Assault on Black Men; Does Size Really Matter
Actions by the Bexar County Police gave us another name to mourn in the battle for justice and dignity. Sargent Damian Lamar Daniels was a 31-year-old combat veteran who was shot and killed by authorities in front of his home in San Antonio, Texas, on the evening of August 25th during a Bexar County Police response to multiple mental health calls from family members. Daniels was described by family members, and later by authorities, as suicidal. Bexar County Police have since released body cam photos which show a bulge beneath Daniels’ shirt, which authorities say was a gun. This is another example of the institutional racism that the COVID -19 pandemic has brought to America’s consciousness.
The association of Blackness with criminality is not a new phenomenon in San Antonio or America. Documented historical accounts have shown how myths, stereotypes, and racist ideologies led to discriminatory policies and court rulings that fueled racial violence in a post-Reconstruction era and has since culminated in the exponential increase of Black male public executions. Biased judgments by those paid to “serve and protect” often result in the justifications of use of force against Black suspects of crime. Thus, police officers appear to integrate multiple pieces of information to ultimately conclude that Black men are more physically threatening than White men, and must therefore be controlled using aggressive measures. Such is the case with Sargent Damian Daniels. Old patterns continue to be reinforced through the ongoing processes of implicit bias, microaggressions and institutional rewards for the ostracization of Black males from society. Many have labeled the officers involved as racists. It is this columnist’s opinion that the officers personal beliefs are not important. What is important is the institution that makes excuses for the extreme behavior that resulted in Sgt. Daniel’s death.
On April 30, 2014, an unarmed Black man named Dontre Hamilton was shot 14 times and killed by a White police officer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The officer later testified that Hamilton had a “muscular build” and “most definitely would have overpowered . . . me or pretty much any officer I can think of, to tell you the truth. He was just that big, that muscular” (Hayes, 2014). This account is contradicted by the autopsy, in which the medical examiner reported that Hamilton was 5’7” and 169 pounds. Kenosha, Wisconsin is a suburb of Milwaukee and it was in Kenosha that a local police officer shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times. Once again a black man was portrayed as a menacing figure who had to be taken down before allegedly reaching for a knife under his front seat. The knife was found some time after the shooting and there has been no direct evidence that Blake intended to use the knife on the officers at the scene. Meanwhile, a teenager was arrested and charged with shooting three people, two of whom died, during protests in Kenosha. Video footage from that incident showed a white gunman, armed with an assault-style rifle, firing at protesters who tried to subdue him, and then calmly walking away from the scene, hands in the air and his rifle hanging in front of him, as several police vehicles drive by without stopping him. He returned to his home across state lines in Illinois unimpeded. An unarmed Black man, intervening in a local dispute while his family waits in their automobile is unquestionably more of a threat than a frail White teenager armed with an assault rifle….huh?
The consequences of our heritage of presumed racial difference and long-standing segregation play themselves out on a daily basis, through lowered expectations, decreased educational opportunity, and systemic law enforcement overreaction. This is an old problem. Corrosive stereotypes—such as the dangerous Black male—exist deep in our nation’s psyche and, whether or not they reach our consciousness, they remain entwined in our daily lives. The roots of racial inequality in our society are many centuries deep. Eliminating disparities, and institutional inequality in all systems, will require an ongoing awareness of how those disparities continue to thrive and a steadfast commitment to finally bringing them to an end. Tomorrow is too late! Ask Damian Daniels’ family!
