The high cost of traffic tickets

A grieving mother asked a poignant question before her son�s April 14 funeral service in Cincinnati. Would her other son, who has traffic tickets, share the fate of his brother, who police say was shot to death by an officer who recognized Timothy Thomas as a person wanted for 14 misdemeanor infractions�most of them traffic related?

For most people in this country, a multitude of traffic tickets is most likely to lead to double or triple fines, the "Denver boot" (which immobilizes cars) or denial of city vehicle stickers or license renewals. But for Black people in America, Black men in particular, traffic stops are common and often deadly reminders of just how fragile their lives are.

With the escalating numbers of Black men abused or killed by police officers, the signal still being sent throughout law enforcement circles is that a Black man�s life is worthless.

Timothy Thomas was killed April 7 when an officer who chased him "thought" he saw a weapon. No weapon was found. He was the 15th Black man to die at the hands of police since 1995 in this city that ranks eighth as the most segregated.

But this time the response from the community did not come from Black leaders who typically call for marches on city hall, prayer vigils and appeals to the police chief and mayor for a meeting. The spontaneous reaction came from Black youth�some as young as 3- and 4-years old. They wanted to express their anger at the situation because many of them knew they could be next.

So they took to the streets, and unfortunately not all elements in these protests were as sincere as others. There was looting in some cases, but the alarm had been sounded. City fathers could no longer ignore the hurt and pain in the community regarding the oppressive police force.

With that response came a crackdown, then conciliatory words from city officials and admissions that serious problems exist; problems ignored or denied before the so-called riots put Cincinnati in the national spotlight.

But there�s another aspect of this whole violence issue that the Black community must confront; and Minister Jamil Muhammad put it succinctly in his message from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan to mourners at the funeral for Bro. Thomas.

"If we�re angry, we must be angry enough to love each other," he said. "If we are fed up, we�d better be fed up enough to respect our women, clean up our communities and raise our children into the knowledge of self and God and the knowledge of right and wrong and what must be done."

If we as Black people are sick-and-tired of white police officers (and Black ones) killing us and then calling it justifiable, then we must put a circle of protection around our own community and become more self-respecting.

No longer can we sit silently and watch our own brothers do drive-bys on each other. We must unite the $500 billion-plus that comes through our hands to provide employment for our own unemployed. We must stop begging from white folk for the things we can do for ourselves, such as loving each other.

As long as we as Black people do not control our neighborhoods and put a higher value on our lives, no one else will value our lives.

Especially law enforcement officers who are hired and trained to keep the natives in their own community so they won�t upset the lives of the good folk.

FinalCall.com