Walking While Black

A young man is murdered, his friends gather to attend his funeral ... on the way to the service more than 30 of them are arrested in a police sting. Their crime? Walking while Black.

The New York Times reports:

The police officers hopped from their vans and cars with shouts of “Hands up,” “Don’t move,” and “Get on the ground.” Someone in the crowd of young people yelled, “Nobody run” — and nobody did, witnesses said. The teenagers were frisked, forced up against a fence or a wall, or pushed to the asphalt.

Those watching said the mood was almost subdued as the handcuffs went on, the loudest sound the whir of a television news helicopter hovering above. “None of us understood what was going on,” said Dana Hollis, whose teenage daughter was arrested. ”Everything just happened so fast.”

Thirty-two young people, the youngest 13, were arrested the afternoon of May 21 in Bushwick, Brooklyn. They had been walking as a group to the subway, which they planned to take to Coney Island for the wake of Donnell McFarland, 18, who had been fatally shot a week earlier.

According to the police, the young people were "exchanging gang signs, wearing T-shirts with a gang name and bounding atop cars when they were arrested." But neighbors stated otherwise.

The charges are misdemeanors: unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct. No drugs or weapons were found, and there were no injuries to those arrested or to the police. The officers did not draw their guns. Yet this roundup of Brooklyn teenagers and young people has gotten widespread attention.

What crime did they commit? Who was hurt? What property was damaged? The answers ... none. Is it any wonder why some people fear the police as much as they do criminals?