Apologies, shmologies: activists weigh in on law enforcement's 'apology' to communities of color

By Thandisizwe Chimurenga

Reactions to Monday’s apology from the International Association of Chiefs of Police regarding the profession’s treatment of people of color are still coming in. Terrence M. Cunningham, president of the group and the current chief of the Wellesley, Massachusetts police department, told attendees at the organization’s San Diego convention that it was his hope that law enforcement and communities of color could break the “historic cycle of mistrust and build a better and safer future for us all.”

Events over the past several years,” Cunningham said, “have caused many to question the actions of our officers and has tragically undermined the trust that the public must and should have in their police departments. …The history of the law enforcement profession is replete with examples of bravery, self-sacrifice, and service to the community. At its core, policing is a noble profession.”

But Cunningham added, “At the same time, it is also clear that the history of policing has also had darker periods.” He cited laws enacted by state and federal governments which “have required police officers to perform many unpalatable tasks. … While this is no longer the case, this dark side of our shared history has created a multi-generational — almost inherited — mistrust between many communities of color and their law enforcement agencies.”

Cunningham continued, “While we obviously cannot change the past, it is clear that we must change the future…For our part, the first step is for law enforcement and the IACP to acknowledge and apologize for the actions of the past and the role that our profession has played in society’s historical mistreatment of communities of color.”

Several veteran organizers spoke around the issue of police terrorism and Cunningham’s words. Their responses were short, unsweetened, and to the point.

Patrisse Khan-Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Network and Director of Special Projects for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights:

“I think apologies are important, but not when it's not met with tangible outcomes. I would have rather wanted to hear an apology and a set of demands from the president about how he would commit to stopping racial discrimination in law enforcement agencies.”

Khan-Cullors participated in ABC’s “Town Hall” on racism and police brutality with President Obama in July of this year. As part of the Ella Baker Center, she also took the lead on partnering with the ACLU on the launch of their Mobile Justice App last year that allows bystanders “to register, record, witness and report interactions with law enforcement.

Kali Akuno, member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement which published the report "Every 28 Hours" in 2013, which concluded that a black man, woman or child dies at the hands of police, security guards and/or individuals such as George Zimmerman (referred to as vigilantes in the report) every 28 hours:

“It’s a part of their job description. They’re not sorry, and they can’t be sorry. And people have to understand that what [this] is based on the structure of this society and the role the police have in this society and that structure. Their job is to make sure that oppressed people, particular Blacks and the indigenous, stay in the roles they have assigned for us. And when we trespass against that role, to put us back in check.”

Mainstream media disputed the report’s findings, rating their claims as false. The Washington Post however printed a lengthy response from the principle author of the report, Arlene Eisen, which defended the methodology and conclusions reached in the report.

Elaine Browne, former Chair of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding in Oakland this week:

“You call that an apology? When you apologize and sincerely, you have to atone for your wrongs. If you acknowledge that you committed a wrong, you have to fix it.  What would be better is the prosecution of all these cops who have murdered Black people across the country. What are you doing to rectify the wrong that you have acknowledged? When a crime is committed, when you’ve taken peoples’ lives, it’s called murder, and they should be charged with murder, and that would be the way for [Cunningham] to truly apologize and atone for these crimes. It’s an empty gesture and an insult to the mothers and family members of these people killed, and the only way we should accept that apology is when they prosecute these police officers, that is how they atone for it.”

Browne is currently a member of the executive committee of the Justice for Mario Woods Coalition, named after the young man who was shot 21 times by San Francisco police in December of 2015.

Woods was said to be armed with a knife and police said he had lunged at the officers but a video recording of the shooting showed Woods walking slowly along the sidewalk. At least one of the Justice Department’s recent recommendations to the SFPD specified officers should use their batons on “suspects” who have knives because of how the Woods incident occurred.

Bilal Ali, former Project Coordinator for the Coalition for Police Abuse, founded in 1975 in Los Angeles:

“I think [Cunningham’s] apology comes far, far too late. It does not address the pain and suffering experienced by so many families at the loss of their loved ones. And our struggle is not a struggle for apologies; we are seeking the ending, the ceasing and desisting of police killing our people; the state-sanctioned murder of Black people by terrorist organizations, popularly known as law enforcement.”

The Coalition Against Police Abuse (CAPA) was founded by former members of the Black Panther Party. In 1982, the organization forced the disclosure of documents showing the LAPD’s extensive spying on CAPA. The LAPD has conducted extensive surveillance on numerous community groups over the years.

It is true that an apology can be seen as a good start. It is also true that words without actions—such as an end to killings with impunity and concrete policies on accountability and transparency—are empty. But it is also true that none of this would be happening at this time were it not for the emergence of Black Lives Matter onto the scene here in the United States in general; and the uprising that took place in Ferguson, Missouri, in August of 2014 in particular.

The work continues.