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Former Detroit News editorial writer Bill Johnson certainly doesn't shy away from picking a fight.
In his first at a personal blog that had been dormant for 10 months, Johnson comments provocatively Friday afternoon on a hot national issue -- the fatal police shooting of unarmed Michael Brown, 18, last Saturday in Ferguson, Mo.
"I’m in no position to assess blame," Johnson, who is public affairs officer at the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, writes in his second sentence. It may be the last uncontroversial comment in his dozen paragraphs.
He goes on to criticize nighttime violence in the St. Louis suburb without noting that the community reaction also includes peaceful protest marches.
Before all of the details of the incident were revealed, unruly crowds took to the streets to loot and burn stores and vandalize vehicles. Their attention would have been better directed toward discovering why so many black males have encounters with cops.
Bill Johnson: "Most law-abiding citizens realize that occasional mistakes by police in the normal course of their duties are unavoidable."
And right there, Johnson gets to his main point -- "the reprehensible behavior among urban predators." (Brown allegedly stole a box of cigars and hit a convenience store clerk minutes before his Aug. 9, though police said Friday that the officer involved didn't know that.)
Johnson, a conservative opinion writer and columnist at The News from 1987-2002, shares these observation in his first blog entry since last Oct. 22:
Being a police officer in the “hood” is far from easy. Cops who work in the urban core are typically accused or suspected of targeting black youth. They also deal with a criminal underclass unlike any in our past. Every day of every year, black youth are involved with gangs and drugs . . .
Their apologists claim black youth strike out due to their feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and despair. Black children, it is alleged, are prone to such behavior because of their feelings of racial inferiority that stem from an inherent handicap in self-esteem. . . .
We’ve tried for generations to rationalize away this widening social deficit; even soliciting government to grab the reins fractured families let slip away. But government can’t do for us what blacks must ultimately do for themselves. And it’s time advocates for urban terrorists stop transmitting the message that these cold-blooded predators are merely passive pawns to social forces.
Most law-abiding citizens realize that occasional mistakes by police in the normal course of their duties are unavoidable when dealing with this element, and part of the price we pay for vigorous law enforcement.
After those potentially inflammatory comments in an essay headlined "Communities Under Fire," but pegged directly to Michael Brown's unresolved death, Johnson concludes by describing a "dilemma for the black community:"
Find a way to restore the black family, or give cops a longer leash to deal with black criminals. Otherwise, internecine violence and confrontations with cops will continue to cast its ominous shadow over urban life.
Pushback began within a half-hour and started with Facebook acquaintance Arnold Andrews of Detroit who comments under Johnson's link to the post: "No matter what this young man did, you or no one else can condone executing a person with their hands in the air. There is no excuse or rationalization for murder."
Related coverage at Deadline Detroit:
