You had to have seen the video.  You know what I am talking about.  The grainy video of Iraq war veteran Elio Carrion being shot several times by California police officer Ivory Webb while the former sat unarmed.  The blatant brutality of the action made it seem almost unreal.

Yet we were just reminded—if we needed reminding—that we live in the United States of America where the actions of a police officer, no matter how outrageous, can be justified all in the name of providing the police with flexibility, discretion, or some other high sounding word.  The verdict of not guilty against Officer Webb not only stunned Mr. Carrion and his family, but stunned just about any one who has seen this video.  Amazingly the jury seemed to have concluded that what they actually SAW on the video was not really what transpired.

Immediately after the verdict was rendered, members of the jury were interviewed.  Mr. Carrion’s wife, commenting on the verdict and the jury, put it best when she was interviewed on the TODAY show on Monday, July 02, 2007.  She stated, in effect, that the jury had made up their minds in advance to acquit Webb.  Statements by the jury seemed to back up her judgment.  One juror suggested that had Mr. Carrion not spoken back to the officer after having been arrested there would have been no subsequent problems.  Another juror suggested that the judgment of the police should be given a wide berth.  One could conclude that at least some of the jurors allowed their personal biases to get ahead of the facts.

The media has not seemed to know what to say or do about this outrageous verdict.  Apologetically, several commentators made mention of the fact that there had been a high-speed chase and that, while it was true that Mr. Carrion was not the driver, upon being arrested, he became argumentative with the police.

As someone who was once cut off by an unmarked police vehicle and approached by two plain-clothed police, leading me to contemplate making a run for it since I had no idea who these individuals were, I could just imagine that there are many circumstances where there might be a high speed chase.  And, yes, maybe Mr. Carrion’s driver was in the wrong.  But how could anyone conclude that this justified shooting Mr. Carrion once, let alone several times?

What is further infuriating about this action is that the police officer, Mr. Webb, is Black.  Thus, to watch circumstances where a Black officer would shoot an unarmed prisoner—indeed, an unarmed Latino war veteran—makes my head spin.  How many times has it been that Black Americans have been on the other side of the pistol?

Circumstances such as this DEMAND that Black Americans speak up and join hands with Latinos in protesting this outrage.  Circumstances such as these make it essential that we NOT fall prey to any tendency to “…give the brother a break…” and remain silent, hoping that this was simply a misunderstanding or mistake by an otherwise honest brother.

After all, what were we saying after the slaying of Sean Bell by the New York Police Department in Brooklyn less than a year ago???

BC Editorial Board member, Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a labor and international writer and activist, and the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum. Click here to contact Mr. Fletcher.