Black cops torn between duty, pain of Floyd’s death
Some officers say they as well have experienced racism
OKLAHOMA CITY — Black police officers find themselves torn between two worlds: They feel the pain of seeing yet another black man killed at the hands of fellow officers, yet they must also try to keep the peace during angry protests fueled by that death.
Those feelings, familiar to many black people in law enforcement for years, have never been more intense than in the days since the May 25 death of George Floyd. The 46-year-old black man died in Minneapolis after a white officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after Floyd stopped moving and pleading for air as other officers watched.
“My emotion, my fervor is no less than those people on the streets,” said New York City police Detective Felicia Richards, who is black. “I stand in this uniform, and I understand what my obligation is to this uniform, but I can’t compromise my humanity.”
Richards, president of the NYPD Guardians Association, a fraternal organization, said she was horrified by the video that captured Floyd’s arrest and final moments. She struggled to understand what could possibly have warranted such “brute force.”
A convenience store worker had accused Floyd of using counterfeit money. He was handcuffed and did not appear to be resisting the officers.
Black police officers who saw the footage “let out a sigh of disgust and abandonment right there,” said Richards, a 34-year NYPD veteran.
The National Black Police Association was blunt in its assessment of Floyd’s death and how law enforcement has historically treated black citizens.
“Let’s speak truths: In America, it is clear that the humanity of black people appears invisible to law enforcement,” it said in a statement. “What other explanation would there be for (Minneapolis police Officer Derek) Chauvin to lean on the neck of a handcuffed black man until he dies?”
Since police killings gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement, police departments have sought to better diversify their ranks. But minorities remain underrepresented in many agencies. Of the 36,000plus officers in the New York Police Department, 17,000 are white, while 5,500 are black.
Police work in the U.S. has been challenging for black officers since the beginning.
In 1965, sheriff ’s deputies O’Neal Moore and David Creed Rogers were ambushed in Varnado, Louisiana, while investigating a brush fire. Moore was killed, and Rogers was blinded in his right eye. According to Justice Department files on the attack, the two had been on the job for one year and were the first black deputies in the department. Their hiring infuriated the Ku Klux Klan.
Some have sought to bridge the divide between demonstrators and fellow officers. In Florida, Fort Lauderdale Officer Krystle Smith was lauded after a video went viral of her chasing and reprimanding a fellow officer after he pushed a protester to the ground who was kneeling.
Officer Jasmine Nivens spoke with protesters in Charlotte, North Carolina, to ease tensions. She told them that she could not defend the officers in Minneapolis. But when she’s on the job, she does her best to hold her fellow officers accountable and has told some to “ease up.”
“I’m hurt the same way you hurt. I understand your pain,” said Nivens, part of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s “constructive conversation” team, which makes a point of talking with the public during demonstrations. The unit was created after protests erupted in that city following the 2016 police shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott.
Some officers say they too have experienced racism — on and off the job.
Norman, Oklahoma, Officer Ralph Manous recalled an experience while attending Missouri State University. He was walking home from his overnight job when he started to hear honking from a truck.
“Somebody threw a full beer at my head. And so I instantly took off running. And they chased me, throwing beers, a whole bunch of racial slurs, stuff like that,” Manous said.
As a former junior college wrestler, he was still athletic enough to escape after jumping some fences and hiding behind a backyard shed.
Even as an officer, he is leery of other police. When he leaves Norman, he hangs his wallet badge on his rearview mirror to make sure if he is pulled over, officers immediately know he’s one of them.
He’s been to protests in Norman. He said the response from black people is usually negative when they find out he’s an officer.
“They typically start to clam up and get secretive or think that I’m out to get them,” he said.