Opinion: Former Detroit police chief proposes path to stem tide of police violence

The history of police brutality in our country against African Americans, Hispanic, Muslim, LGBTQ and poor white Americans has been documented by scholars, writers, videos, police records, fellow officers and victims. This unwarranted or excessive force has ranged from verbal abuse and assault and battery to mayhem, torture and murder.

In 1960, Detroit NAACP Director Arthur Jefferson stated, "The problem of police brutality is one of the most serious problems confronting Negroes in Detroit."

In his 1963 speech in Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed, "We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality."

The key factor explaining the predominance of African Americans as the primary victims of police brutality is the anti-Black racism among members of most police departments and their leaders, and political subservience.

I can make this statement because of my 26 years in the Detroit Police Department, including four as chief, my experience as an educator, and because I have studied the history of the great number of complaints by people of color against law enforcement officers across America ― and because at the age of 14, I was a victim of police violence. If one earnestly examines this record, including traffic stops, verbal confrontations, arrests and fatal interactions, one must conclude that there exists a true disparity in fair and equal enforcement.

Yet despite my experience, some will argue with my conclusion. That is why we must take an unprecedented step and form a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to establish, without a doubt, the facts of the Black experience in America.

Moving forward from common ground

In 1979, the city of Greensboro N.C. was divided. So city leaders established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, believing that confronting and reckoning with the past is necessary for a successful transition from conflict, resentment and tension, to peace and connectedness.

In our city, the Reparations Task Force approved by voters in 2021 will examine how government policy has harmed Detroit's Black residents.

In a conversation with South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, he expressed to me that America must do as his country had done, and establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate human rights violations committed by law enforcement agencies. He believed that uncovering the truth would actually help to heal our country and relationship with the police. The commission emphasized gathering evidence and perpetrators — not prosecuting individuals for past crimes and offenses.

Efforts to do this at the federal level have stalled.

Of course, some will believe such a proceeding will only remind us of the past. Others will see it as a step forward that can be extremely effective. However, to this point, we have done very little to remedy a systemic problem that continues to exist.

Ample evidence, little change

The 1991 Rodney King incident was the first internationally televised video that this generation witnessed of the severe use of force by police. The video showed King, an unarmed Black man, being beaten after evading police. This incident was covered by news media around the world, and caused a public furor.

Even more egregious was the 2020 slow killing of George Floyd when a Minneapolis officer knelt on Floyd's neck and back for more that nine minutes, killing him.

There have been many more confrontational incidents between police officers and minority and poor communities, the most recent — as of this writing — being Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tenn.

After each tragedy, there is an outpouring of anger, grief and calls for change. However, there have never been substantial efforts that will prevent more violence.

America must take drastic steps to stem the tide of these continued incidents.

'The presence of justice'

Every war, atrocity and abuse creates an injustice that cannot be undone. However, we can gain knowledge of that history ― we can learn from it, and figure out how things went wrong.

One path is reparation and compensation for intergenerational losses and derailed trajectories. This is politically controversial, and on a large scale, not viable as a short-term repair. A second path is to take the knowledge and to learn dispute resolution, identifying what people need, and righting perceived wrongs.

It's important to understand that peace is not merely the absence of violence, but the presence of justice. A community versed in dispute resolution is an attainable goal, and that goal is attainable through truth and reconciliation.

Isaiah McKinnon is a retired Chief of Police of the Detroit Police Department, retired associate professor of education at University of Detroit Mercy and former Deputy Mayor for the City of Detroit.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Opinion: To end police violence, we must have truth and reconciliation