Franklin City Neighbors

Place Yourself in His Shoes

Jul 23, 2002

To understand outrage, place yourself in shoes of man roughed up

Last Updated: July 21, 2002

Eugene Kane

Billy Miles looks like me.

He's a black man with a broad nose and dark complexion. He's younger than me, but he has a familiar face.

In many ways, it could be the face of dozens of black men I've known. He could be one of my relatives, a cousin, a nephew or brother.

In a nutshell, that's my explanation for the way people of different races view the surveillance videotape of an alleged police assault in Milwaukee.

Much like the readers who were upset when a group of young blacks attacked white visitors at Summerfest two weeks ago, sometimes all you need to connect to a news incident is to imagine it could have been you.

For many citizens of this country, whenever a cop is caught abusing a black suspect, there's only one thought:

There, but for the grace of God, go I.

Which doesn't suggest most blacks believe they will find themselves arrested for a public disturbance like Miles. Many times in the black community a random encounter with the police can be as benign as a routine traffic stop.

That was the case with 16-year-old Donovan Jackson, who was handcuffed and punched in the face by police officers in Inglewood, Calif., earlier this month.

He wasn't a criminal, just a boy riding with his father.

Or, it could be a case of mistaken identity that leads to an unfortunate encounter with police. Such was the case with Abner Louima, the Haitian immigrant sodomized with a broomstick by a mad-dog police officer in New York City in 1997 after a wrongful arrest.

Viewing the now-infamous surveillance video of a Milwaukee police officer manhandling a black crime suspect, it's almost impossible not to react viscerally as an African-American.

My last column talked about the Inglewood case, which led to charges against the officer who punched Jackson. The Milwaukee videotape was just beginning to make the rounds in the media. By that evening, the tape of Miles being assaulted led every local news program.

The Miles videotape is different from the Inglewood tape - and the Rodney King tape, the "mother" of reality videos featuring police officers - because of one significant fact.

In most cases, the alleged police brutality was captured by a bystander looking to document an act of unreasonable arrest. This time, the Milwaukee police officers involved were performing only for themselves.

As a result of a change in policy by Chief Arthur Jones, there was a camera in the booking room that caught everything.

Even Jones' harshest critics should admit installing cameras in the booking area was an excellent policy change for the protection of both prisoners and officers. Jones' plans to upgrade the system to include sound monitoring will make it that much better.

When Miles' attorney requested a copy to defend his client from allegations of spitting on the officer, the violent interplay between Miles and officer Robert Henry was discovered.

Which means the videotape served its purpose, even if it didn't prove anything conclusively.

Dealing solely with the images broadcast last week, it's easy to see why many blacks consider the March 20 incident just one more confirmation of an ugly secret.

At the same time, it's puzzling to me that so many whites seem willing to give the officer the benefit of doubt before deciding if he was out of line.

The talk-radio chatter surrounding this case has already divided along racial lines.

Many whites - including police union chief Brad DeBraska - have suggested that Henry, who is the size of an NFL linebacker, was merely attempting to close Miles' mouth to keep him from spitting.

I've seen the tape several times. If Henry isn't grabbing the guy by the neck, then I'm going to have to check my prescription the next time I visit the optometrist.

Videotape, by its very nature, can be ambiguous. After watching movies on a state-of-the-art digitally mastered DVD system, many Milwaukeeans were probably frustrated at the lack of crystal clarity on the surveillance tape.

It's impossible to tell what's being said, even harder to determine why the other officers in the room simply stood back while Henry did his Hulk Hogan routine.

Just as in the racially motivated Summerfest attacks, any case of police brutality by a white officer on a black suspect serves to unravel a slender thread between the races.

Unlike misbehaving black youth, police officers have an awesome power to detain, question and arrest.

Law enforcement employees can't be allowed to dispense frontier justice on suspects who haven't been convicted - or even charged - with a crime just because they don't like their attitudes.

That's not how we do things here.

As this latest cop show gets replayed, it's time to admit that most people see what they want to see. If the person getting beat up looks like you - or someone in your family - maybe you see things differently.

If he doesn't look like you, maybe that's why you don't care.

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on July 21, 2002.