The head of the Sentinels, Cincinnati’s black police officers association, has apologized to black youth and the city as a whole for “discourtesy and disrespect” from Cincinnati police.
And--to the extent that an apology is meaningful at all--this would be more meaningful if it came from any part of the police department other than the Sentinels. Or if it came from the city government. Or any official entity. But to come from the head of the black police officers association, just as they're withdrawing their membership from the general police unions, only highlights the city's problems. The bulk, the core of the Cincinnati police department probably still feels that they did nothing at all wrong. After all, the Sentinels have been protesting the conduct of their fellow officers and making suggestions for changes (most of which have been roundly ignored) for at least the past four years. The head of the Sentinels has been punitively reassigned and received death threats.
To be sure, the city--or parts thereof--is trying to look at the problem. But it will do little good for the city as a whole to shred itself trying to come to grips with this problem if the people enforcing the laws continue to be a part of it.
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
[Archives: 2001 and after]
Archives before February 5, 2001
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12/19/2001: vive la france
12/19/2001: princess, redux
12/19/2001: yemen and rumsfeld
12/18/2001: you're NOT in the army now
12/18/2001: interesting donation
12/18/2001: shame on winn dixie, indeed
12/18/2001: saudi princess
12/17/2001: new resolve
12/17/2001: a victim of the attack ... yeah, right
12/17/2001: polluters ho!