110 Black Victims Killed by Police, Guards and Unofficial Watchmen in First Half of 2012

By Frederick H. Lowe

In the wake of Trayvon Martin's shooting death by Florida neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, a human-rights organization for Afrikans based in Washington, D.C.,  published a report that revealed that police, security guards and self-appointed law enforcers killed 110 black men and women from Jan, 1, 2012 to June 30, 2012.  One hundred and five of the murder victims were men. Five were women.

"Every 40 hours another black woman, man, child is killed by police or security guards and self-appointed law enforcers," the report said.

The study, which is titled "Report on the Extrajudicial Killings of 110 Black People," noted that the killings are not accidental, the result of random acts of violence or the work of rogue cops.

The organization defines extrajudicial killings in which the killers act with impunity and are often rewarded and promoted for murder," the report said.

It lists 24 states and the District of Columbia as locations where African Americans have been killed in extrajudicial shootings by police. New York, Texas and Florida reported the highest numbers of shooting deaths of black people with 11 each.

"The use of deadly force against black people is standard practice in the United States and woven into the very into the very fabric of the society," the report says. "Nowhere is a black man or woman safe from racial profiling, invasive policing, constant surveillance and overriding suspicion. All black people --- regardless of education, class, occupation, behavior or dress --- are subject to the whims of the police whose institutionalized racist policies and procedures require them to arbitrarily stop, frisk, arrest, brutalize and even execute black people."

The 22-page report names each individual who was either shot and killed by the police, a security guard, or a self-appointed law enforcer during the six months covered in the report. Organization officials studied each of the 110 deaths, including inconsistent police claims and witnesses' reports that contradict police reports.

The report notes whether the victim was armed or unarmed and describes the circumstances surrounding the person's death. In addition, the report discusses whether police, security guards  or self-appointed law enforcers eventually were held responsible for the shootings. In most cases, nothing happened.

In one case, Canard Arnold, a 17-year-old Atlanta teenager, was shot in the back and killed by Christopher Hambrick, a white security guard, on January 1. Hambrick said he felt threatened because Arnold had been involved in a gunfight, but several witnesses said the unarmed Arnold was running away. Despite pleas by family members to have the security guard arrested, police ruled the shooting as justified.

In other cases, the shooting was so questionable that it led people unrelated to the deceased individual to get involved.

Manuel Loggins, Jr., a 31-year-old former Marine Sergeant, was shot to death by an Orange County, Calif., deputy sheriff in San Clemente, Calif., as Loggins' two daughters, 9 and 4, waited for their father inside the family SUV.

Initially, the deputy said he feared for his safety, but he later said he feared for the girls' safety.  The shooting, which occurred Feb. 10, 2012,  angered the Marine Corps Commander at Camp Pendleton, who defended Loggins. The former mayor of San Clemente raised funds for Loggins' family. Loggins' widow filed a wrongful death suit in federal court and accused the sheriff's department of false arrest and imprisonment because deputies detained the two girls for 13 hours in isolation following their father's murder. As of June 29, the district attorney office had not completed its investigation.

Deadly shootings involving mentally ill black children are also common, the report found. On Feb. 2, 2012, Calumet City, Ill., police shot and killed Stephon Watts, a 15-year-old boy who suffered from Asperger's syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. Stephon's family had called the police because he was upset, and they were unable to calm him down.

Police said they shot and killed Stephon when he lunged at them with a knife. The teenager's mother said he had a harmless pen knife. The Cook County, Ill., States Attorney refused to charge the cops. The family, however, sued for damages alleging a wrongful death.

In many cases, the news media quickly accept and publish the justification given by police for deadly shootings of black men.

Miami police shot and killed Rudy Eugene, allegedly for eating the face of Ronald Poppo, a 65-year-old homeless man. The news media reported on May 26, 2012, that the 31-year-old Eugene was high on the drug "bath salts" when he attacked Poppo. Police shot Eugene four times, killing him. Newspaper, television and radio reports called Eugene a 'cannibal.'

An autopsy did not find human flesh in Eugene's digestive system, and a toxicology report did not find "bath salts" or other drugs in his system.

The report notes that mainstream media and the police often march in lockstep when it comes to reporting negative stories about black men.

"Nearly all of the mainstream media join in a chorus that sings praises of the police and read the same script that denounces the alleged 'thuggery' of the deceased," the report said. "Lurid headlines about cannibalism fuel demonization of black men."

Although the majority of shooting deaths that appear, on the surface at least, to be racially motivated, one involved a black security guard shooting to death a guest of a Birmingham, Ala., motel during an argument. The guard, Pierre Myles, 24, is charged with murder in the May 25, 2012 shooting death of 27-year-old David Winston, who was unarmed.

Unlike the majority of black shooting deaths, Trayvon Martin was not afforded a small amount of local news coverage, buried and forgotten.

"Thirty-seven percent of the black people who were executed in the first half of 2012 seem to have been totally forgotten," the report found. "A careful internet search could not find their names after an initial flurry of news about their killings."

Zimmerman shot and killed an unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February 2012. After a worldwide outcry, pushed through social media, Florida prosecutors charged Zimmerman with second-degree murder 44 days after Martin's killing.

The report notes the following statistics of blacks murdered in extrajudicial shootings:

• 13 or 12 percent were children under 18 years old
• 20 or 18 percent were 18 to 21 years old
• 45 or 41 percent  were 22 to 31 years old
• 17 or 15 percent were 32 to 41 years old
• 9 or 8 percent were 42 to 51 years old
• 4 or 4 percent were over 52 years old
• 2 or 2 percent were of undetermined age

The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement has launched an online petition drive to implement a comprehensive plan for racial justice. Its website address is http://mxgm.org/trayvon-martin-is-all-of-us/