Philadelphia Police and Racism the City of Un-Brotherly Love?

Philadelphia Finest - Serve and Protect

Whenever I heard the word “Philadelphia”, the immediate visual connection that comes to mind is the May 13, 1985 incident in which police dropped bombs as an alternative to waiting to issue arrest warrants on members of the Africa family and the MOVE organization. The massacring of five African American children and six adults by their own police was shown on prime time television – something I will never forget. Similarly, when I hear the words Waco,Texas, similar negative image pops-up in my mind. Seeing those barbaric incidents on television left a permanent stain imprinted on my brains. It makes one wonder about the police motto – To serve and protect.

Philadelphia again was recently in the news when several young campers from a Black and Hispanic Philadelphia day camp were turned away from a swim club.

Well, Philadelphia police is in the news this week. This time, African American Philadelphia police officers have filed a federal lawsuit against the police department, alleging that white police officers are using an online forum that is "infested with racist, white supremacist and anti-African-American content."

The lawsuit also alleges white officers post on and moderate the privately operated website while at work and also off the job. The site’s tagline is "the voice of the good guys."

Users of the website "often joke about the racially offensive commentary on the site … or will mention them in front of black police officers," thus creating "a racially hostile work environment," according to lawyers for the all-black Guardian Civic League, the lead plaintiff in the suit.

Another comment on the site reads: "In urban areas, it seems [African-Americans] living on welfare in paid for housing is ingrained in their culture as well as fighting. … Kids, along with adults can’t speak proper English or spell at a 3rd grade level, but they can sing among "theyselves" the lyrics to a rap song."

The fact is, statistically, there are more whites on welfare and more whites that “can’t speak proper English or spell at a 3rd grade level” in the United States of America.

The lawsuit also highlights comments made on the site by its founder and administrator, a sergeant in the Philadelphia police force who calls himself "McQ." McQ is also listed as a defendant in the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs in the class-action suit also are seeking unspecified financial damages available under the Civil Rights Act for Philadelphia’s 2,300 African-American police officers.

To quote Chief Justice John G. Roberts “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

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