officers - The Black Vault

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Brewer said he personally made
sure, as head of personnel and
training, that minorities and women
received fair treatment in terms·
of promotions and assignments.
Other African~American officers
have said that merit, .not color, is
the department's criteria for moving
up the ladder. ·
"They give you a road map to
success," said Detective Kevin H.
Williams, who said he has been
promoted rapidly. "It wouldn't
make a difference if you were a
Martian, you could be successful in
theLAPD."
There comes a time -each day
when officers are off duty. Some
black officers who live or socip.Uze
in the neighborhoods they patrol
said the King incident follows them
home.
One recent Sunday, a black police
officer sat in a church's front
row as a member of the congregation
stood in the pulpit and derided
the men and women in blue.
"Big Daddy Blue was finally
caught beating a brother," the man
preached. "Is Big Daddy Blue out
of control? A little child cries: 'Big
Daddy Blue is coming. Black man,
run for your life.' "
After the videotape of King's·
beating was first broadcast,
some black officers said they had to
defend the ·department to old
friends, relatives, even spouses.
Bouey said even her children
have not escaped fallout from the
King incident. Her 10-year-old
daughter was told by a schoolmate
that Bouey was probably one of the
officers involved in King's beating.
Bouey said acquaintances .of ·her
:J.7-year-old daughter now call
Bouey "Sgt. Kickass."
Even before King, Bouey said,
several of her friends questioned
how she could rise each morning
and put on an LAPD uniform.
"In the beginning, they were
embarrassed to be seen with me,"
' said Bouey. They told her," 'I don't
want my friends to know I associate
with a cop.' It·takes a while to
be accepted, to be trusted.'' ,
· Some black officers said they can
understand the distrust, the outrage,
and offered their own experiences
that produced the same emotions.
-
. Hardeman recillled the 1967 riots
. .in his hometown of Detroit, when
. he watched parts of his town go up
in flap1es on the family's televisiori:· .
set. . · :. ~
"They'd interview people and it·
would be, 'Pig this and pig that,' "
he said of the riots. "And you'd see
police officers chase people who'd
been looting and beat them down
to the ground. It was brutal." .
Still, the police officers he saw in·
his nei~hborhood and o~ pis favor-
. ite television shows were his child~
hood heroes. At 11 years old, in the
wake of the Detroit riots, Hardeman
said he made a decision.
"My thing was, when I'm an
officer, I'm going to be different."
Williams, too, is not without
empathy for those who distrust
police.
"I know what it feels like to be a .
Rodney King," said the tall, mus- :
cular plainclothesman.
Williams said that· he was beaten
by two white Long Beach police
officers in 1984 after being stopped
before dawn one morning. It was a
random stop, Williams said, and he
.was never charged with any
wrongdoing.
"¥ 9U had a couple racist young
officers who felt they were going
to have some fun," he said. When
he told them he was an officer, ·
they refused to believe it.
The Long Beach officers accused
Williams of provoking the beating,
but Williams said he was later
exonerated during an internal investigation
by the Los Angeles
Police Department. He sued the
city of Long Beach, but let the
matter drop. .
"I f~lt betrayed," Williams said
of the incident. "It's like, no matter
what you attain in life, the fact that
you're black is always .going to
make a difference."
Los Angeles Times
'Every day, I get dressed
and go to work. and I have
to get ready for 8 hours
and 45 minutes of hate.'
DON WILLIAMS
Ten-year LAPD veteran