| When the greater good prevails |
|
 |
|
Ron Perea’s resignation, as sad as it may appear, was a good decision. He didn’t pass the litmus test for just decision making. His initial judgments were successful failures. He apparently was not fully aware of a historical issue that has plagued Denver’s Chicana/o community for decades. Let’s call it what it is, police brutality. For umpteen years, innocent people have either been murdered or beat senseless by officer’s whose motto has somehow transformed into “protecting property, not people.”
The greater good prevailed. Let’s hope the brutality stops.
Watching a video where Denver’s finest gave a shellacking to an innocent kid who happened to be the son of a veteran police officer of 22 years from Pueblo, Colorado didn’t sit well with Denver’s activist community. The beating was framed as a simple assault but “was actually deep bruises, chipped teeth, black eyes and a head left swollen and lopsided.”
Two cops by the name of Devin Sparks and Cpl. Randy Murr used saps to bring undue harm to a young kid whose father who went on a solo crusade following the incident. To throw salt on the wounds, a cover up ensued. Herrera’s father has been loyal to his profession also experienced transformative consciousness; he confessed that there are also bad cops walking the streets. De Herrera essentially asked how the officer might feel if his son was viciously beaten.
I attended the community meeting called for by Denver’s Chicana/o Leaders on Thursday, August 19th where a community dialogue was scheduled. Perea stated that he wanted to dialogue. De-ja vu invaded the ambiance as I observed local activists, police supporters and media personnel assemble into the room. Under the limelight, rather than dialogue Perea debated the appropriateness of his actions. His verbal defensiveness demonstrated that he came in with boxing gloves into a community who is well versed in the art of shadow boxing.
How many times have people of color communities called the police force to the carpet to engage in “dialogue” about the inhumanness of police brutality? How many lives have been lost and how many people have been maimed because of this? It is not a novel issue. Famed local leader Richard Castro was beaten viciously in Mestizo Park in 1970. Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales and the Crusaders struggled to protect communities against the viciousness and routine use of batons and nightsticks by police officers in Chicana/o communities.
Who was going to police the police? After community and police reps haggled, a civilian review board was eventually established, following the Castro beating. Under the Peña administration, the office of Human Rights and Community Relations was developed to address inequities, police brutality and police-community relations. What Perea’s decision caused is community suspicion at a time when leaders blindly thought police brutality had quelled down.
In reality, a conflict of loyalties emerges as police are hired to serve the community. You can’t serve two masters, that is, the man and the community, especially when the mantra of racial profiling has become the national anthem. Denver’s police officers have a proclivity of being loyal to their group, even if police behaviors are unconscionable. After all, you can’t serve the truth and also be loyal to “code red,” in this case, “code brown/black” when it comes to outright brutality.
A settlement had already been made and the incident had been shoved under the carpet. Sound familiar? The spirits of Mena and Lobato intruded upon the community’s collective consciousness. Their deaths are a reminder that atrocious behavior is not an acceptable practice in keeping the community secure.
All of this occurred prior to additional witnesses who fessed up about what really happened. Perhaps, the whistleblower’s ambivalence about coming forward was exactly what community members were dreading; a culture of fear that prevents effective police-community relations. At best Perea showed no sensitivity or empathy, at worst; he supports scoundrels dressed in blue whose veracity will now always be questioned.
The African American community took to the streets to protest the death of Marvin Booker in Denver’s new “Justice Center.” They, too, called for Perea’s to resign or be fired. What confidence that existed after last week’s meeting dwindled down to nothing.
The hard work that has developed for the last 25 years is not in vain. In the final analysis, the greater good prevailed.
Dr. Ramón Del Castillo is an independent journalist.
© 2010 The Weekly Issue/El Semanario, Inc.
|
←
Back
|
|
|
|
view more photos
view more videos
El Semanario New Mexico 
El Semanario