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Larry Eugene Jackson Jr
LARRY EUGENE Jackson Jr. was slain by the Austin Police Department
(APD) on July 26 in yet another tragedy for a community that is no
stranger to police violence.
While police were investigating a robbery that occurred earlier that
day, Jackson tried to enter the bank during business hours, but was
stopped by locked doors. After coming back a few minutes later, a bank
manager noticed Jackson at the door and went outside to ask questions. A
few moments later, the manager informed Detective Charles Kleinert, who
was interviewing bank employees, that Jackson "misidentified" himself.
Kleinert himself went to the door and questioned Jackson for a few
minutes, and Jackson ran from the detective. Kleinert commandeered a
civilian car to hunt down Jackson to a bridge near Shoal Creek and 34th
Street. After a scuffle, he shot Jackson in the back of the neck.
After the shooting, Assistant Police Chief Brian Manley told reporters they were "confident" Jackson was going to "commit a fraud"
at the bank. He would not comment why he was so confident, nor what
type of fraud Jackson was planning to commit. When asked if it was
illegal to run from police, Manley said no, but added, "It's never a
good idea to run from police."
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JACKSON'S DEATH at the hands of police is a bitter reminder of the
racism that continues to thrive in Austin and around the country. If we
look at previous cases in which Austin police killed unarmed people of
color, Jackson's family and their supporters could face a long
struggle--many other families are still fighting to attain justice for
their slain loved ones.
Take the case of Byron Carter Jr. On May 30, 2011, Carter was killed
as he was trying to flee two cops who approached him from behind, guns
drawn, without identifying themselves. In a federal lawsuit that ended
in June of this year, jurors ruled against the Carter family and
absolved the APD of any responsibility. "It was very political, it was
very racial, and it was not fair," Byron Carter's grandmother Gloria
Clark told reporters. "There is no justice at all, and I have no faith
in this system."
Two years before that, the APD murdered Nathaniel Sanders while he
was sleeping in the back of a car, and severely wounded Sir Lawrence
Smith, who tried to flee as he awoke to gunfire.
Local civil rights groups critical of the Austin police force, such
as the Texas Civil Rights Project and the Austin chapter of the NAACP,
claim these shootings demonstrate that the APD force is lacking in
training and professionalism.
"These shootings seem to indicate that the police are not being
properly trained and supervised and are overreacting in situations, to
the peril of the citizens," said Jim Harrington, director of the Texas
Civil Rights Project. "We cannot tolerate this constant use of deadly
force. People should not have to fear for their lives when they are in a
parking lot, stopped for a traffic offense, or go to the bank."
This is certainly the minimum that we should expect. In truth, the
APD's track record, like the track record of police departments across
the nation, shows thinly veiled contempt for Black life. Such callous
disregard for the rights of racial minorities deserves to be called what
it is--institutionalized racism.
At a rally in front of APD headquarters to demand justice for
Jackson, Richard Franklin described the fear he faces daily for "living
while Black." "I go to work, I pay my bills, I follow the law, I try to
be a good person, yet I live with this post-traumatic stress disorder
just for being me."
He added that the oppression suffered at the hands of police is just
one aspect of a system controlled by the wealthy few at the top who
leave us fighting for crumbs at the bottom. This system has pervaded our
schools and health care, which some in town call the "womb-to-prison
pipeline."
In 2007, as the APD's own internal investigations exonerated the
department and tensions with the community mounted, local civil rights
groups called for the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate
the APD. At the end of a four-year investigation, the DOJ declared that
it had found "no reasonable cause to believe that APD has engaged in a
pattern or practice that violated the Constitution or laws of the United
States." Now that the APD has taken another innocent life, these same
groups are calling upon the DOJ to start another probe.
The recent Trayvon Martin ruling showed us we can't rely on the
courts, and considering that the DOJ whitewashed the crimes of the APD
in the past, it wouldn't be wise to expect another probe to produce
different results. But we do know what does work: Taking our demands to
the streets and pressing those in power to deliver justice. Holding
Detective Kleinert accountable for Jackson's murder is just one step in
the movement for justice in Austin.

http://socialistworker.org/2013/08/12/the-racism-of-austins-finest