Black and blue

by Alan Tyers in New York

For the last couple of days, the papers in New York have all led on the unfortunate story of an off-duty police officer who was shot and killed in a case of mistaken identity… by a fellow cop.

Omar J Edwards was coming off shift in Harlem when he saw a man breaking into his car. He tried to apprehend the thief; another police officer, Andrew Dunton, saw the pursuit, ordered both runners to stop, opened fire – and hit his colleague.

The fact that Dunton was white and Edwards was black has escaped nobody: black community leaders allege it is just the latest example of the “institutionalised racism” that plagues public life in the city in general, and black relations with the police in particular. Black off-duty cops have been shot by white colleagues before.

“Institutionalised racism” – the same phrase used by the 1999 Macpherson Report into the Met following the death of Stephen Lawrence. Do we face the same problems in the UK? How does policing differ in New York and London?

People in New York, by and large, are proud of their police, whom they regard as part of their communities and defenders of the citizenry. In Britain, we are more innately mistrustful of authority in general. Perhaps it’s because the populace in Britain – as in other old world nations – have had to battle The Man for 1,000 years to get rights; in America, they got together to create a nation for and by the people from a single point, more or less.

Still, it didn’t do Omar J Edwards much good.

Comments

[les lee]

and yet again these slimy moderators that infest our democratic right to free speech on these blogs have censored the truth about ethnics that only come to these isles to enjoy the hospitality of this country and USURP all benefits that BELONG to the indigenous citizens of this country!!
where else would immigrants be granted more rights under law than the citizens of the host country!!!
BRITAIN under NEW LABOUR thats where !!

[Russell]

Anon.....glad you poked the leftie PC lunatics in the eye, they have caused more than enough damage.

Les.....Peter Hitchins "The abolition of Britain" has some interesting views, some a bit off the mark..... but don't think Tyers would like it too much.

[Anon]

Russell

I made that same blog some time ago when the people stood up against the Government in favour of the Ghurkas. Whilst the pendulum is still swinging in favour of the people we should keep the momentum going and push on immigration and the like even further.

The racist card has been a powerful card to play as long as this present labour government and councils had the upper hand.

I myself have had problems with immigrants playing the racist card but I, unlike other people, took this issue to court and won against a large city council.

This is what other people should have done but immigrant housing managers and the like would evict those who did not have the mental capacity to fight such c**p and were made scapegoats for the labour cause.

Whilst I was fighting my case I also investigated other people in the city who had been evicted on racist grounds. They were people who were picked on and easy targets and held up as examples to the rest of us and lost their homes just to frighten us. I was that bit smarter. Just because someone calls you a racist doesn't mean that you are especially if it's a black finger doing the pointing. I discovered that it's the immigrants who are racist. What are they doing here anyway?

Now, I don't really care. From being tolerant of immigrants I am now going to vote BNP. Anyone with any sense will vote for a party that deals strongly with this issue. I am 20 years ahead of the rest of the population. Take the opportunity keep the momentum going while it swings in our direction.

[Russell]

Anon.......I made the point (using a real life example I know of) that people are playing the racism card to gain (and are gaining) preferential treatment and that they are taking the "P".
I stated that I thought it was time for the pendulum to swing the other way.

[Anon]

Russell

What have you had censored?

[Russell]

The big problem, and you see it here on this site........the quality and intellectual level of those deciding what is racist and what is not. The result of their leftie PC views are there for everyone to see.......the sad thing is, they still think they are promoting clever ideas.
However, there is a sinister side to them that needs to be neutralised......have you noticed that every opposing view or view not acceptable to them is censored........WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE ???

[GCarse]

The thing that struck me more about this story was not the racism but the fact that apparently it's perfectly fine for a policeman in the US to pull out his gun and shoot dead someone trying to steal a car.

Hardly much different to Saudi Arabia where they cut your hand off for stealing an apple.

[stuart]

No one seems to be intrested in this story. They seem more interested in rubbish reality TV than real issues.
It's a pity that the black community leaders have to say it is racially motivated. You never hear white groups saying it is racially motivated when a black person kills a white person!

[The Real Bogus Anon]

Perhaps Omar J Edwards should have stopped running and reported the incident to the Police.

Blacks will always play the racism card only it does work these days.

[The Bogus Anon]

Did either the black man or the white man stop? Was it daylight? Maybe the police officer shot the one closest to him.
A very good case for unarmed police officers but not so good for racism. It's too easy to play the race card & race relations are damaged when the media jumps to conclusions.