Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
Last week I featured a racism incident, which I haven’t done for a while. However, February being Black History Month, I’m doing it again today, times two. I would love for there not to be any of these, but I don’t see that happening in my lifetime, alas.
This incident happened late in 2018, in Raleigh, NC. This week it was presented to the City Council of Raleigh, along with demands to hold the Raleigh Police Department accountable.
It started out reasonably – or at least not unreasonably. An AT&T store had been robbed; phones were stolen. I would say “pricey phones,” but, these days, that’s a tautology. The police recovered a cardboard box left behind by one of the suspects. The box had on it the address of a Raleigh home. On this basis, the police obtained a search warrant for the home. So far, no insanity.
The home was the residence of LaDonna Clark, her elderly parents, and her six-year-old son Ayden. The suspect was named Brian Clark. Brian is in fact a relative of LsDonna (it’s not been published what the relationship is), but was not living in the home at the time.
Brian Clark has a record, including for breaking and entering and second-degree burglary. I would guess he was on probation at this point, because, at some point previous to the issuance of the warrant, police had come to LaDonna’s home for a “check-in” and learned he did not reside there at that time.
Probation officers are police officers, but I would expect – especially in a city the size of Raleigh – they would work out of a different location from detective officers, and would not routinely talk to each other. And, the warrant having been executed at night, no probation officers may have been on duty. Based on their evidence it doesn’t seem unreasonable for the detectives to expect Brian to be at that address. In any case, armed officers arrived at LaDonna’s home with the warrant in mid-November, on a 35-degree, rainy night. (As an aside, no, that is not “normal” weather for Raleigh in November.)
It was after the warrant was served and LaDonna explained Brian didn’t live there and was not there, that things started to get out of hand.
During the search, LaDonna Clark said officers forced her son, who’s autistic and suffers from cerebral palsy, out of the home “on a 35-degree and rainy night” and pointed loaded military rifles at his head.
He was “made to sit on the cold, wet ground for well over an hour by [the police] SWAT [team],” she told council members of the incident. “If you’re not offended by the thought of a 6-year-old being forced to look down the barrel of an assault rifle or if you have become desensitized to the mistreatment of blacks in the city of Raleigh, [then] you don’t deserve to continue to sit where you are sitting.”
LaDonna’s parents were also aimed at with rifles.
It was only after repeated failures to get any kind of satisfactory response from the Police Department that LaDonna Clark requested and received a hearing by the City Council. She – and others – called (and have been calling) for
a police oversight committee with subpoena power to begin holding officers accountable. The move would require approval from the General Assembly.
Speaking of freezing weather, there has also been freezing weather in Hagerstown, Maryland, although that’s more to be expected than in Raleigh.
A fourteen year old student there, Tymier Tazewell, was on the school bus on January 28, when he realized his sister was crying. He asked her what had happened, and she told him some bullies had called her things she did not want to repeat.
Tymier confronted them, and they next day was called in to the office of the principal of E. Russell Hicks Middle School and told that he had referrals prohibiting him from riding the school bus from Jan. 30 to Feb. 1.
Tymier’s parents do not live together, and my guess is that neither Tymier nor his sister wanted to create a burden for his father, because neither told him about the “bus suspension.”
On Thursday, Jan. 31, the school called [Rasheem] Tazewell [Tymier’s father] to report Tymier didn’t show up for morning classes.
“I thought he was cutting class, but when I called back to get more information, I was told he arrived,” Tazewell said. “The school had a late start that day, so it made sense he was late.”
That day Tymier’s mother, who does not live with Rasheem, wound up calling Tymier’s father when she discovered their son wasn’t riding the bus.
It took until Friday, Feb. 1, for Tymier’s father to drive up the school regarding the boy’s three-day suspension, during which time the student had been trekking about 40 minutes to school in 4 degree weather. Sometimes, Tymier would be joined by friends as he cut through the woods to gt to school. They’d also stop inside the local CVS to warm up.
The assistant principal claimed not to have a current phone number for Tymier’s father (yet the school managed to reach him on Thursday?) as an excuse for not notifying him of the bus suspension (or following through with the rest of the appropriate procedures.)
Tazewell and his son’s mother met with the principal of E. Russell Hicks on Monday, but they feel the issue is being brushed off with no resolution.
Washington County Public Schools released a statement saying it is “currently looking into this incident and it would be premature to provide a response at this time.”
Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, Please pursue justice both in North Carolina and in Maryland. Thank you.
The Furies and I will be back.
Cross posted to Care2 HERE.
