New Year’s Present from the Drug War: Another Body
Mr. Grant was with his friends on the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), returning to the East Bay from the Embarcadero. He would never make it home. Mr. Grant died of a gunshot wound at the Fruitvale (Oakland) BART station. He was shot in the back by a BART transit officer, while being held down by two other BART transit officers. At present, there are no allegations by any side that drugs are involved. Yet drug prohibition has its hands in this homicide. There are many prongs to this tragedy, of which drug prohibition is only one particular track, but it is one I know well, and wish to share.
The side of drug prohibition that’s given little scrutiny is the fact that during the course of the announced “War on Drugs” by President Nixon in the early 70′s, our police forces have transformed into paramilitary-like outfits. Some of this was done out of perceived necessity – policing has become a profession perceived as very dangerous (though by the numbers, carpentry is much riskier). Most of the transformation was done in the spirit or pursuit of the “war” on “drugs.”
Justifications came in: “drug gangs” were “better armed” than the police. Clearly an arms race is necessary under such a perception. To enforce drug law, raiding homes became a regularity, rather than an unusual occurrence. With a populace that is predominately armed, that meant that police needed superior firepower. Both the “drug gangs” and home raids also meant that police needed better protection – body armor. Any psychologist will tell you: weapons and armor are visual cues for aggression.
The increasing assortment of tools that separate the police from the populace also reinforces the “us versus them” mentality, long since evidenced by the renown “Code of Silence” that police departments historically have used to squash outside or independent investigations of police misconduct.
The U.S. makes “war” on some drugs, and on crime (indeed, these two concepts are often bled together so that prohibition’s consequences are seen as drug use/distribution consequences, rather than the result of policy decisions), which encourages aggression against “criminals.”
Finally, there’s a stereotype for a “drug dealer” in our society: a young black male that’s out late at night. Taken in context, there’s an automatic assumption that young black males that are out late at night are criminals, and can be treated in an aggressive fashion.
Guess what Mr. Grant was? Innocent. Not even alleged to be a criminal. As a 22 year old black male, however, he certainly fit the “criminal” profile, so now he lays dead. He is not a victim of drugs or a drug raid, yet he still is a victim of one of many collateral consequences to drug prohibition – police militarization.
So, this New Year, your present from the Drug War: more “collateral damage,” with illegal drugs just as cheap (if not cheaper) and available as ever.
Posted by Malakkar Vohryzek
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