Centre Daily Times Logo

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Walter Scott, just another ‘isolated incident'? | Centre Daily Times

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Archives
    • Contact Us
    • Plus
    • eEdition
    • Newsletters
    • Subscribe
    • About Us
    • Local
    • Penn State
    • Sandusky Scandal
    • Communities
    • Crime
    • Business
    • Education
    • Politics
    • Public Records
    • State
    • Nation/World
    • Weird News
    • Sports
    • College
    • Golf
    • High School
    • MLB
    • Motorsports
    • NFL
    • NHL
    • Outdoors
    • Penn State
    • State College Spikes
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • PSU Sports
    • PSU Football
    • PSU Basketball
    • PSU Baseball
    • PSU Hockey
    • PSU Soccer
    • PSU Volleyball
    • PSU Wrestling
    • Nittany Lines Blog
  • Penn State Football
    • Living
    • Announcements
    • Family Pages
    • Eat, Play, Live
    • Home & Garden
    • Entertainment
    • Weekender
    • Comics
    • Games & Puzzles
    • Celebrities
    • Horoscopes
    • Movie News & Reviews
    • Music
    • TV
    • Opinion
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Submit a Letter
  • Obituaries

  • Classifieds
  • Jobs
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Place An Ad
  • Mobile & Apps

Opinion Columns & Blogs

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Walter Scott, just another ‘isolated incident'?

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

    ORDER REPRINT →

April 11, 2015 11:54 PM

“…You foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but do not see, who have ears, but do not hear.” – Jeremiah 5:21

So here we are with another isolated incident.

That, at least, is how the April 4 police killing of 50-year-old Walter Scott will play in those conservative enclaves where the notion that there is such a thing as systemic racism is regarded as deluded and absurd. Those enclaves will not, of course, be able to claim innocence for now-fired North Charleston, S.C., police officer Michael Slager. As cellphone video captured by a passerby makes brutally clear, Slager repeatedly shot the fleeing, unarmed black man in the back after a traffic stop.

They will likewise find it difficult to defend a police report that claims officers administered CPR to the dying man. The video shows them doing no such thing. Finally, they will find it problematic to support Slager’s claim that he shot Scott after the suspect seized his Taser. The video shows Slager picking up a small object and dropping it near Scott’s body, fueling strong suspicion that he planted the Taser.

SIGN UP

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to the Centre Daily Times

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

The video, in other words, will make it impossible to deny Slager did wrong. But conservatives will dispute with vehemence the notion that the wrong he did has larger implications.

Indeed, Bill O’Reilly of Fox “News” has already invoked misleading statistics to assure his audience that “there doesn’t seem to be, as some people would have you believe, that police are trying to hunt down young black men and take their lives.”

In other words, move on, nothing to see here.

We ought not be surprised. It is only human that a O’Reilly would want to think of himself and of the culture in which he has flourished as decent and good. To acknowledge that there is bias in that culture is to put oneself into an unenviable moral squeeze: One must either bestir oneself to say or do something about it — or else stop thinking of oneself as decent and good.

It is easier simply to deny the bias, to say that what is, is not. Small wonder that’s the default position of conservatism on matters of race: Absent burning crosses and pointy white hoods, nothing is ever racism to them. And the more fervently one denies self-evident truth, the more emotionally invested one becomes in doing so.

Thus, every incident that illustrates the racism of our system, every statistic that quantifies it, every study that proves it, becomes just another “isolated incident.” There is never an accumulation of evidence pointing toward an irrefutable, irredeemable conclusion. They are a thousand trees, but no forest, a million raindrops, but no storm.

Rodney King, Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima? Isolated incidents.

Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice? Isolated incidents.

Sean Bell, Levar Jones, Trayvon Martin? Isolated incidents.

A study co-authored by law professor David Baldus, a 1991 study by the San Jose Mercury News, a 1996 report from the National Criminal Justice Commission, a 2000 study co-sponsored by the Justice Department, a 2004 report by The Miami Herald, a 2010 book by reporter Joseph Collum, all documenting profound and pervasive racial bias in the justice system? Isolated incidents.

Sometimes, you have to wonder at our conservative friends: Where is conscience? Where are intellectual integrity and moral courage? Where is simple, human decency?

Because if you are a decent person, you are up in arms right now. You are demanding solutions — not making excuses.

And if you are not up in arms yet, then pray tell: how many more “isolated incidents” do you need? How much more obvious must this be? How many more bodies will it take?

  Comments  

Videos

Snow has covered roads across the county

Crews clear runways as snow causes delays at Pittsburgh airport

View More Video

Trending Stories

Former 5-star wide receiver George Campbell transfers to Penn State

February 20, 2019 02:53 PM

Centre County to be hit with another ‘wintry mix.’ Here’s what it could mean for your commute

February 19, 2019 12:26 PM

Here’s what’s closed Wednesday as Centre County gets hit with more winter weather

February 20, 2019 05:40 AM

Penn State student charged in fatal crash is bound over for trial

February 20, 2019 03:37 PM

A Centre County bridge is closed until further notice. Here’s why

February 20, 2019 04:00 PM

things to do

Read Next

How this legislation puts a quality education within reach for foster kids: OpEd

Latest News

How this legislation puts a quality education within reach for foster kids: OpEd

By Erica Smith

    ORDER REPRINT →

October 10, 2018 02:21 PM

Young people in the foster care system lack so many of the supports that other youth have - supports that make it easier for us to reach college. HB 1745 puts a quality education within their reach.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to the Centre Daily Times

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE OPINION COLUMNS & BLOGS

Latest News

Let State College tax alcohol: OpEd

October 06, 2018 03:19 PM
When 'misguided' policies about media access occur, no one wins

Opinion Columns & Blogs

When 'misguided' policies about media access occur, no one wins

June 14, 2018 11:15 AM
Selflessness is the key to happiness

Opinion Columns & Blogs

Selflessness is the key to happiness

April 07, 2017 10:14 PM
A life-altering day

Opinion Columns & Blogs

A life-altering day

January 26, 2017 09:35 PM

Opinion Columns & Blogs

DeAndre Levy gets a thumbs down

November 18, 2016 06:35 PM

Opinion Columns & Blogs

Airport leaders deserve praise for foresight

November 03, 2016 09:48 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Centre Daily Times App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Photo Store
  • Archives
Advertising
  • Information
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
  • Place an Obituary
  • Today's Circulars
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story