The case of three Milwaukee, Wisconsin ex-cops has ended in a verdict of acquittal. The case stems from the brutal beating of a young Black man, Frank Jude, who ventured to the home of one of the accused, where, the alleged theft of a badge took place.
According to several witnesses, three then-off-duty cops, Andrew Spengler, Daniel Masarik, and Jon Bartlett, brutally beat Jude in the street in front of Spengler’s house.
The beating has incensed the community, for not only was Mr. Jude beaten, and repeatedly kicked in the face, but he was viciously kicked in the groin, and something sharp was shoved into his ears by the cops.
This Wisconsin whipping was witnessed and occasionally joined in by scores of cops (for Spengler was holding a party at the time, attended by at least a dozen off-duty cops).
What was most remarkable about the trial, however, wasn’t even the brutal beating or subsequent torture of Jude.
What was remarkable was the train of cops who took the stand, perhaps a dozen or more, most of whom swore an oath that they didn’t see a single punch, nor kick of the man. Mr. Jude’s pants and jacket were literally cut away from his body, yet when cops took the stand, all but two said they saw no such thing.
Now, an all-white jury has returned with a not-guilty verdict.
Why should we even be surprised?
Why do we continue, after so very many examples, to expect justice, and equality from courts erected on an edifice of injustice?
In what must have been an historic event, the prosecutor made a *Batson* objection during jury selection, after several potential Black jurors were removed from the panel.
Apparently, that was the key ingredient that the cops’ lawyers needed to win their acquittals — an all-white jury, which would bless their brutalities in the name of ‘keeping the natives at bay.’
In the year 2006, we have seen a virtual replay of the Rodney King verdict, this time in the nation’s East North-central region.
Mr. Jude was beaten almost to death, and an all-white jury essentially proclaimed, ‘good job.’
What does that tell you about American justice?
What does this tell you about a jury of peers?
The tragic truth is that this could’ve happened anywhere in America. And, without the slightest doubt, it will happen again!
So common is this phenomenon that one needs only mention names, ones indelibly stamped in consciousness, for they reflect the plague of police violence, and in most cases, the failure of the State to punish such state violence. Some of those names are: Jonny Gammage; Archie Elliot; Rudy Buchanan; Delbert Africa; Malice Green; Esequiel Hernandez, Jr.; Ivory McQueen; Amadou Diallo …. etc. These are just a smidgen of the names that could be listed here. Interestingly, it is hardly necessary for us to mention more than the name itself. The names have become a kind of shorthand, a code for a social process that is an epidemic of state violence and terror. Indeed, its ubiquity proves, it is the very function of the cops; ‘protect and serve’ is for others! Charges against these vicious marauders are so rare, that it becomes big news.
The verdicts from Milwaukee will echo around the country, silent assurances that that’s the way the job should be done.
And the jury of the blind will proudly pat each other on the back, safe and secure in the illusion of whiteness, until their loved one, their child, their mother, is ‘tuned up’ by those sworn to ‘serve and protect.’
Then, only then, will they look back, and learn with horror, that in the swollen, blood-gorged eyes of Mr. Jude, lies a mirror of their hidden self.
Then they will learn the folly of their deeds.
