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Police From 1 Tyrone Terrill, chairman of the African-American Leadership Council said seeing the officer kick Hightower reminded him of darker days in our nation’s history. “What I saw was a harkening back to Alabama and ‘Bull’ Connor,” said Terrill in reference to the Birmingham commissioner of public safety who would routinely use fire hoses and police dogs to attack African Americans during the 1960s. “You don’t do that to a human being. Zilge kicked a young man for no reason.” Hightower’s attorney, Seamus Mahoney, said his client suffered a bruised chest from being kicked and chemical burns to the face as a result of being pepper-sprayed.
Race From 1 eye color, facial and body structure, and so forth. These are physical facts, which can be seen and measured. But it does not end there. This is not quite what we mean when we say “race.” We mean something much deeper, which goes beyond mere facts that can be observed. According to structured “race” thinking to which American society is enslaved, the way one looks can tell you many things
Obama From 4 her arms, and so in representing the First Lady’s body as a nude Percheron-Daniels has tapped into an emotional minefield of images of Black women used as breeders and forced sometimes to mate with their own sons under slavery, Black women subject to rape whether slave or free, Black women referred to as “hoes and bithes,” Black women characterized as “angry,” if they are strong and assertive, Black women portrayed as the penultimate caretaker in the form of “mammy,” and most recently a slew of films by Black men in which they resurrect a contemporary mammy in the form of Madea and Big Momma. Yeah, we Black women are a little bit sensitive about how we get represented—ya think? And so, when people like PercheronDaniels start messing with the few positive images of Black women that have survived brutal scrutiny such as First Lady Michelle Obama, they’d better be prepared for a reaction. There is art and there is insult, even if it’s presented as art. Of course, one of the occupational hazards of being in the public eye is that your image and your life are open books, up for grabs, and subject to numerous interpretations over which you have little say. Karine PercheronDaniels is capitalizing upon First Lady Michelle Obama’s image and reputation. She may make a fortune due to the controversial nature of her work. I hope that she will take some of those funds and support programs devoted to efforts that improve the lives of Black
Insight News • September 10 - September 16, 2012 • Page 13
Insight News was able to locate the person who filmed the alleged brutality and spoke with
that person under the condition of anonymity. “I’m scared the St. Paul Police are going to do something to me,” said the individual who filmed the nearly five minutes of footage. “Police surrounded the park and I got out of there as fast as I could.” The person who shot the footage with a cellular phone said a call was immediately placed to local ABC television affiliate, KSTP-TV. The individual said a representative of the station declined to view the footage, so the individual decided to post the footage on the internet. St. Paul Police Public Information Officer, Howie Padilla, said St. Paul Police Chief Tom Smith called for an immediate internal investigation into the incident. Padilla said Zilge was immediately placed on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of the
investigation. “The chief has said right away that he wants to know everything that happened – from start to finish – with this entire incident,” said Padilla. “Chief Smith is looking to get as many answers as he can.” As a result of the ongoing internal investigation, another officer, Matthew Gorans, has also been placed on administrative leave. It is not yet known why Gorans has been placed on leave. Padilla said the investigation into the incident will be swift. “I don’t envision this being an investigation that will take months to complete,” said Padilla. “The chief is taking this very seriously.” Martin said he has been in contact with Chief Smith regarding the incident and believes the chief is sincere in his efforts to thoroughly investigate the incident.
these traits come only through genes, no matter what the environmental circumstances. To believers in “race,” questions of culture, history, and collective experiences do not enter the picture. A given group of people’s success or failure is all due to genes. This is called biological determinism, like predestination, which is believed in certain religious circles. One should not need science, but common sense, to observe; that there is something illogical and wrong-headed with this type of thinking. Genes may have something to do with, but could
not, in the generality, tell how intelligent a given individual is. We must hasten to eventually add that there are multiple intelligences. There is no one way to be intelligent, like there is no one way to be human. This is as evident as the music we make. “Race,” therefore, is a myth. It is a powerful and pervasive myth, which obstructs clear thinking. A myth is a simple way to explain something that is complex. A myth is what makes thinking unnecessary. Now let it be said that all myth is grounded in some reality. A myth is not
simply an idle tale from our folklore. Saying that “race” is a myth is different than saying that it is an outright lie. Myth is what the general society believes is true, although the beliefs are unfounded, shrouded in halftruths, distortions and fantasy. A myth is very close to superstition and indeed is an intrinsic part of superstition. Belief in witches, possession, and fetishes were once widely believed, and thus governed much, if not most, of that society’s behavior. There are, however, certain aspects of “race” that are real. There is a predisposition of certain
populations, not “races,” to certain inherent diseases. Skin cancer and acne are pronounced among so-called white people with less melanin (color) in their skin. African Americans are disposed to contract sickle cell anemia, which is rare among European populations, and is equally rare among Africans in Africa. In short, Swedes do not fall victim to sickle cell anemia, and neither does Nelson Mandela’s people in South Africa.
wiki/File:Marie-Guillemine_ Benoist_-_portrait_d%27une_ negresse.jpg Hugh Honor, The Image of the Black in Western Art IV: From the American Revolution to World War I and Black and White Myths (Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1989). Revised editions of The Image of the Black in Western Art, All volumes: http://www. hup.harvard.edu/catalog. php?isbn=9780674052611 http://cunycomposers. wetpaint.com/page/%22The+Chi
cago+Picasso%22%3A+Pablo+P icasso+and+Gwendolyn+Brooks
and writer living in Raleigh, NC, the Principal of McClaurin Solutions (a consulting business), and a former university president. (www.irmamcclaurin.com) (@ mcclaurintweets)
He said Hightower alleged he was also hit while handcuffed in the squad car and Mahoney is requesting the St. Paul police turn over any video it may have of the incident. “Mr. Hightower is scared,” said Mahoney. “He doesn’t want to be in the neighborhood. It’s a shame to be there and be beaten like a dog and you have to lay there and take it. (Hightower) is lucky he didn’t get his teeth kicked in.” Mahoney said his client is pursuing a civil suit against Zilge and the department. Jeffry Martin, president of the St. Paul branch of the NAACP, said incidents such as this are more common than many would think and had it not been for the videotaping of this incident, nothing would be being done about the abuse of police authority. “[The filming] is a rare
occurrence that someone had enough forethought to film and get this viral as quickly as
possible,” said Martin. He said that the person who took the video “is a very courageous
about one’s behavior, without actually knowing anything about the person. The paradigm goes like this: so-called white people are organized, business-like and intelligent (there are no idiots among them) just because they are so-called white. Black people are musical, athletic, funny, emotional and not intellectual - there are no geniuses among them - just because they are Black. And so it goes, Asians, all of them, are good in mathematics and good with computers and technical stuff - not a dull one among them. Presumably,
young girls living in France and/ or in the United States. Perhaps doing so will somewhat relieve Percheron-Daniels of having to defend herself. She also would be operating in the spirit of generosity and the ethos of service that First Lady Michelle Obama represents to all of us in the United States and globally. As my favorite poet the late Gwendolyn Brooks once wrote about a Picasso statue, art hurts. But it can also heal and while we may not agree with PercheronDaniels depiction of the First Lady, it has made us more aware as viewers of the power of image, raised questions about the social responsibility of artists, and perhaps laid a foundation for this artist to demonstrate a level of social responsibility by contributing some of the funds from sale of this controversial image to improve and enhance the lives of black girls and women globally. Now, that would be an unequivocal way to show some respect and admiration for the First Lady. Anything less will call into question whether anything was “lost in translation” as PercheronDaniels has claimed, or that what we see is what the artist truly intended: art or insult? The jury’s still out on that one. Read More: 1. Gilliam, Angela, “A Black Feminist Perspective on the Sexual Commodification of Women in the New Global Culture.” In Irma McClaurin, Ed. Black Feminist Anthropology: Theory, Praxis, Politics, and Poetics (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2001). http://rutgerspress. rutgers.edu/acatalog/__Black_ Feminist_Anthropology_701. html http://en.wikipedia.org/
person. Were it not for that person we would never know of Eric Hightower.”
“I’m scared the St. Paul Police are going to do something to me,” said the individual who filmed the nearly five minutes of footage. “Police surrounded the park and I got out of there as fast as I could.”
©2012 McClaurin Solutions Irma McClaurin, PhD is the Culture and Education Editor for Insight News of Minneapolis. She is a bio-cultural anthropologist
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