As we all know the joint investigation involving the FBI and the D.A’s office disturbing messages shared among law enforcement officers who serve in the Antioch Police Department. Forty-five officers were involved in the text message scandal while seventeen of them were in leadership positions. While these racist messages were indeed salacious, for many in the Black community, It was not surprising. This culture of coverup and camouflaging racism must now be confronted.
Let us be clear: the messages that the public is now consuming is the clear manifestation of institutional racism. Racism is prejudice plus power, and we cannot simply react to the prejudice without responding to the power! What makes these massages dangerous was not simply the mouths that uttered them, but the institutions that COVER them.
Historically this kind of racist behavior has been backed up by a badge.These texts don’t tell the entire story. They are only a window into a culture of white supremacy that has both penalized and terrorized Black residents for years. Local residents know that the former police chief of APD is married to the superintendent of AUSD. Therefore our miseducation is connected to our incarceration. Racism is a team sport, it is a complex system of privileges and penalties. It is also a global pandemic that has been widely institutionalized for both power and profit. Racism presupposes that there are disposable people in an institution where the color of someone’s skin is criminalized.
These officers dehumanized Black people with degrading stereotypes. They castigated our culture, stigmatized our melanin, and disparaged anyone who dare expose this racist behavior. These officers celebrated the desecration of black bodies. All should be outraged, instead there are some who are deflecting this clear discrimination by engaging in ad hominem attacks. However, this ‘Whataboutism” tactic will not work. It is both offensive and insulting. To all those who sought to recall Mayor Thorpe and get rid of Councilwoman Walker, we ask that you keep that same energy for these offending officers.
We support Mayor Thorpe in pushing for an immediate equity audit of the Antioch Police Department. Cops MUST have consequences. We have to do more than just investigate a few bad apples. We have to now start investigating the entire tree. As local black leaders, we will stand up and speak out against the ugly reality of racism in this city. And to those who have chosen to remain conspicuously quiet, just know: In the end we won't necessarily remember all the sayings of bad policemen, but WE WILL remember the compromising silence of good people.
Dr. Lamont Ali Francies, Ed.D, PPSC
Senior Pastor Delta Bay Community Church
Antioch CA
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