More than half of Georgians say blacks and other minorities are not treated with the same dignity and respect as whites in the criminal justice system, according to an exclusive Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll.
Looking just at the role of police, a bare majority of 52 percent said they were confident that blacks and whites get equal treatment. Even more, 62 percent, credited police with trying hard to “maintain good relations with different groups.”
But those numbers mask what one historian called “huge, huge, huge, huge” gulf between the perceptions of white and black respondents.
Eighty-five percent of black respondents said the criminal justice system is not color-blind. Just 36 percent of whites felt the same.
Similarly, 75 percent of black respondents believe police don’t treat them equally with whites, while 70 percent of whites say the opposite.
The one point of nearly universal consensus was that police should wear body cameras: 89 percent of respondents, including strong majorities of every demographic group, said yes to that notion.
Looking at objective data on police stops, arrests and convictions, “blacks got it right,” said Dr. Bryant Marks, an associate professor of psychology at Morehouse College.
“At every stage in the criminal justice system, blacks get worse treatment,” Marks said. “Whites have a desire to believe in the justice system. (They think) ‘This is America, surely it must be fair.’”
Cedric Alexander, DeKalb County’s deputy chief operating officer for public safety, said the poll results are in line with the perceptions of African-Americans across the nation. Alexander has emerged as one of the leading national voices on community policing in the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
“You have to put it in historical context,” Alexander said. “There has been a disconnect between communities of color and police. Even though we have seen improvements in relationships, those numbers suggest that there is still work to be done.”
Going back to 1989, a similar survey found that 79 percent of blacks and 42 percent of whites thought police treated people of different races differently. In 1992, in the wake of the Rodney King beating, the gap widened, with 88 percent of blacks and 47 percent of whites saying that.
The perception gap is always present, but news events can exacerbate it, said Dr. Charles Jaret, emeritus professor of sociology at Georgia State University.
“Highly visible events do register, but there is longstanding precedent for differing views,” Jaret said.
Fresh off the heels of the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin and its aftermath, 2014 may have been a watershed year in how police departments and communities — particularly minority ones — co-exist, Alexander said.
The deaths of Brown and Garner at the hands of white officers set off a national protest movement under the banner Black Lives Matter.
“I think 2014 was — with the Michael Brown case — a clear indication that in certain departments there is a separation between police and community and we have to find a way to build those relationships,” Alexander said.
Atlanta Police Chief George Turner said 2014 crystallized for everyone that more work must be done to connect communities with the police departments that are supposed to protect them.
“It will never be complete, but we have to continue to form relationships,” Turner said. “Are we as law enforcement agencies doing all we can to be proactive in our community?”
Sheryl Gowen, a white 68-year-old retired university professor, said she thinks the justice system is unfair to blacks, and that distresses her. “This is not based on empirical evidence that I have personally witnessed, but my general experience is that whites and blacks are not treated equally in the criminal justice system,” she said. “The Michael Brown thing, I just cried. Trayvon Martin before that. It’s not right.”
Gowen said she and her husband cancelled their Atlanta Hawks season tickets after news broke of racially charged comments by co-owner Bruce Levenson.
Bedell Mayers, a 58-year-old white woman from Appling County, said she does not think people are treated equally, but said it has more to do with class than race.
“It is a money thing. It has to do with socioeconomics,” Mayers said. “If you have money, you will be exonerated.”
Tom Pawloski, a 47-year-old accounts director in Forsyth County, said he’s experienced the system’s bias. Pawloski, who is white, recalled being stopped while speeding back to Athens when he was a college student.
“I was going 80 through Winder in a new gray Camaro,” Pawloski said.”The officer stopped me, looked at my license, gave it back to me and told me to ‘Keep it on the ground.’ Had I been in a beat up old car or not looked like the officer, things would have been different.”
Much of the outrage in the Brown and Garner cases came from the fact that grand juries declined to indict the officers involved. In the AJC poll, 65 percent of white respondents but only 32 percent of black respondents said police are held accountable for misconduct.
Turner, who is in his 34th year as a member of the APD and fifth year as chief, recalled two scandals that rocked the department not long before he took the helm.
One was the 2006 killing of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston after officers stormed her home with a no-knock warrant. Another was the botched Atlanta Eagle raid, in which 25 officers abused and humiliated patrons of a Midtown gay bar.
Turner said higher level of transparency has helped APD recover from those debacles. For example, he said, when APD introduced the widespread use of stun guns, community leaders were briefed on the changes.
“Everything we have done, we tried to be as transparent as possible,” Turner said. “What has taken place with our department since the Eagle and Kathryn Johnston has taken work. It is not something that will occur overnight, but if we don’t continue to look at this, we will fail.”
In regard to body cameras for officers, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said that will be a goal of the APD, and Turner hopes to have a program in place by the end of March.
Alexander said DeKalb County is also looking at vendors to begin equipping officers with cameras.
“I am absolutely in favor if it, because it is the type of technology that will advance policing and be good for police officers and the community,” Alexander said.
So does Gowen, the retired professor. “It protects police from being unfairly accused, and it protects the citizens,” she said “Not that I am a hater of the police. They have a tough job and are very courageous. But I think racism is so deeply embedded in the American society.”
But skeptics note that when Eric Garner was choked and killed by an officer in New York, the whole thing was filmed by a bystander with a cellphone.
“The video showed that the police choked that man to death. And for what? Selling cigarettes,” said Evelyn Sims, a 65-year-old black woman who lives in Gwinnett County. “The black man does not get any respect. We have had 400 years of inequality. How are we ever gonna get it right?”
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