By Rabbi Ben Kamin
ENCINITAS, California — Ferguson, Missouri, and the inexplicable shooting of teenager Michael Brown, represents not only the latest episode of America’s urban war against black men—it will be far from the last.
Still unresolved is another horrifying racial incident in Miami Beach, Florida. Police there have still failed, ignominiously, to clear the air about the street slaying of motorist Raymond Herisse. Herisee, 22, was killed on a South Beach street in his vehicle in a barrage of firepower that entailed more than 100 rounds of ammunition.
Herisse was taken out, reports the Miami Herald, “in a frightening war-like moment that his family likens to being executed by a police firing squad.” [May 25, 2013]. No less than twelve officers were involved in an assault that left the young man with sixteen bullet wounds, slumped in his seat. Four bystanders were seriously wounded.
Again, the Miami Herald: “Two years and multiple lawsuits later, Miami Beach police have yet to produce evidence that Herisse did anything to deserve a death sentence.” Police have claimed that the man was speeding recklessly and hit an officer on bike patrol. No substantiation, including any witness or video footage, has been produced.
Let’s skip past the clichés as in, “If it had been a white victim,” etc. The reality is more repetitive than any cliché. From Mississippi to Los Angeles to St. Louis to Miami, white officers beating or killing black men, in displays of force and brutality that are inconsistent with any forms of social or legal codes, has been—and remains—rampant.
From the odious gang-murder of 14 year-old Emmitt Till in 1955 (he smiled at a white woman) to the shooting of Trayvon Martin (as if we don’t know the real story here) to a million unknown victims of this American slaughter, the life of a black male has never really amounted to much. We white folks fear black men so we acquiesce to a cycle that is infinitely more gruesome than the worst notions of them that we have carried.
What of the mass carnage ongoing in Chicago and so many other urban centers, not to mention the preeminence of black-on-black crimes that plague us? Unforgivable and intolerable—these are the only answers. And shame on the African American community and its many gratuitous “leaders” who offer nothing but steam and publicity stunts while their—and our—children are perishing in our streets and prisons.
But that doesn’t obscure the reality that our police squadrons, armed with military-level arsenals, and our vigilantes, driven by hate and police-like fantasies, remain free to reduce the humanity of any given black male into road kill. You could have just asked the late Rodney King, beaten senseless by LA police in 1991. The media kept on labeling him as “motorist Rodney King.” But he—and Raymond Herisse and Michael Brown were not motorists. They were men.
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Rabbi Kamin is a freelance writer based in the San Diego suburb of Encinitas, California. He may be contacted via ben.kamin@sdjewishworld.com
There is no war against black males the actual battle is black males against everyone else. In every case listed these black males have had criminal records and have taken place in criminal acts which have derailed their lives. It is a lie to say anything else has caused these criminals a shortened life but the black criminal male himself.
None of those cases are really similar at all. Emmett Till was a 14-year-old boy brutally murdered by two men after he *allegedly* flirted with a white woman. And as far as Trayvon, his death is certainly tragic, but the evidence I’m familiar with appears to indicate that he may have actually initiated the altercation-approached George, knocked him down with a suckerpunch and got on top of him and proceeded to repeatedly beat him. I admit that I’m not familiar with the case of Raymond Herisse.
“white officers beating or killing black men, in displays of force and brutality that are inconsistent with any forms of social or legal codes, has been—and remains—rampant.”
This smacks of emotional hyperbole. Oh, it definitely happens, and when it does, the perpetrators should certainly be punished. But to hear the good Rabbi talk, a black man don’t dare stick his head out of his house for fear of being sniped by some drunken, trigger-happy cracker POleesman. Far more likely is a innocent white person will get mugged and slugged by some two-bit gangbanger with his jeans around his knees. I recall reading that while White on Black crime does indeed occur, the reverse is rather more frequent.
Thank you for writing this column. I live in Miami Beach, and am still saddened by the police shooting of Raymond Herisse. I’m not surprised that they haven’t released any report, because the police here often operate like members of a gang. I am a white person in nice part of town, and I’m afraid to even post this comment for fear of retribution from the Miami Beach police. Many of my neighbors feel the same.
Here is a link that tells you more about Raymond Herisse’s family.
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_63293.shtml
Here are a few points:
1. The police mysteriously only found a gun in his car three days after the shooting. The autopsy report showed NO gunshot residue.
2. Raymond has been painted in the press as having “a lengthy criminal record — including prison time.” This was not true. He had a bunch of minor infractions. And this may only indicate that the police harassed him, which is common practice in places like Miami Gardens.
3. The police officer called Raymond’s car a deadly weapon, but there is no evidence that he did anything but swerve the car while under the influence. Raymond came to a slow stop at the traffic light. There was no movement for almost a minute before they shot up his car.
4. The police would not release an autopsy report until a judge ordered them to, but they did released a video of someone robbing a convenience store claiming that this was potentially Raymond. The footage was grainy and everyone here knew that this was an attempt to justify the shooting of 100 rounds at the young man.
5. In the shooting of Raymond Herisse, the police also shot a couple of innocent bystanders with bullets even going into the Subway sandwich store window. None of the bystanders have been compensated for their injuries (one is in a wheelchair). In fact the report has STILL not been released almost three years later. http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/05/24/4136622/probe-nearing-end-in-miami-beach.html
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