Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 17 March 2000 — Page 2

The Muncie Times, March 17, 2000, page 2

EDITORIAL

Justice Dept, should probe New York’s Diallo killing

By T. S. Kumbula The verdict is in. A 12-member jury has ruled that four white New York City police did nothing wrong in firing 41 shots, 19 of which found their mark, which killed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo. The victim, you see, was armed with a wallet when the bullets felled him in the vestibule of his New York City apartment. It was a stunning verdict, one from which many of us may find it hard, if not impossible to recover: an innocent man is dead from police gunfire. A jury in another city improbably claims that race was not a factor when the jurors decided that the police did nothing wrong. That’s hard to stomache. Would the same

The Muncie Times accepts and publishes "Letters to the Editor" under the following conditions: M The letter must indicate the writer’s name, address and phone number where the writer can be reached during the day. Addresses and phone numbers will not be published. £ If the writer wishes the letter to be published under a pseudonym, that wish will be

jury have deliberated and decided that the police had acted within the rules of their duties if four African American police officers had fired and killed a young white man—who was later found “armed” with a wallet? We strongly doubt that would have been the case. So would many other rational and thinking Americans. That is a sad state of affairs, especially at a time when racism has boldly resurfaced, when hate crimes are on the increase, w r hen some presidential candidates see nothing wrong with a Confederate flag flying over South Carolina and when it has become fashionable in some quarters to pretend that race, ethnicity and

honored. However, the writer’s full particulars must be included in the letter, along with the suggested psedonym. M Letters must be brief, preferably no more than 300 words long and should, if possible, be typed and doublespaced. Hand-written letters will also be accepted. R The editor reserves the right to edit all letters for brevity,

national origin are no longer important. Those who want to believe such heresy are living on some bizarre island or smoking funny cigarettes. Racism, racial and ethnic discrimination are alive and well in Muncie, across the Hoosier state and across the United States. Let’s not kid ourselves on this score. We have much to do to keep the conflict under control. But we cannot do that by running away from the conflict and the problems. Something is drastically wrong in New York (and across the country) when white Los Angeles police officers, who are videotaped brutally and enthusiastically beating up motorist Rodney King or New York

accuracy, taste, grammar and libel. M All correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor, The Muncie Times, 1304 N. Broadway, Muncie, IN 47303. M Unsolicited manuscripts will only be returned if the writer includes a self-addressed, stamped envelope with correct postage.

officers who fire 41 shots at an unarmed black man are routinely found not guilty. Would the verdict have been the same if four African American Los Angeles police officers had been videotaped beating up a white man or if four African American policemen had fired 41 shots at a white suspect? We doubt that. We would be hard pressed to find a rational American, white, black or Hispanic, who would believe that all American residents are treated equally by the police. If that was the case, there would be no hullabaloo about racial profiling, the practice where white law enforcement officers single out non-whites for stopping, searching, arrests or ticketing because the suspects are the “wrong” color. We are entering the 21st century, a pivotal time in our history. By the middle of this century, the United States of America will become a true melting pot—because no single racial or ethnic group will be dominant. By the end of this century, today’s racial and ethnic minorities will

have become the country’s minority-maj ority— meaning that the combined populations of today’s ethnic and racial minorities will become the largest single group in the country. That is a sobering thought. It will mean a reordering of priorities. It will mean that today’s Anglo or Caucasian majority will become an ethnic minority before this century is out. That means, we will have to start looking at each other as residents of the total United States of America, instead of separating each other along linguistic, cultural, ethnic or racial divisions. When that happens, this country is likely to be transformed into the land of racial and ethnic equality and fairness that the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of in his famous “I Have A Dream” speech in August 1993. We cannot wait for the advent of that day when the United States of America will become a truly heterogeneous society.

LETTER POLICY

MUNCIE TIMES STAFF

Publisher Bea Moten-Foster Editor John T. Lambkun Advertising Bea Moten-Foster and Richard Casey Layout Lament Chandler and Shana Looney Typesetting Samantha Overbay

Contributors: Dr. WJ. Duncan, Tabatha A. Tower-Harris, Bea Moten-Foster, Bernice PowellJackson, Dr. T.S. Kumbula, John Lambkun, Judy Mays and Flugh Price. The Muncie Times is published twice monthly at 1304 N. Broadway, Muncie, Ind. 47303. It covers the communities of Anderson, Marion, New Castle, Richmond, and Muncie. All editorial correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor, The Muncie Times, 1304 N. Broadway, Muncie, IN 47303. Telephone (765) 741-0037. Fax (765) 741-0040.

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