Just living up to the image...
Posted on 06/25/2005 7:41:29 AM PDT by ken21
COMMENTARY: ALBERTA PHILLIPS Phillips: Austin's white leaders shouldn't turn way from this tragedy Alberta Phillips, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESWOMAN
Recent columns
* Phillips: Austin's white leaders shouldn't turn way from this tragedy * Phillips: Trying to ease tensions, even while the fires rage * Phillips: After club fire, police comments still smolder * Phillips: Abortion should be rare – and here's how to make that happen * Phillips: The politics of forgiveness: Practicing it won't make you weak * Phillips: Bush missed chances to win over African Americans voters * Phillips: GOP tries new tactics to recruit black voters * Phillips: Texas isn't raising taxes – but we still pay * Phillips: This is 'changing the tone' in Washington? * A journey from Harlem to Harvard and beyond
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Excuse me for bringing this up, but someone must.
Where were the white members of the Austin City Council last week when hundreds of people packed the Dove Springs Community Center to air their fears, frustration and lack of trust in the Austin Police Department?
Tragedy again struck this community on June 9, when Austin officer Julie Schroeder shot and killed Daniel Rocha, 18, during a drug-related traffic stop. We still don't know the circumstances that caused Schroeder to use lethal force that night, or whether it was justified.
Schroeder says she shot the teenager because she believed he had gained possession of her stun gun and was about to use it on her sergeant at the scene. The seven-year veteran said her Taser was dislodged during a struggle with Rocha while she was trying to arrest him. Some residents who witnessed the incident say she shot Rocha in the back as he lay defenseless on the ground. Ultimately, a grand jury will answer whether Schroeder's acts were criminal or legal. Meanwhile, the Austin Police Department is investigating.
Other than Mayor Will Wynn, who made a brief appearance at the start of last week's meeting in Southeast Austin, just two council members showed up: Raul Alvarez, who is Hispanic, and Danny Thomas, who is African American. They stayed more than five hours.
MIA were Brewster McCracken, who was home with a sick child; Daryl Slusher, who said he had another commitment; Betty Dunkerley, who did not return phone calls; and Jackie Goodman, who could not be reached. Goodman and Slusher have since ended their council terms, but they were in office when the shooting and the community meeting occurred. None sent a staff member in their place.
Also absent was Austin Police Association President Mike Sheffield, who is quick to clear officers of wrongdoing while cameras are rolling but slow to face residents when they raise legitimate questions about officers' professionalism. He was at a conference out of town, he said.
As it stands, a teenager is dead. An officer's career — and future — is in limbo. Trust between minority citizens and police is shattered, community frustration is on the brink of boiling and the FBI is investigating. Yet, the City Council marginalized the crisis by dispatching only its minority members to last week's meeting.
Austin's liberal collar has slipped, exposing a red neck.
The overflow crowd at the meeting sensed the insult: Several yelled "Tio Taco" and "Uncle Tom" when Alvarez and Thomas spoke. This wasn't a militant affair. These were mothers with babies, high school students in baggy trousers and blue jeans, fathers in white shirts and ties, community and church leaders and a few old hippies and Brown Berets. They were mostly Hispanic, but African Americans and white people were in the crowd, too.
Yes, Rocha was shot in southeast Austin, in a largely Hispanic neighborhood not far from where his family lives. But it shouldn't be necessary to remind council members, who are elected at-large, that they represent all residents of Austin — regardless of their ZIP codes.
Give Police Chief Stan Knee credit for being there for the entire meeting and for listening respectfully to people, who had little good to say about him, his Police Department and his leadership. Some called for his resignation. City Manager Toby Futrell was there, too. By being there, they earned the respect — if not the trust — of those in the audience.
It was a tough meeting, and emotions ran high as people still grieving tried to make sense of police actions that ended in the death of one of their own. This was the third fatal shooting of a minority resident in as many years, and the community is entitled to answers about whether police are too quick to use force when it involves African Americans or Latinos. Some people feared the meeting was being held too soon after the shooting, but police monitor Ashton Cumberbatch was right not to wait. We all know what happens when we fail to release steam in a pressure cooker: The lid blows.
Some tension was eased that night. That's good. But the healing won't be complete until the City Council understands that tragedies shouldn't be ghettoized.
aphillips@statesman.com ; 445-3655
she's got a point many of the white elected leaders were no shows. i heard some of it on klbj. it was hysterical. one woman called the austin police kkk. but "tio taco" and "uncle tom" reflect badly on the activists.
the city manager toby futrell has worsened race relations in austin by first offering a "forgiveable loan" to the black community, but then secondly, rescinding the offer. each time the temperature went up in the city.
No, it means that there's still some people in Austin with enough common sense to see this situation for what it is.
yeah, well, there's no common sense on this matter.
and, i doubt that you'll see any.
the "progressives" are going to keep this very emotional, if not hysterical.
Just living up to the image...
ping for an Austin story.
Albertta Phillips is the resident racial agitator on the Austin Spaceman staff. Rather than pointing out how unfair it was for the council members who *were* there to be insulted, she fans flames of racial resentment ...
For example: "It was a tough meeting, and emotions ran high as people still grieving tried to make sense of police actions that ended in the death of one of their own."
Let's translate ... "tough meeting, and emotions ran high" means that many people showed up merely to jeer and throw epithets at the city leadership (they deserve jeers but not "Unlce Tom"). ... "tried to make sense of police actions" they want to accuse the police before the facts are in, so they spew allegations ... " the death of one of their own" racialist ethnic-group thinking, that all the ethnic group are 'bros' and whites are outsiders.
Alberta Phillips is there, like a journalistic Jesse Jackson, to keep hype alive.
i believe that. i think there's something very wrong at the top.
for example, how the city manager toby futrell gets off scott free, i don't understand. no one has criticized her.
yet, her actions have created a lot of animosity in the community. first, she suggested that the black owner of burned bar get a "forgiveable loan". this increased the heat.
then, when that appeared stupid, she reversed herself and took back the loan. this only intensified the heat in the black activist community.
but she has not been criticized to my knowledge. in fact, she gets a positive rating in the article above.
yes.
we call the paper the austin unamerican stateswoman because it's radical feminist and "progressive". and i got attacked by a freeperette who supposedly is conservative.
the paper is hostile to president of the united states.
the paper editorialized that ann coulter's presentation at the lbj library was "hate speech".
Alberta? Do you kiss your mama with those racist lips?
Let them have it. If they want help, perhaps they should accept some responsibility for themselves and stop using whitey as a political punching bag.
The only tragedy awaiting Austin this weekend is what the Gators are going to do to the Longhorns in Omaha.
'Smart Growth' Killed 'Austin Wierd'
As a white person, I am offended that someone thinks my skin needs "leaders". I've got my elected representatives and my Pope, and that's about all the leadership that I have agreed to.
Just curious...a austin freeper meeting would probably be fun. Any interest? There might be 3 of us.
Austin's liberal collar has slipped, exposing a red neck.
Right, whites not showing up for this mini racist show trial are rednecks but those in the audience who call out "Uncle Tom" or "Tico Taco" aren't so bad.
This was the third fatal shooting of a minority resident in as many years, and the community is entitled to answers about whether police are too quick to use force when it involves African Americans or Latinos.
The community is also entitled to an open discussion of the scale of black and brown violence and answers on what part this propensity for violence plays in violent confrontations with police, and what part racism of African Americans and Latinos plays in those confrontations.
Do these "witnesses" have names?
why is it that toby futrell has not been criticized nor asked to resign?
her stupidity brought austin to near-riots.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.