The Eric Garner Non-Indictment;The Whitest And Most Racist Borough Is An Ultra-Conservative Outpost And Bastion Of Reputed Mafioso

::::::::

There was a 14-minute video that shocked most Americans. The world saw a swarm of about six white NYPD cops behaving like a vicious tag team in WrestleMania II taking down an unarmed, overweight Black man on a New York Staten Island street for allegedly selling a couple of loose cigarettes. At the end of the video 42-year old Eric Garner lay dead, killed by a white, Italian police officer. That was in July.

Five months later a Staten Island Grand Jury of 14 whites and nine "non-whites" exonerated the white cop of all wrongdoing as if the video did not even matter. They ignored the fact that the cops attacked Garner who was heard in the video saying repeatedly "leave me alone, just leave me alone." The Grand Jury could not even bring back a misdemeanor charge against a cop with a history of bad behavior and who was attached to a precinct that gave new meaning to the movie "Copland."

But we should not be surprised. The Grand Jury is the District Attorney's private show held in secret and he or she could, as the saying goes, "indict [or not] a ham sandwich." Obviously a ham sandwich was more important than Eric Garner's life. After all what's another Black murder in the scheme of things? White cops all across the country do not place any value whatsoever on the lives of Black people; they care more about their dogs or cats that hold more currency when put against that of a Black individual, especially a Black male.

That is why part of the national narrative on this issue is wrong. You see, this is NOT about the infringed "rights of minorities," as President Obama on down the political spectrum keep talking about. White cops don't kill Asians, Indians, Hispanics or Jews in the numbers and with the regularity that they do Black people. Blacks, with the exception of Hispanics, number over 27 million people in the United States. We're no minority. Let is stop spinning this and call a spade a spade.

This is about Blacks and whites. It's about white cops (and the wider white community) penchant for using excessive force against Black people, and usually getting away with it for over 350 years. Its about white cops, prosecutors, judges and local state courts acting in concert and collusion with each other in an utterly incestuous relationship that encourages and allows white cops to get away with murder when they kill Black people.

Today, the NYPD has in its ranks a number of killer cops that have committed murder and now walk around with notches on their guns. They draw taxpayer funded pay and will, in all probability, draw cushy pensions and raise their grandchildren in "Staten Island's Copland."

Black people should stop acting surprised when white cops kill Black children. Eric Garner's killing was the latest in a long list of fatal clashes between Black men and white police officers that stretch back all the way through the founding of the United States. In New York City Eric Garner now joins a string of others that together form a glaring indictment and definition of excessive NYPD force: Amadou Diallo. Patrick Dorismond. Timothy Stansbury. Sean Bell. Ramarley Graham.

And the recent record of the New York Police Department (NYPD) is further evidence that a blind man or woman could see that there is something radically wrong with this decision. The chokehold is an illegal and unlawful technique banned by the NYPD; yet over a 12-month period the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) received over 1,000 complaints about cop-induced chokeholds. Of this number only nine were cited and loss a few vacation days as a result.

The cesspool deepens when you consider that local NYC District Attorney's -- the one in Staten Island included -- rely on the support of the over 38,000 cops of the NYPD to get re-elected and to investigate crime and make arrests. They are routinely endorsed by the unions that represent police officers; receive financial support and leverage from their partner unions among other things. Elected civil and criminal court judges also rely on cops both for their re-elections and for the furtherance of their careers.

So that the District Attorneys of New York City are beholden to the cops and in the Eric Garner case the DA acted as the cop's defense attorney and not the voice and defender of the dead man. In fact, New York City, a supposed bastion of liberalism, rarely prosecutes its murdering police officers -- white or Black - and the last time a white cop got jail time was in 1994 when an NYPD officer got seven years for choking Anthony Baez to death in the Bronx after his football accidentally struck the cruiser.

Now we march -- again. Until the next time when we'll march again, disrupt traffic for a few hours, and then its back to normal. Of course, our impotent political leaders will do what politicians do best when they don't have a clue or an answer to a very sensitive question, especially when it boils down to race. They will launch inquiries and convene commissions that release reports one year later with little or nothing to show for this waste of taxpayers' money.

And New York City's political establishment MUST bear some responsibility for the sordid outcome of this case. Starting with Governor Andrew Cuomo who refused to appoint a Special Prosecutor in the case even though he is well aware of the corrupt and shady history of Staten Island and its "cop culture."

In the days to come we're going to hear from many liberal conservative voices about how protesters should behave as if there are legislative rules about how and when to get angry and as if this is a Bible Study class. Protests, by their very nature, are emotionally charged activities and there is no telling people how to behave. That's why police come prepared to enact arrests, throw tear gas, institute baton charges, and other counter-force activities.

When cops kill unarmed Black people nobody asks them "to behave." On the contrary, many are the rushes to the defense of the cops claiming that they acted within the limits of the law and were "well within their rights." Its as if these folks have a monopoly on violence.

The level of underlying racism is seen in the way the white community -- cops included -- handle deliberate mass murder by white males. There the narrative is an excuse-laden presentation of supposed mental illness and childhood abuse of these stone-cold killers. They are always presented as clean cut, "All American" kids "gone wrong" by some social trigger, broken home or "crying out for help."

For Blacks? Michael Brown was a cigarette (or cigar) thief and Eric Garner was doing something illegally ergo both deserved to be killed. It is the way that white people see Black people -- Blacks are lazy, criminally pre-disposed, and sex-crazed; white murderers of all stripes are "good kids, from a good Christian family" that killed because they were mentally impaired and "snapped."

In New York City the NYPD is never wrong. How else is one to interpret the clear and unmistakable strangling of an unarmed Black man, in the street, caught on tape, in full public view, and the cop is exonerated, literally given a badge of honor and kudos of achievement for his actions? If the shoe were on the other foot the book would have been thrown at that person and "mob justice" would have been the preferred method.

But beyond the inane pontificating, over analysis, "looking pretty on TV," and calls for shoulder cameras -- as if that would somehow change or modify the racist behavior of white cops; hell, they were caught on camera killing a man in broad daylight and NOTHING HAPPENED, why would body cameras change anything or make a difference now?

In the end the Staten Island Grand Jury did hand down an indictment. It was the indictment of Commissioner Bill Bratton's failed and controversial "Broken Windows" policing strategy that goes after simple, quality of life offenses because there is a supposed "predisposition to do more deadly crimes." This is coded language for a stereotypical mindset and position best articulated by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani who rhetorically stated that the reason why white cops kill Black people is that the crimes are being committed in the Black community.

Apart from this utterly racist statement it also demonstrated a total lack of understanding of the history of race relations in New York City between Black and white people. Mr. Giuliani forgets, or conveniently does not want to remember, that Staten Island is much more than a modern day "Copland."

Staten Island has always been a Mafia enclave. And so criminality, as in organized crime, is not exclusive to the Eric Garners of the world. The truth is the seven hills of Staten Island have been home to some well known as well as some lesser-known Mafia families for more than 50 years now.

It was this checkered history of organized crime, that Mr. Giuliani also forgets, that inspired Hollywood moviemaker Francis Ford Coppola to shoot the wedding scene from The Godfather on the grounds of a home on Todt Hill, Staten Island. And Martin Scorsese also knew that when he shot several scenes from GoodFellas -- another violent Mafia-inspired flick in Staten Island strip malls.

In July 2013 prosecutors in Manhattan announced that they busted up a nine-man Bonanno Mafia crime family ring including two Staten Islanders, who they say extorted teamsters, ran an off-shore gambling operation, engaged in loansharking, sold drugs and armed themselves to the teeth.

According to the reports the reputed Mafia ring was run by 71-year-old Bonanno Family capo, Nicholas Santora, of Deer Park, N.Y., and included Anthony (Skinny) Santoro, 49, of the 300 block of Tanglewood Drive in Great Kills, as a soldier, and Anthony Urban, 49, Ely Avenue in Annadale, as an associate, authorities allege.

"This is a classic organized criminal scheme that used whatever means necessary to make money for the Bonanno crime family," said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr.

"That means threats of violence, that means extortion of union members, that means loansharking. It means offshore gambling. That means you have enough weapons at the ready to do business... and it means also, if necessary, it means selling whatever drugs you can get your hands on, even prescription medications like Viagra and oxycodone."

Welcome to Staten Island. It took the Manhattan District Attorney to break up the ring -- not his Staten Island counterpart. And you expect anything better from a District Attorney when white cops kill an unarmed Black man?

And what about the Grand Jury?

It's a secret, outdated legal instrument that is today used by District Attorneys and manipulated by them according to their whims and fancies. Ultimately, as presently constituted, Grand Juries frustrate justice and, in my humble opinion, should be disbanded in favor of an open, adversarial system.

Heck, the more things change is the more they remain the same.

Authors Website: http://www.CSG2017.com

Authors Bio:

MICHAEL DERK ROBERTS
Small Business Consultant, Editor, and Social Media & Communications Expert, New York

Over the past 20 years I've been a top SMALL BUSINESS CONSULTANT and POLITICAL CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST in Brooklyn, New York, running successful campaigns at the City, State and Federal levels. I'm a published author and award-winning journalist. I've been honored and recognized for my deep, hard-hitting analytical work on socio-economic and political issues confronting the United States in general and New York City in particular. I'm he Senior Consultant, COMMONSENSE STRATEGIES (www.commonsensestrategies.biz ), a Marketing, Social Media & Communications company based in Brooklyn. I also host two weekly podcasts at www.blogtalkradio.com/shangoking .The first, aired on Saturday mornings is called BTS -- Business, Technology and Social Media and the second, The Roberts Report, is aired on Sundays. You can also follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mdvroberts. (347) 279-6668.