Shooting shows police offers must think before they react

Originally published September 17, 2009.

All sides can agree that on August 24, a 23-year-old man was shot and killed by police officers in a Rockford church. Everything else is still up in the air. Rockford police chief Chet Epperson has said that officers Stan North and Oda Poole fatally shot Mark Anthony Barmore as he attempted to wrestle a gun away from them.

Eyewitnesses at the scene insist that Barmore came out of hiding with his hands up and was killed. These witnesses were two church day care employees, as well as several young children.

Rockford police received a call that day regarding a domestic disturbance between Barmore and his girlfriend, and encountered him outside Kingdom Authority International Ministries Church. According to an Associate Press article on Saturday, the church was one he attended on occasion and that he was speaking outside with pastor Rev. Melvin Brown’s wife and 17-year-old daughter—the two daycare employees.

These witnesses and police dispute whether officers approached with their guns drawn, but all concur that Barmore ran into the church upon seeing them. It’s not unreasonable that Mark Anthony Barmore would have fled.

He had been arrested before, once on charges of assaulting an officer with a firearm, and had recently finished serving a prison sentence. It could certainly be true that he had just come from the scene of a domestic disturbance with his live-in girlfriend. But all accounts have stated that at the time of the shooting, Barmore was unarmed and alone. He should not have ended up dead.

The case is currently under investigation by Illinois state police and the Cook County state attorney’s office, but the NAACP is calling for both a full-on investigation by the Department of Justice and a reintroduction of the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act. The legislation, originally backed by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) in 2000, aims to unify the use-of-force policies of all law enforcement agencies by mandating federal standards.

While the effectiveness of a Department of Justice investigation will become clear as further information is released in the current investigation, the need for passage of the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act is already overwhelming.

Just looking at the details of the Barmore case make this clear, despite arguments over what took place. If Mark Barmore, a single, weaponless man, had attempted to fight one of two armed police officers for a gun, it might have justified the police’s decision to shoot. But that should have meant two shots—one for each officer—in non-fatal parts of Barmore’s body that would have rendered him unable to attack.

If witness testimony is correct, there’s no reason Barmore should have been injured at all.

He reappeared from the boiler room into which he had run, hands up in surrender, according to Marissa Brown.

She has said Barmore was shot multiple times, around as many as eight.

Establishing a standard use-of-force policy would begin a process of re-educating law enforcement officers and how they assess situations in which force is necessary—something clearly needed, as evidenced by the record of one of the officers involved in Barmore’s death.

In the ongoing investigation, it’s come to light that Oda Poole shot three other suspects in last three years, killing one of them.

Poole insists that the 66-year-old man he fatally wounded was pointing what could have been a weapon at him and would not drop it. It turned to out to be hammer in a sock. Police found a suicide note on the man after the fact. The million-dollar question: why did Poole fail to consider shooting him in a spot that would have disarmed him?

Setting use of force standards won’t fix everything, but teaching officers to think before they shoot is a much-needed first step on the path to eliminating unnecessary violence—and unnecessary loss of life.

Chelsea is a senior in LAS.

Remember race riot in Springfield

Originally published September 4, 2008.

This August marked the 100th anniversary of the race riot that occurred in Springfield. That itself may be a shocking statement. Few people even in the state’s capital know much about the two-day riot that occurred in their hometown in 1908, much less those outside the community. Probably fewer still are aware that, despite a low death toll, Springfield’s riot essentially led to the formation of the NAACP.

So what has Springfield done to raise awareness of the string of events which devastated the now-downtown area?

After 100 years, this year they erected informational markers denoting important locations during the rioting. Currently, there are weekly speaker panels discussing historical and cultural issues related to and stemming from the events of 1908. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library also hosts a small, temporary exhibit inside with scattered facts and photos during, after, and about the riot.

Sadly, even with these small efforts on the part of the city of Springfield, people have complained-not only complained, but argued against any commemoration at all. Yes, racism is alive and well.

Many people voiced complaints (especially on the State Journal-Register Web site, as the Internet gives voices to all people, especially obnoxious ones) that there were bigger riots to talk about (not in Springfield, however), that it’s depressing and annoying to continue to bring up the event, and that discussion of the riot would simply be the cause of further racial tension and division in the present.

None of these is a legitimate reason to cease discussion about the Springfield riot. In fact, they create incentive for further, more in-depth conversation. No matter how much we complain or choose to ignore them, horrific injustices occurred in those two days.

The point of commemorating them isn’t to elicit guilt or apologies from anyone. It is to promote understanding between people, understanding of where and what we’ve developed from, and ultimately understanding how far we still have to go in the fight for equality.

In conjunction with people’s unwillingness to actively discuss the riot, another problem arises: the serious lack of information available. Upon visiting the exhibit hosted by Lincoln’s library, I found it unorganized and inconsistent in providing a full account of events of the riot. Many of the quotes used in the displays provided clarity, but were attributed to speakers from 1975. Again, it seems invalid to complain that the details and history of the riot are being shoved down your throat in the present when nobody has discussed it for 33 years.

What is it, exactly, that keeps us from talking about it? Even in an academic setting, the anniversary of the riot has not seemed to incite much discussion. The U of I home page offered a quick blurb from its “Minute With” professor, Clarence Lang, and nothing more. We are apparently so terrified of any missteps in a dialogue regarding racial historical issues (and, for that matter, just racial issues in general) that we opt instead to eliminate talk of them whatsoever.

I get the feeling that following this year, despite next year being the 100th anniversary of the formation of the NAACP, nothing will be left of this year’s efforts except the concrete markers and the mediocre amount of information they provide. The downtown walking tour that was offered this summer will likely be discontinued, due to the negative reception it has received from the community and the lack of attendance. The exhibit will vanish. And with 13 state historic sites already slated to close on October 1 due to lack of funds, it’s highly doubtful that the state will shell out the necessary green to host anything else.

Thus the lack of information will continue, unless we decide differently. Next year’s Lincoln Bicentennial could and should be used to enhance public knowledge of the two-day tragedy in 1908. After all, the riot came as such a shock in part because it took place in Lincoln’s honorary hometown. The ongoing interest in and celebration of Lincoln’s life should focus our attention on the fact that the issue of American racial equality, made mainstream by the events of the Civil War, has yet to be fully resolved.

Chelsea is a senior in English and music and is still living out of a suitcase, despite moving in a month ago.