Black Police, White Society

PART I: DISCRIMINATION AND THE BLACK OFFICER

• DISCRIMINATION AND THE BLACK OFFICER I'm out there covering some white cop's butt, and I hear over the [police] radio, "Nigger this, Nigger that." Remarks like this you would hear all the time and nobody would say anything. If you happened to be with a white guy riding, you would pretend you didn't hear the remark.... I mean, what could a black cop say, where vvas he going to go? F ROM the time blacks first joined the New York City police force until fairly recently, whites have maintained a position of dominance, relegating blacks to subordinate roles and denying them access to job opportunities and advancement. Thus the first blacks to enter the New York City police department at the turn of the century were assigned exclusively as "doormen." It was not until some years later that they began to receive assignme11ts more in keeping with what police actually do. But, by then, other forms of discrimination had emerged within the department which effectively excluded blacks from all but routine foot patrol assignments in black precincts and districts. The first promotion of a black to the permanent rank of sergeant, for example, was not made until 1926, even though, some six years earlier, this same patrolman had scored high on the civil service promotional exam. The police commissioner at the time, it was reported, simply refused to promote him. The officer had to wait six years until a new commissioner took office. Although his eventual promotion set a "legal" precedent regarding the rights of black policemen in New York City, another quarter of a century would pass before a black in the department would succeed to the civil service rank of captain . 1 Of course, New York City did not stand alone in its application of different standards for black and white police officers; blacks thr()ughout the country faced systematic discrimination and separation along racial lines. However, only within the past decade has any sustained effort been made in our nation's major urba11 police departments to remove racial barriers to full job equality. Park I of this book presents a brief historical overview of the accomplisllments (and failures) of black police officers i11 light of these recent efforts. We begin with a general discussion of police race relations, focusing on those problems that have been, and in some instances still are, of concern to black officers everywhere. Next, we consider those social, political, and legal events of the 1960s and early 1970s that have shaped the present character of American race relations in general and police race relations in par- Discrimination and the Black Police Officer 11 ticular. Data are then presented documenting the attempts made by organized black police groups and the courts to redress the racial problems confronting black officers. Particular attention is paid to the persistent efforts of the Guardians Association in Ne'N York City to establish through the Federal courts a racial quota system in hiring and promotion. Finally, we examine the views an