LA Police Fear Rapper’s Finger-Gun Gesture, Will Now View Young Black Men As Threats
The investigation into the death of Ezell Ford, the mentally-challenged 25 year-old who was shot by police last week in Los Angeles, has followed a familiar trajectory. Witnesses say Ford was on the ground and compliant when he was shot multiple times in the back. Police released scant details, but did make an effort to smear the victim as a gang member. Then, they announced an investigative hold on Ford’s autopsy report.
They have also released an official account of the police version of events, which reveals that they saw Ford walking on the sidewalk (bad move), stopped the car, and tried to talk to him. They don’t say why they were attempting to talk with him, but things took a threatening turn when Ford “continued walking” and “made suspicious movements, including attempting to conceal his hands.”
Then came the familiar-sounding “struggle for the gun,” at which time, they say, “The partner officer then fired his handgun and the officer on the ground fired his backup weapon at the individual.”
The community is feeling the familiar grief and outrage of an unarmed man’s life cut short by police bullets, outrage which found expression in the voice of Ceebo Tha Rapper, a cousin f Ezell Ford, who released a rap video in response to the killing. Entitled “Fuck Tha Police,” the clip features sentiments like “Hands up, they killed Ez, handcuffed, he couldn’t get free, fuck police and fuck peace, when they killed Ez, they shoulda killed me.”
It also features finger-guns:
None of this sat well with the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which issued an email alert about the video warning officers “to be on heightened alert and pay extra attention to your tactics and surroundings.”
Thanks a lot, Ceebo! Now, police are going to start viewing young black men as threats. Nice going, man.
What’s truly unbelievable, yet also completely believable, is the reason LAPPL President Tyler Izen gives for viewing Ceebo’s video as a threat…READ MORE
Copyright 2014 Liberaland
By: Tommy Christopher
Tommy Christopher is The Daily Banter's White House Correspondent and Political Analyst. He's been a political reporter and liberal commentator since 2007, and has covered the White House since the beginning of the Obama administration, first for PoliticsDaily, and then for Mediaite. Christopher is a frequent guest on a variety of television, radio, and online programs, and was the villain in the documentaries The Audacity of Democracy and Hating Breitbart. He's also That Guy Who Live-Tweeted His Own Heart Attack, and the only person to have ever received public apologies from both Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.
24 responses to LA Police Fear Rapper’s Finger-Gun Gesture, Will Now View Young Black Men As Threats
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
mea_mark August 22nd, 2014 at 16:09
Sometimes I think the police want to be attacked by young black men. They seem to be doing everything they can to provoke them through bad policy. It seems to be more of self-fulfilling prophecy then anything else. Those people are bad so let’s make them bad, is an attitude that needs to change. If officers can’t change their attitude they need to be kicked out of law enforcement.
Khary A August 22nd, 2014 at 16:53
Mark I agree, the Stanford experiments touched upon these ideas. This whole issue is one I have been ruminating on as of late..Obviously, and I think I have a solution. NO ONE is allowed to be a police officer for more that 6 years. There is no way that you can deal with the “scum and villainy” of the world on a daily basis and not have it change you subtly but definitively. I think what we are seeing more and more of is institutionalized racism looped together with PTSD. I feel these create a very volatile environment that as we are now seeing lead to distrust and bloodshed.
mea_mark August 22nd, 2014 at 17:05
What might work better is a year on, a year off. On the year off duty they can do civic work, paid of course. Our communities certainly need more active people engaged in reaching out and helping be successful. What could be better way of counter balancing the effects of being a law officer. The rewards would be multiple, not only is the officers mental and emotional health sustained but they are better connected to the community they serve and the community is served by having those in need, getting a helping hand.
uzza August 22nd, 2014 at 17:14
Any amount of time is too much to be immersed in a toxic culture. Remember, that Stanford basement went south in just three days! Zimbardo’s followup research pretty much lays out what we need to do.
For one, completely eradicate the notion that there is any similarity between the police and the military. They are practically polar opposites in most ways. Look at Sweden for a model, not i for gawd’s sakes Israel.
Khary A August 22nd, 2014 at 17:20
Good point Uzza, especially on the separation of military and law enforcement.
mea_mark August 22nd, 2014 at 17:37
The Stanford experiment doesn’t correlate with the free world. It does indicate trends though. Once an officer is connected to the community through a year of civic work that bond should hold for awhile. There are officers that do community work around the country. If we polled them and looked at them closely I bet we would see the rewards I am talking about. This should be a easy theory to prove or disprove just by looking at people that already naturally balance their lives between enforcement and outreach.
uzza August 22nd, 2014 at 18:43
I don’t agree. Much of what we learned from that and following research is widely applicable. Most importantly, we have to, HAVE TO, accept the conclusion–that it is the institution that turns ordinary good people bad, and these things cannot be blamed on certain individual scapegoats who are somehow “evil”.
Specific contributing factors are “anonymity, dehumanization, diffusion
of responsibility, peers who model harmful behavior, bystanders who do not intervene, and a setting of power differentials”.
All these are at work in Ferguson, and all are counteracted I think by the type of work you have in mind. My argument is one cannot bounce back and forth between a hypermasculine militarized environment and a decent one, counter forces to all these effects must be part and parcel of any policing. Whoever is in charge has to be vigilant that these known factors don’t begin to influence the personnel.
mea_mark August 22nd, 2014 at 20:02
I think you can bounce back and fourth. Perhaps I have too much in faith in the human mind to adapt to changing circumstances but I think you can. The nice thing about this theory is that it should be very easy to test and there really shouldn’t be any losses even if it fails. It is still a win because those enforcing the law end up understand the community better that they are policing. If it is successful, well …
I do think that scaling back are police forces is needed though. We really don’t need our general police officers acting like the military. Special swat teams I can see but that should be for the select few.
Khary A August 22nd, 2014 at 17:21
Yes, the mental health of our “protectors” is something we have not truly examined and it’s now high time we did.
mea_mark August 22nd, 2014 at 16:09
Sometimes I think the police want to be attacked by young black men. They seem to be doing everything they can to provoke them through bad policy. It seems to be more of self-fulfilling prophecy then anything else. Those people are bad so let’s make them bad, is an attitude that needs to change. If officers can’t change their attitude they need to be kicked out of law enforcement.
The last of the Thousad Sons August 22nd, 2014 at 16:53
Mark I agree, the Stanford experiments touched upon these ideas. This whole issue is one I have been ruminating on as of late..Obviously, and I think I have a solution. NO ONE is allowed to be a police officer for more that 6 years. There is no way that you can deal with the “scum and villainy” of the world on a daily basis and not have it change you subtly but definitively. I think what we are seeing more and more of is institutionalized racism looped together with PTSD. I feel these create a very volatile environment that as we are now seeing lead to distrust and bloodshed.
mea_mark August 22nd, 2014 at 17:05
What might work better is a year on, a year off. On the year off duty they can do civic work, paid of course. Our communities certainly need more active people engaged in reaching out and helping be successful. What could be better way of counter balancing the effects of being a law officer. The rewards would be multiple, not only is the officers mental and emotional health sustained but they are better connected to the community they serve and the community is served by having those in need, getting a helping hand.
uzza August 22nd, 2014 at 17:14
Any amount of time is too much to be immersed in a toxic culture. Remember, that Stanford basement went south in just three days! Zimbardo’s followup research pretty much lays out what we need to do.
For one, completely eradicate the notion that there is any similarity between the police and the military. They are practically polar opposites in most ways. Look at Sweden for a model, not for gawd’s sakes Israel.
The last of the Thousad Sons August 22nd, 2014 at 17:20
Good point Uzza, especially on the separation of military and law enforcement.
mea_mark August 22nd, 2014 at 17:37
The Stanford experiment doesn’t correlate with the free world. It does indicate trends though. Once an officer is connected to the community through a year of civic work that bond should hold for awhile. There are officers that do community work around the country. If we polled them and looked at them closely I bet we would see the rewards I am talking about. This should be a easy theory to prove or disprove just by looking at people that already naturally balance their lives between enforcement and outreach.
uzza August 22nd, 2014 at 18:43
I don’t agree. Much of what we learned from that and following research is widely applicable. Most importantly, we have to, HAVE TO, accept the conclusion–that it is the institution that turns ordinary good people bad, and these things cannot be blamed on certain individual scapegoats who are somehow “evil”.
Specific contributing factors are “anonymity, dehumanization, diffusion of responsibility, peers who model harmful behavior, bystanders who do not intervene, and a setting of power differentials”.
All these are at work in Ferguson, and all are counteracted I think by the type of work you have in mind. My argument is one cannot bounce back and forth between a hypermasculine militarized environment and a decent one, counter forces to all these effects must be part and parcel of any policing. Whoever is in charge has to be vigilant that these known factors don’t begin to influence the personnel.
” If you dress cops up like an occupying army, very soon they’ll start THINKING of themselves as an occupying army; as will the people in the neighborhoods they patrol.”
mea_mark August 22nd, 2014 at 20:02
I think you can bounce back and fourth. Perhaps I have too much in faith in the human mind to adapt to changing circumstances but I think you can. The nice thing about this theory is that it should be very easy to test and there really shouldn’t be any losses even if it fails. It is still a win because those enforcing the law end up understand the community better that they are policing. If it is successful, well …
I do think that scaling back are police forces is needed though. We really don’t need our general police officers acting like the military. Special swat teams I can see but that should be for the select few.
The last of the Thousad Sons August 22nd, 2014 at 17:21
Yes, the mental health of our “protectors” is something we have not truly examined and it’s now high time we did.
uzza August 22nd, 2014 at 17:08
First Amendment Rights!
I’m a 21-year-old Deaf guy who uses American Sign Language. The cop asks me how old I am. What the hell am I supposed to say????
http://www.signingsavvy.com/sign/21
mea_mark August 22nd, 2014 at 17:09
Might as well shoot me now? s
uzza August 22nd, 2014 at 17:08
First Amendment Rights!
I’m a 21-year-old Deaf guy who uses American Sign Language. The cop asks me how old I am. What the hell am I supposed to say????
http://www.signingsavvy.com/sign/21
mea_mark August 22nd, 2014 at 17:09
Might as well shoot me now? s
granpa.usthai August 22nd, 2014 at 17:44
during the mighty white racist terrorist republican FAILED attempt to overthrow the US Government by force of arms in Nevada , the nasty smelling white racist boys and girls were a dosey doeing in and out, around and behind springing out suddening with hands clasped like they were holding a pointed firearm at the federal Officers. This “protest technique” was taught by a WHITE COUNTY SHERIFF COMBAT VETERAN? purely as a means of creating an extremely stressful situation that would hopefully escalate into gunfire. Now as we see once again, the LYING HYPOCRISY OF WHITE NAZIS who are vying for your support or fear so they can RULE AMERICA the same damn way they RULED a piece of dirt in east Nevada that was cleaner and smelled much nicer than them BY FORCE OF ARMS.
granpa.usthai August 22nd, 2014 at 17:44
during the mighty white racist terrorist republican FAILED attempt to overthrow the US Government by force of arms in Nevada , the nasty smelling white racist boys and girls were a dosey doeing in and out, around and behind springing out suddening with hands clasped like they were holding a pointed firearm at the federal Officers. This “protest technique” was taught by a WHITE COUNTY SHERIFF COMBAT VETERAN? purely as a means of creating an extremely stressful situation that would hopefully escalate into gunfire. Now as we see once again, the LYING HYPOCRISY OF WHITE NAZIS who are vying for your support or fear so they can RULE AMERICA the same damn way they RULED a piece of dirt in east Nevada that was cleaner and smelled much nicer than them BY FORCE OF ARMS.