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NAACP President: Black Leaders, Too, Should Be Accountable in Maryland Jail Death
by PEP | July 2, 2008 at 07:27 am | 185 views | 2 comments
by PEP
More details and controversies are emerging in the case of Ronnie White, found dead in a Maryland jail cell after being arrested for allegedly killing a police officer. Flags are flying at half-staff for Cpl. Richard S. Findley, who was also a volunteer fireman.
A young black man suspected in the death of a white police officer turns up dead in his jail cell, an apparent victim of strangulation. Echoes of racism and revenge killing reverberate through Prince George's County, which has a history of tension between black residents and white law enforcement officials. The suspicion among many blacks -- based on historical precedent -- is that a white jail guard killed Ronnie White, 19, to avenge the death of Prince George's Cpl. Richard S. Findley, 39, who was run down last week by a pickup truck allegedly driven by the accused.
But even if that proves true, the fact remains that the county's new black leadership campaigned on a pledge to change the system and, at the very least, put an end to vigilante justice by law enforcement officers.
"The leadership has to be held accountable, regardless of their race," June Dillard, president of the county chapter of the NAACP, told me yesterday.
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July 2, 2008 at 07:27 am by PEP, 185 views, 2 comments
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Comments (2)
at 07:31 on July 2nd, 2008
Earlier Now Public coverage and discussion can be found here.
at 08:04 on July 2nd, 2008
Any investigation into the circumstances surrounding the murder of 19 year old Ronnie White must include everyone involved in the processes that worked in tandem to house him in police custody, and the leadership responsible for the workings of the system, documenting whatever details may ultimately be found, if at all, such as a possible lapse in security or any other alleged conspiratorial plot, i.e. gang involvement, that may be offered. Any focus on purely racist motivations would be a mistake.
Neither should the influence of a history of a police culture of terror and abuse of the county's citizens be overlooked in pursuit of all of the facts that lead to the perpetrators of the murder of a suspect being held in solitary confinement in police custody.