Racism, John McCain and Other Republicans

Four in the morning, the town still slumbering. Mockingbirds warble at one another in the courtyard of the old San Diego police headquarters down on Market Street. I sit at a government-issue metal desk across from a uniformed police officer and ask, "Do you use racial or ethnic slurs?"

It's spring, 1976. I'm a patrol captain, interviewing, one at a time, my graveyard cops who are assigned to Southeast San Diego, a predominately black community. "Yeah, I do," answers the 12-year veteran. His tone isn't defiant or proud, embarrassed or ashamed, just kind of matter of fact. "So does everybody else."

He's got that right, almost: Thirty of my 31 Southeast officers confessed to on-the-job use of the most vile, invective, racist language you can imagine. Offenders included the area's lieutenant, two of three sergeants, and the one black cop working a beat car (a three-year man who, with tears of shame rolling down his cheeks, admitted he went along to get along).

I knew racism flourished in America, and that we cops were representative of the views and values of the citizenry at large. Moreover, I was acutely aware of my own behavior as a rookie some 10 years earlier when I had participated in racist jokes, ridiculed and baited young African American men, and made "attitude" arrests in their community. Still, I was stunned by my cops' candid replies to questions about their language and other behavior (which included excessive force, false arrest, a slower, apathetic response to crime and other forms of discrimination based on race, and class).

Why the surprise? Because I thought our workplace culture had made more progress than that. Two years earlier a new chief had announced to his top staff, "These walls have heard the N-word for the last time." We spent many hours in the police academy stressing nondiscrimination, professionalism, common courtesy.

When the "Southeast Investigation" went public a year later its findings surprised exactly no one in the black community. But it shocked the hell out of the (largely) Republican establishment in San Diego. Many corporate and civic leaders spoke up, expressing disgust, asserting their intolerance of intolerance -- particularly among those charged with upholding the constitution.

This development only added impetus to our internal campaign to once and for all end racial (and other forms of unlawful) discrimination within the ranks.

Resolutely rejecting charges of "political correctness," we set about making it clear to our cops, at all levels: You want to keep your job, you'd best put an airtight lid on the kind of language we'd heard during the Southeast Investigation, and bring to a screeching halt those discriminatory habits.

We had no illusions. We knew we weren't changing attitudes, much less deeply held beliefs. Not at first, anyway. Our theory was simple. Grab 'em by the shorthairs, and trust that their minds and hearts would follow.

Over time, more and more of our supervisors -- and peers at the officer level -- enforced that standard, even when their own bosses were not looking over their shoulders. And the chief, true to his word, fired cops who couldn't or wouldn't refrain from racially biased conduct.

Which brings us to the current dismal state of civic discourse, and the barefaced bigotry of racist-sign-toting, epithet-spewing teabaggers, birthers, and assorted other raging town-hallers.

We've all seen the Obama-as-Hitler posters, the photos of the President of the United States dressed as jungle medicine man. We've watched as nasty hecklers, including members of Congress, demean both the highest office in the land and the man who holds it. (I'd love to give Joe Wilson the benefit of the doubt, but my own beliefs and experience cause me to side with Nobel Laureate Jimmy Carter. I can't shake the belief that Wilson would have seethed quietly, perhaps muttering under his breath, if a white president had delivered that line on the intersection of health care and immigration.)

And so what if people of my leftist political persuasion stooped to similar behavior in condemning George W. Bush? Two wrongs...you know the rest.

We've witnessed radio and TV "personalities" impugn not merely the president's policies and priorities (which they've enthusiastically, and by all rights, done) but his citizenship, his religion, and yes, his race.

Where are the sensible, decent Republicans whose parents taught them to play nice, who helped their Alex P. Keatonesque offspring grow into mature, responsible adults? No one's asking Republicans to inveigh against principles they hold dear, like free markets, corporate gluttony, or private health care. But when it comes to civilized behavior would it kill them to take a page from John McCain's playbook and speak out -- in the here and now -- against dangerously inflammatory rhetoric?

True, McCain unwittingly disparaged folks of Arab descent when he responded to his red-shirted supporter in that celebrated October '08 exchange on the campaign trail. But he showed some real class when he immediately seized the microphone from the frightened, confused woman, and characterized his presidential opponent as a "...decent family man/citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with."

Unless and until other prominent Republicans speak out with equal speed and weight against the growing forces of ignorance and intolerance, the GOP will come to be seen not only as a haven for "everybody does it" bigots but as the party of bigotry.

 

 

Follow Norm Stamper on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CopsSayLegalize

Comments

[annieR]

McCain was put on the spot with the woman at his town hall. He couldn't do otherwise than respond as he did. Now, let's see him defend women's rights, and I'll cut him some slack. He opposed the Lily Ledbetter legislation to ensure equal pay for women, and he opposes insurance coverage for contraceptives for women (their use is a "choice" he says) while supporting coverage of Viagra for men (he says its use is for a physical condition). There's more, but as a 36-year Arizona resident, I've yet to learn of McCain's pro-women position on anything.

[oldleftcoastdude]

I worked both with and for Norm Stamper during his entire tenure at SDPD. What you read here was his philosophy, for better or worse, during the entire 20 plus years he was there, so one can rest assured that what he writes is what he feels. Asl ong as he wasnt; completely in charge, things went well for him, since Kolender and his other Chiefs could tamp down some of Norm's more radical ideas, like taking everyone out of uniform and putting them in suits, so that they would not be so "military" and "intimidating" looking. The problem Norm had when he left San Diego and became Seattle police Chief was that he was in complete charge and his philosophy on policing backfired when the WTO held a summit in Seattle, and the anarchists and other crazies descended on the city by the thousands to protest the "New World Order."
Norm made a deal with the "leaders" to keep things peaceful, which they (the protesters) promptly broke. Since Norm and his command staff hadn't made any real plan "B", the City of Seattle was pretty much torn up by the protesters, before Norm's troops could get a handle on things. . Norm lost his job over it and retired to write and muse on the state of things. Norm is a very nice man, albeit naive in many areas, and would have been much better suited in a University setting rather than a police one.

[zaknick]

At least he stands up for what is right as opposed to being just another predator, er cop, sicked on the working poor.

[raker]

The New York Times ran an obnoxious editorial cartoon today, the 20th, saying that calling "criticism" of Obama racism is equivalent to calling criticism of Israel anti-Semitism. In other words, both are wrong for similar reasons.

Ah, the media's favorite cop-out, the false equivalency. Carter did not speak about racism because people are criticizing Obama. There's a fever pitch of irrational hatred directed at Obama, and it's based on racism. "You lie!" happened due to racism. Likewise, irrational hatred of Jews may safely be characterized as anti-Semitism. The New York Times equates criticism (possibly legitimate) with irrational hatred (never legitimate). Not a very insightful analysis.

[dieselis]

Now all these rightwing folks from Fox News and other like style programing. They are sowing the seeds of the next Civil War. Their getting paid vast sums of money to do it. Where does this money come from for these are our #1 enemies and when things go south we need to see the whites of their eyes first. Then there are the ivory tower fellows that promote and sponser war for profit. Though they'll be well insulated we should spare no expense finding the whites of their eyes. They have pitted the poor c0mmoner ageinst each other for centuries. It is truly time for us to wake up. Whether your that radical white wingnut or radical black panther. Maybe your somewhere in between these two. You need to see the light. Were all being played into destroying each other for their entertainment and profit. It's our choice we can play right into their hands or we can refuse to be fooled again. Common sense, life, liberty and the America we all love. Her fate hangs in the balances.

[dieselis]

America was as racist as apple pie and baseball however, we've come a longways. We as blacks should do better, but its hard to change. Were doing more damage to each other which inturn gives real racist more power. We turbocharge racism. #1. Killing each other off. You deplete your supply of soldiers through death and incarsuration. Thusly stacking a loaded deck more in the wrong direction. #2. Disregarding and not learning to accel in the system. Yes its not fair, the priviledged get more of the breaks. We have to pay more dues and take home less. Yes, but the usual resultant of this is you get so good at you craft you become in demand. Then things change simply because you paid your dues. There is a host of people of all walks of life who aren't bigots. It really is about living the dream as in MLK speech, but did you know that the I have a dream premise came from some white lady. Racism ain't what it was however much work can still be done. Think about your ancestors that had no choice. Ask yourself am I going to continue to enslave myself?

[billw8017]

An 80 year old Southerner, even a man who was a pioneer for integration, will hear echoes of the Racism from former times, but aside from the clinging poverty due to earlier discrimination, African American is becoming more an ethnic thing. The clearest comparison is the complete acceptance of the once scorned Irish as shown by the elections of Kennedy and Reagan, a pair perhaps loved better because they were elite, either born rich or a movie star, even while being Irish.

Why should matters be any other way? Humanity is, in fact, one species of a tight family genetically. . There is no real difference of potential, and America is moving up to realize its proudest ideals of citizen equity.

[billw8017]

Race isn't all about skin color, class is an issue. Joe Biden covered this ground when he called Barack Obama clean and articulate. For some reason, everybody was articulating stuff last summer -- hardly anyone just "said" anything; so, Biden was using the word for well spoken. Obama is one of a generation of Black politicians who sound smart and classy. When you hear him, he commands respect: He's not extreme Southern, Jamaican, or Haitian or Hispanic either, but nice upper class American.

You look at him, and he looks good: He dresses well if in smart American casual -- maybe, he's running ahead of the curve (!). And, he's Harvard elite, law book, all that. He's not a lower class Southerner who stopped bathing when he moved away from the fields crossed by a creek.

There is a dissonance. And, it is resolved because Barack Obama is not an African American. He is an African American Prince. If he screws up badly, you will hear some vicious racism. Between times, our Prince is the President of the United States, his princedom confirmed, and his success will be a particular delight because we Americans do love our royalty.

[greyhound2]

One of the problems with the charge of racism is that it has been so overused from parking tickets to overdue library books.

[iplaw]

I would agree, but in this case I think it is justified.

[cabanas]

Discussion about the issue of race when criticizing President Obama is not honest and truthful unless it also includes racism against white and latinos by blacks and racism among blacks (american born vs foreign born). I experienced the first one as a latina and saw first hand the second as a co-worker from Africa was not treated well by blacks in Newark.

To concentrate on white vs black because of President Obama is just a political tool to silence those who criticize him because of his ideology and policies. Last time I checked, 9:48AM, this is still a free country where people can express their opinion without watching over their shoulder. Those who are critical of the President should not be concerned about being white. They should not let be manipulated by the left.

Racism is never going to go away because it is a convenient political tool to manipulate opinion and discredit critics. Thank God most people in the streets can see beyond that.

[MerhabaAbi]

You are correct. This is still a free country and your right to speak freely deserves to be defended. Has any government agency jailed you, ticketed you or threatened to do either if you spoke your mind freely? Or are you implying that you can criticize whomever you please but others should not criticize you? Usually the people who say there is no racism where others say there is are the racists.

[Sportster2005]

It really isn't about race. It's about failure to defend the Constitution, criminal activities, lack of ethics, immorality, poor judgment, incompetence, lies, deceit, etc.by both parties and the people that elect candidates from those parties.

[Lee Andrew]

Where were you when the Patriot Act was being shoved down our throats? Where were you when Bush was giving tax cuts away like a candy dispenser? Where were you when Bush and company decided to illegally invade a sovereign nation?

Where were you when non-bid contracts were being passed out like Penicillin at a hooker convention on C Street in San Diego the Thursday before shore leave? Where were you when those of us who opposed these polices were being shouted down, tossed out of public meetings and branded unAmerican?

I have a good ideal where you were -- in the midst of the crowd yelling USA USA USA.

Give me a freaking break. If this president's skin pigmentation were anything other than black you and your ilk would be on the sidelines encouraging him to continue the failed policies of his predecessor.

You aren't fooling anyone but yourself if you believe on scintilla of the misinformation being tossed about about 'policy' 'freedom of speech' ' budget deficit' etc.

Thank goodness there are more white, black, Latino and other Americans who do not BELIEVE YOUR LIES.

Fasten your seat belt buddy the road ahead is gonna be bumpy for you wingnuts.

LeeAndrew

http://www.leeandrew.fr

[Lee Andrew]

You really think that we are that naive?

[creolechild]

I want to share a post that I read earlier this year on the Alternet. I saved it because at the time I thought the comments were concise in assessing the racial components of what we're seeing and hearing expressed on a daily basis. To me, these comments are also quite relevant to this ongoing discussion about race and racism.

"It is a fact that white men are viewed as being smarter, cleaner, more worthy of respect, less dangerous, less violent, and more trustworthy than any other group of human beings on the planet. It is a fact that the history of this nation has been recorded and presented in a way that it has to protect this lie. It is a fact that we have a long way to go, and it is a fact that the kind of sentiments presented in this comment section do more to hurt than to help. It is hard to look at yourself in the mirror and see 'white privilege,' but not as hard as living in this country without it."

Thank you Alexandra P.

[BGDiNLV]

Could not have said it better myself. Thank you CreoleChild!!! Thank you! Yet we still push forward as a people.

[Heschel]

First let us be careful of generalizations concerning this or any matter. All Republicans are not racist neither are all Democrats perfectly balanced concerning race issues and/or relations. Why have we been racially hateful toward one another? The only differrence between Slavery in America and Europe are the terms used to describe the institutions wherein and whereby one group of people wrongfully used another for the sake of financial gain and a false sense of superiority. Oh, yes, in Europe it was called "Serfdom". We all need to ask the Universe to heal us from generational animosities toward one another and then maybe we will see each other at least a little more lovingly and actually allow ourselves to interact with each other openly and not just on the DL or by reason of force.

[iplaw]

The word "slavery" comes from the word "slav" because vikings took so many slavs as slaves. Except for the Vikings it has always been considered more acceptable to enslave people with darker skin than lighter. Currently slavery is still practiced in most of Africa.

[billw8017]

Not the Vikings, the Germans.

Viking slaves tended to be White though there was also a transitory element of easy freedom as the Vikings were not so much an urban people, but more rustic with all members of a household somewhat "family." The Germans would raid east and south to capture "slaves." Serfdom was largely a rural practice that attached workers to a noble's farms. The Russian serfs were, technically, freed as a nod toward the United States freeing its slaves with the Civil War. French serfs were liberated around WWI.

As with American "Jim Crow" laws, exploiting a Constitutional clause allowing involuntary servitude as a punishment for crimes, Germans under Hitler bound workers to a kind of factory serfdom. The acceptance of such principles probably made it easier to enslave Jews and other prisoners then. One of the things that made Kuwaitis so anxious to recover their country from Hussein was the escape of household slaves into the streets of London.

[Torrentlover]

No, but pretty much all racists are Republicans.

[billw8017]

Serfdom was mostly an economic necessity having to do with the lesser role of money in society. We see something like serfdom when American firms are bought and sold, transferring the entire workforce of the firm from one ownership to another, what is sometimes ( and, mostly ironically ) called "wage slavery." Factory towns like Pullman and Lowell are models of near total enslavement so far as there might be some pursuit for "debt."

Abraham Lincoln, writing for the Chicago Tribune in 1860, contrasted the "American way" of a temporary bondage in apprenticeship or employment while getting trained for an independent career with the "European way" of permanent nobility and commoners. This pertained to Lincoln who, after being hired out by his father -- something he referred to by saying he had been a slave, himself -- became a partner in his own law office. It doesn't pertain to all Americans, and we have less prospects of upward mobility than the modern European.

[GreatTruthsSeeker]

I feel sorry for a few of them, but not John McCain. They do not understand the number of sentient beings that hold truth as a core value and that they disrespect it when they twist it beyond logic or reality.

Many Republican leaders are prevaricators and are driven by concupiscence related to personal gain. That is also true for some Democrat leaders too.

The difference is that some Republicans have refined these two traits of prevarication and concupiscence into something that closely resembles imaginary voodoo. They wither because of it.

I am compelled to figure out why some people frequently make little to no sense, and spout nonsense for their personal gain.

Language essentially involves four processes: receptive, integrative, expressive, and pragmatic. Then you have deductive logic and inductive reasoning. All of these processes have to be somewhat intact for an individual to express a rational thought.

A high percentage of Republicans participate in these activities because the thought of having a black president is intolerable to them. Racism and ignorance have common roots and both can frequently be viewed as illnesses.

The etiology (cause) of an illness is often hidden, and the sequelae (presenting or residual effects) of an illness are frequently not.

For more information about why they think like they think, Google “Thinking Errors”. For more information about why these cognitive distortions occur, Google concupiscence.

In our world ignorance is not bliss, it’s propagated and malignant.

[iplaw]

You have to understand that for many of these people the racism is subconscious. They feel a nagging hatred but cannot admit what it is even to themselves.

[Bozwellian]

Think their racism is rooted in "fear", fear of exposure to being realized as mere ordinary and nothing sxtrodinary and just THEIR own skin color has allowed them "free passes" and they fear losing those meager free passes as well as truly FREAR , that what will indeed coe is that OTHERS WILL TREAT THEM as THEY HAVE BEEN TREATED ...think a good many are truly scared for such retribution , so ergo, they want the clock turned back, they want to stop things in track and they will cling to their very ingrained prejudices that has bolstered them thru the years and made them grateful to have been born so fortunate of ight skin for outward appearance, no matter how dark their sould truly be--Alot of the racismaticals IS based on personal fear--even they themselves had NOT practices outrageous presumptions in the past, they fear being lumped in with those that did therefore punished for others errancies in behavior...FEAR RULES OVER FAR TOO MUCH !!

[believethelie]

Thank you Mr Stamper for this article and the others that I have read from you.
The pen can sometimes be mightier than the sword, and although I don't give blind faith, I do have great faith that your words and insight can actually help this country....

Sometimes I wish I could be more eloquent. I just want to say Keep it up Man.

[lapdogs]

And that's the trouble. Nobody in the Republican Party wants to tell his/her fellow Senators and Representatives one simple word - "ENOUGH"!!

Followed by a simple question: "What Ever Happen To Our Civility?".

Instead, it's going to a private room on each side of Congress and plotting how to attack the other side tomorrow.

[nicole473]

Mr. Stamper,

You always tell it like it is. Thank you for your honesty and courage.