Black Police, White Society

Chapter 3. Forces Favoring Improved Relations

Chapter Three Forees Favoring Improved Relations For one thing [early] civil righ~s leaders forced new laws to be passed. I think these laws eventually affected relations between blacks and whites. [How is that?] Well, if you have laws which discriminate as you had prior to the sixties-blacks weren't allowed to go to the same schools as whites, they couldn't eat in the same restaurants, that sort of thing-then you can't have good feelings and intentions about whites. You see the laws worked against you. Once you change the laws, you eventually change people's attitudes about each other. A we have indicated, the 1960s and early 1970s were periods marked by broad and far-reaching challenges to traditional racial policies and practices. These challenges were divided along two major lines; one essentially conservative in character, the other more radical. The early civil rights movement was basically conservative in its approach towards integration and equality for blacks in America. It committed itself largely to working through the existing legal and political system and accepted the prevailing values of the country as a whole. The later, more radical, .movement , which accepted a militant posture with regard to America's racial problems, concentrated less on notions of equality and integration and attempted rather to promote racial pride, black nationalism , and an increased self-respect and awareness among blacks. OUf respondents were, for the most part, in some agreement concerning the positive impact that black protest has had on race 98 RELATIONS BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE POLICE OFFICERS relations in the country and on relations between black and white cops in particular. There were differences, however, as to how black protest actually influenced these changes and more importantly regarding the contribution of each phase of the movement. The Early Black Movement and the Push for Social, Legal and Political Reform The comments of one group of respondents suggest that many black policemen in the city not only supported the strategies and goals of the early civil rights movement, but associated this phase of the black struggle with what they saw as a general trend toward improvement in the area of race relations. These policemen seem particularly impressed with the approach of early civil rights leaders , especially their commitment to fight discrimination through institutionally prescribed means even in the face of violence and victimization by government leaders. They felt that this approach eventually achieved for blacks greater acceptance by arousing a sense of moral shame among many white Americans. As one officer put it, Well, it's my feeling that the Martin Luther King period was very important.. . . A lot of people had to be moved, impressed by the fact that King and his people stuck to their beliefs no matter what happened. He opened a lot of eyes all over the country. When asked why he felt relations between black and white cops have improved in recent years, another respondent also spoke in terms of overall improvement in race relations in the country as a result of the efforts of early civil rights activists. This is a question that probably has a lot of answers. Behind all this I suspect first and foremost is the fact that certain civil rights groups worked rather conservatively in getting things together. I mean they didn't organize riots and that sort of thing. They pretty much went by the book and got a lot of changes slowly.. . . I feel these changes were not really resented that much by whites. There was even a lot of white support in places. . . . You could even see changes in the attitudes of some of the cops in this job too. Forces Favoring Improved Relations 99 A number of policemen spoke of racial reform specifically in terms of the various civil rights laws that had been enacted in the early sixties. Yet it is not altogether clear from their comments just how these laws succeeded in changing the attitudes and behavior ofwhite policemen toward their black colleagues. One possibility, of course, is that the passage of these laws had a reciprocal effect on the views each group held toward the other. If, for example, members of a traditionally defined subordinate group begin to experience positive changes in their situation as a result of legislation designed to improve conditions for that group, they may then begin to react less negatively to members of the dominant...