officers - The Black Vault

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are preparing forwhaf they fear-may be
massive urban unrest. Isolated incidents
of violent anger were already occurring.
But I hope that, for the most part, the
anger from the King trial can be channeled
into specific actions. Instead of
trashing pur own neighborhoods from a
:reeling of hopeless impoterwe, we should
take stock of our numbers, coalesce with
other minority groups and work for a
little home improvement:
-Vote for Charter Amendment F,
which provides specific recommendations
for police reform, on J).me 2.
-Lobby to further change the city :
charter so that residence in tpe city is .
mandatory for LAPD officers. It's easy ,
to wreak havoc in one neighborhood and .
drive several miles away to live in •
another. P~rhaps if they were truly local '
residents, LAPD officers who aren't now .
living in the city would understand it in ·
·a different, better way. · ·
I'm well aware that the job of policing ·
a city as huge and .as diverse as Los .
Angeles is gigantic,' that the advent of
.drug-related violence and crime has:
·increased exponentially and ·that the·
police are the first vanguard against it. ·
Often their lives are on the line. - ·
But there's a considerable distance
between ·collaring criminals and the
practice of 'harassing citizens because :
they happen to be black and male and
thus automatically suspect. I hope, when
he's sworn in, that Willie L. Williams
will get the support and cooperation he
needs, so that the tension between much
of the LAPD and Los Angeles' minority
.communities will lessen. I hope he
makes enough progress that, by the time
my 8-month-old is ready to go to school,
I can tell him what my parents told me:
If something happens, if there's an
emergency, find a policeman. That policeman
(or, today, woman) is your
friend. Till that day comes, especially
·considering Wednesday's verdict, I can't
say a thing. . . ·
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