police brutality against Negroes takes place in the Deep South,. Northern police departments are equally racist but they are forced. ‘to: operate . in’ O.. - Somewhat aifferent social climate.
Letts” just take some recent examples from the area in and _ around Detroit, Michigan. ._Here we have an illuminating picture of .
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typical police-community relations in a een. industrialized urban “Progressive® Northern Aree. Se eee
“Barbara Jackson, a Negro woman, was taken into a police station accused of accosting and soliciting, She claims that two white policemen kicked her, The police claim that they. merely restrained : her when .she tried to kick the citizen who- had lodgedthe complaint “against her, After investigating the case, the police commissioner reprimanded and transferred the two policemen because they "failed tae... properly protect the prisoner,
Both the NAACP and the Michigan Civil ‘Rights Commission Ob= .. ‘Jected to the closing of this case. The president of the NAAGP stated, "This is further proof. of the reluctance of the Detroit Police Department to dispense justice when a Negro had been brutalized, This decision supports the argument that Mississippi is not just a geographical location but also a state of mind, one which is much too prevalent in our police department. . . Commissioner Girardin knows of the frequency with which the so-called taccidents!. occur because he has and has had for some time a number of cases in which . police brutality is charged against police officers, but to this day, after very long and extensive investigations. by fellow officers, the charges of. brutality are never substantiated.!
Shortly after the Barbara Jackson case was closed, another case of police brutality was being investigated by the department, On December 12 a white policeman was killed in a gun battle with a Negro.fugitive. Among the persons drawn to the scene was a Negro photographer employed by the city, Edgar Taylor describes what hap-’ pened .to him when he started to take pictures of the slain policeman:
"T noticed this man pacing up and down in an excited manner. He didn't look like a policeman. He was wearing a jacket and wasn't in uniform, Suddenly he ran up to a man (Negro) and straight-armed him, I shot a picture of it, you might say by instinct. Then I saw > this same man running back and forth. Suddenly he sprinted toward me. He ripped the camera strap from my aa: took my camers, held it over his head and smashed it. on the street." .
At this point Taylor was grabbed by two uniformed officers, "They held me by the arms. I made no attempt to struggle. They weren't rough or anything, they just walked me to a squad ¢ar. I was. standing by the open front door of the car with the officers still holding me, This man came up ‘to me again, grabbed me around the neck with his left arm and smashed me in the face with his other fist." Taylor crumpled into the police car and lay dazed across the seat. "I started to get my wallet out to identify myself but this man dived on Me He rammed his knee into my groin and hit me again in the Paces. « cles “grabbed another cathera and smashed it,
"The. next thing I remember was ‘hearing somebody say Geb him out of heret and one of the officers pulled me out of the car and
stood me up.. He walked me toward the back of the car. My son (six years old) was screaming and yelling, ‘Why are they hitting Daddy?! Then they let me go,"
What happened to Taylor was reported to the mayor's office and the Michigan Chronicle, a weekly Negro newspaper. Another Negro, © a university student, Sidney Fields, was also attacked by the same man and Fields’ filed’ a complaint with the police department. ‘The attacker. was positively identified from film salvaged from Taylor's smashed camera. He was Joseph Michalski, a member of the Detroit police force since 1955, When confronted with the complaints against him Michalski explained he "lost his head and became very emotional" after seeing a fellow officer killed by a Negro. He admits breaking all the cameras but denies beating anyone. Taylor's physician repor= ted that his patient had a fractured Jaw. . on
‘When Fields filed his complaint, the investigatory machinery of the police department began rolling. © (The policemen who were holding Taylor and who witnessed the assault evidently did nothing about it.) Michalski was suspended pending further investigation by the department. As NAACP Wadsworth has noted, ‘however, “after very long and extensive investigations by fellow officers, the charges of brutality are never substantiated,"
Just ten days after the Michalski-Taylor-Fields case, another white: policeman shot and killed Nathaniel Williams, a 15-year-old Negro who was caught at the scene of a burglary. Patrolman Berry explained that he shouted "Halt!" and when the boy tried to run away, the policeman fired, shooting Williams in the head. Wayne Country Prosecutor Samuel Olsen said the officer was merely doing his duty.
The Detroit NAACP issued a statement declaring, "Nathaniel Williams becomes another in an all too:long list of persons who have been killed by police officers when neither the officer's life nor that of anyone else was in jeopardy. These killings are senseless and in some instances border on being wanton. They can be stopped but only by city officials concerned enough to take a strong, unequivocal stand that requires police officers to exercise restraint and responsibility."
The NAACP said it recognized the importance of a good police department “but it is impossible to place confidence in an organization that so frequently and readily demonstrates its complete disregard for persons of color,"
‘High-ranking officials in the Detroit area have already taken “a strong, unequivocal stand" -- exactly contrary to the one demanded by the NAACP and others, Prosecutor Olsen issued a statement December 14 to all police agencies in Wayne County, including the Detroit city government, advising that they need_not permit the newly established Michigan Civil Rights Commission [orc] to question officers or witnesses in criminal cases, The CRC is currently checking on 64
complaints of police violations of civil rights in Detroit,
Adjacent to Detroit is the small city of Dearborn which has long boasted of its lily-white composition. On December 18 Dear-= bornts two top police officers, Police Chief Clayton and Safety Director Lewis, were indicted by a federal grand jury for failing to act properly in a civil-rights incident which occurred Labor Day, 1963, Giuseppe Stanzione had rented his upstairs apartment to a young couple.. They hired Negro movers and when the neighbors saw Negroes carrying furniture into Stanzione's house they assumed the Negroes had bought the house, A mob quickly gathered (reaching 400 at its height) and hurled rocks, bottles and eggs at the house, poured sugar into the gas tank of Stanzione's parked car, littered the lawn and porch with debris and physically assaulted Stanzione "while police stood idly by," and made no effort to protect Stanzione or disperse the MOD »
Stanzione_ gharges the public officials with deliberately encouraging Dearborn racists by demonstrating that they would not: afford police protection to anyone selling or renting property to: Negroes. Dearborn City Attorney Ralph Guy, Jr., stated that Lewis =< and Clayton were "present and in charge" during the events but that the city's investigation showed that the officials "at all times used the best Judgment and proceeded ina proper legal manner under the cireumstanees," . &
Legal or not, the police acted in a typical manner during this Northern racist attack, The only thing misstne to make this a "clas~ sic" example was shooting one of the Negro movers "to preserve law and order,"
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