Urban Thought Collective

Kevin Wicks, a 38-year old father of two, was murdered by the Inglewood Police Department on Monday, July 21 in California. Gainfully employed by the United States Postal Service for almost 20 years, he was said to have raised/pointed a gun at police officers who had come to his apartment building.

A caller to 911 Emergency stated that a domestic disturbance was going on in the apartment building where Kevin lived but the caller was unsure of the exact apartment number. Police maintain they were sent to the correct address, Wicks’ apartment. The family of Wicks (who lived alone) says that police went to the wrong apartment.

Police murder of people of color is not a new story, but this particular one has a twist. It was the third shooting by Inglewood cops in as many months, and as if that wasn’t enough, the officer who fired the shot that killed Wicks, Brian Ragan, was recently placed back on the job after having been involved in another shooting a month or so earlier.

On May 11th of this year, Officer Ragan and his partner stated that shots rang out near a Rally’s fast food spot where they were patrolling. 19-year old Michael Byoune and two of his friends who were at the Rally’s were attempting to flee that same gunfire when their car crossed paths with Ragan’s police cruiser. The officers said they thought they were under fire, that the car coming near them was the source of the gunshots and, fearing for their lives, they opened fire on the vehicle.

No bullet holes were found in the patrol car, and no weapons were found on Byoune who was shot dead, his friends who were wounded, or in their vehicle.

Last week, U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) held a press conference in Inglewood, CA calling for a federal investigation into the shooting death of Wicks by Ragan.

Along with rallies and protests and marches and calls for the Chief of Police to resign, calls for independent and federal investigations seem to be the standard response to the unchecked murder of Black people by police. These calls usually fall on deaf ears; when they don’t, they end up exonerating the murderers of Black people. What we need is something else … something new. Or then again, maybe it’s not so new …

The institution of chattel slavery in the U.S. was the harshest known to the world where Our Ancestors suffered unspeakable horrors. This was all completely legal. To escape from enslavement or to help somebody escape was considered the crime.

But some folks knew better.

During the era of enslavement, Vigilance Committees and rescue parties were formed in the Northern U.S. to keep “fugitive slaves” free. History is replete with instances of where these committees would come together on a moment’s notice and literally “un-arrest” persons who were about to be sent “back down south.”

It is time – past time – that we flipped the script in regards to the crimes of the police:

ALL OF US – every last one of us – know someone who has been brutalized by the police, or know someone who knows someone.

We need to compare notes on these officers and tell our stories to the world in The Court of the People.

The defendants – criminal cops – should be given ample opportunity to defend themselves and their actions in Our Court (but they probably won’t).

The trial must and will go on in their absence.

And after they have been found guilty we must publicize their guilt loudly and widely.

And creatively.

One of my colleagues-in-struggle is fond of retelling a story from the early 80s when a cop was tried for his crimes in the ‘hood. He was found guilty of crimes against the people and his picture, complete with the words “guilty”, was blown up and placed on telephone poles, fences, storefronts, front lawns, fire hydrants - all over the cop’s beat. When he could no longer stand to look at himself, he left town.

Many retired, former and current law enforcement officers call small, bedroom communities like Simi Valley, CA their home. These out-of-the-way places are sometimes as many miles away culturally as they are physically from cities like Inglewood, Lennox, Compton and Lynwood.

“Field trips” to the entrances of these towns, houses of worships, grocery stores and a front lawn or two (complete with ‘mug shots” on signs) just might liven them up a bit.

We have a choice to make when it comes to police crimes against us: either it can no longer go on, or it can.

The choice does not belong to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey. The choice is not Inglewood P.D Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks . It ain’t LAPD Chief Bill Bratton’s either.

The choice is ours.

Thandisizwe Chimurenga is a community journalist and activist. She can be heard most Thursdays on “Some of Us Are Brave: A Black Women’s Radio Program” on KPFK - Pacifica Radio in Los Angeles. She is also the Director of the Ida B. Wells Institute, a leadership development and media training program for Black women and girls. Her social commentary blog is exclusive to Urban Thought Collective.