Last year officer Redditt Hudson called out the rampant racism within the police force he'd worked for after systematic use of excessive force by the police ended in the deaths of AA's.
Since then, there has been one story after the next in what appears to be an effort primarily by "conservatives" to smear and marginalize #BLM. Not a few republican politicians are even cashing in, pandering to those that cheer the maligning of the #Black lives matters movement
Today the so-called "Ferguson Effect", now in the process of being scripted, is being reported and circulated as the result of people recording, documenting and protesting police violence in real time.
The "theory" behind the "Ferguson Effect" seems to be the claim that the police, afraid of doing their jobs fearing legal proceedings after their actions are caught by the public recording incidents of police violence, has resulted in a spike in crime. So rather then risk prosecution amidst increased scrutiny of incidents of excessive force, police have pulled back.
Yet crime has not spiked nationally despite efforts by the some police and some politicians with an agenda to sell this myth.
Even the director of the F.B.I. who will be leading an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the police officers use of excessive force during the arrest of a Spring Valley High School student in Columbia, South Carolina, has adopted this line of thinking, with zero supporting evidence.
Yesterday, I watched Redditt Hudson answer this latest "Ferguson Effect" claim moving across America - he nailed the truth of it - imo
Update: The video interview with former officer, now ethics specialist w/ the NAACP Redditt Hudson has been removed, As a replacement, here is an update with Joy-Ann Reid discussing the SRO program beginning in the '70's with Chris Hayes on the topic of victim blaming:
"If this was a video of a parent or a teacher who did this, they be in jail"
(short ad - sorry)
link to Joy-Ann Reid @ msnbc: http://www.nbcnews.com/...
Here is a transcript of former St. Louis county police officer Redditt Hudson with Chris Hayes:
Chris Hayes:
"..Redditt, I'd like your thoughts on that as a former police officer yourself. I've talked to a lot of cops over the last two year and I've heard them say, - 'look, sometimes you've got to put your hands on someone'..
"This doesn't seem to me, from my amateur perspective, like an appropriate use of that"
Redditt Hudson:
"Absolutely not. What you saw on that video tape was a senseless and brutal assault on a sixteen year old girl that is unjustifiable under the circumstances. Thank God for the awareness of the young lady that was just on and her classmates filming what happened so that we have an objective record of what took place.
"Without those video tapes: this officer's not on administrative leave; the justice department is not involved; and we're not where we are right now..
"Importantly, those videos cameras and those officers who are now out in the national discourse talking about a "Ferguson Effect" are really indicting the system itself, because what they're saying in effect is that - 'Now that you all can create objective records of our behavior consistently as we execute our public responsibilities, we can't do it anymore, because we do so much dirt, we're afraid to work'..
Chris:
"Let me ask you for your response to the sheriff's comments today [...]. The sheriff's comments today after coming back from the conference that President Obama spoke at today,.. particularly when asked about whether it was racial, when mentioning the personal life of the officer in question. [the old - I can't be racist see, because: Deputy Fields is dating an African-American woman ... Sheriff Leon Lott said] What's your response?
Hudson:
"My response is this; I would qualify his statement and say that racially, my problem would be with the amount of times this happens in communities of color to children of color in schools that are predominately AA or Hispanic and Latino.
"He may be dating a black woman; I don't know, but I'll bet you he wouldn't have put his hands on a white sixteen year old girl the way that you saw him treat this young lady on the video tape.
"He slammed her forcefully to the ground and threw her across the room after he grabbed her around the throat. What's consistent, regardless of anyone's personal life is in the execution of their public duties; the disproportionate use of excessive force and unnecessary force against people who don't deserve it."
end of transcript
So, the latest chapter smearing #BLM is being written, advertised and up for sale. Once again blaming the victims for the crimes committed by the accusers.
Again; the F.B.I. will be investigating this case. The same FBI that is toying with the notion that the people protesting and video recording police brutality including a growing list of AA deaths at the hands of the police, are at fault for an imaginary national spike in crime
The "Ferguson Effect" indeed
You'd think after a few centuries or so, these tactics would be abandoned for the racist underpinning at the core of every one of them