justice is seldom served when a black man dies in police custody. That repeating cycle of events brought about the "Black Lives Matter" movement in which advocates for the victims organized to bring public awareness to what has long been happening in police departments across the United States, and to point out the racial inequities in how the police treat people they detain and arrest.
This week a story has been back in the news about a U.S. Army veteran who "died while in police custody" at a prison in York County, Pennsylvania, in April of 2018. Everett Palmer, Jr., 41, a black man and former paratrooper with the U.S. Army, had telephoned his brother and said that he was planning to drive from his home in Delaware to visit their sick mother in New York. Palmer said that he planned to stop in Pennsylvania along the say to check on an old DUI warrant and make sure that his license was still good. Two days later the family received word that Everett Palmer, Jr, had died while in the custody of the York County Prison.
When Everett's body was returned to the family, a forensic researcher whom they had hired to determine an exact cause of death, was surprised to find that his body was missing its heart, throat, and brain. Now, fourteen months later, there is still no word as to what became of those organs - all of which could contain valuable information regarding the cause of the young man's death.
The prison officials are claiming that the victim bashed his skull in by beating his head against the prison bars, and that he did so as a result of withdrawal from meth. The family said that while Everett did have a history of some drug use, he had no involvement with meth. The prison says that they sent the body to a funeral home, and if organs are missing they must have been removed there. The funeral home denies ever opening the coffin and having any firsthand involvement with the corpse.
A black man died while in police custody. Confusion ensued and evidence was lost - and one side feels they are being harassed by a black community while the other side thinks that police are covering up a crime which they themselves perpetrated.
It's an old story, but not everyone has heard it. Some people just quit listening when it becomes apparent that the victim was black because to them black lives have never mattered.
But they do - and they must.
Crimes against any one person are crimes against society, and if those crimes are perpetrated by the police, they represent the state encroaching on our rights to life and liberty. Black lives do matter, and they must matter because sooner or later we may all be targeted by the authoritarian state.
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