By Paul Anger, 2nd vice chair, Jefferson Parish Democratic Executive Committee
In December 1979, a black motorcyclist named Arthur McDuffie – an insurance agent and ex-Marine – allegedly ran a red light and was ordered to pull over by Miami police. McDuffie, driving with a suspended license, at first sped off at high speed, then eventually slowed and gave himself up.
White police officers, according to eyewitnesses and extensive physical and forensic evidence, converged and ripped McDuffie’s helmet off, cracked his skull and beat him into a fatal coma with their heavy-duty flashlights and batons. The cops fabricated evidence – including driving over his motorcycle – to make it appear that McDuffie had been injured in a crash.
Five officers went to trial -- but some prosecution witnesses contradicted each other. Defense attorneys exploited that, trying to create reasonable doubt about which officers did what to McDuffie, despite the overwhelming evidence that he was murdered. Media reports tended to focus on evidence of murder, not on how some witnesses got in the way of one another.
The community was shocked when, after seven weeks of trial, an all-white jury deliberated less than three hours to find all officers not guilty on all counts. And Miami convulsed as protestors hit the streets – followed by thugs both black and white, bent on taking an eye for an eye. A total of 18 people died, and 350 were injured.
I was then sports editor of the Miami Herald, a father of three, seven years removed from the almost-all-white Wisconsin town where I grew up. Back then, I didn’t understand any of it: Why McDuffie instinctively tried to flee police, how police could commit such savage cruelty, how jurors could ignore such weight of evidence, why black and white Miamians were deliberately killed because of their skin color.
After decades of managing newsrooms and news coverage, I’m no longer surprised by much of anything. But I still don’t get why America must continue to suffer from centuries of racist, inhuman brutality, a pattern established long before Arthur McDuffie and one that continues with high-profile police outrages exposed on a regular basis -- thanks to social media and hundreds of millions of smart-phone cameras.
The diverse jury in the George Floyd murder trial in Minneapolis has seen voluminous video of his final minutes and how Derek Chauvin brought his weight down on Floyd’s neck. But there’s no guarantee what jurors will come back with. If Chauvin felt entitled to snuff the life out of a man in front of so many cameras, obviously confident there would be few consequences, you have to wonder how much we’ve progressed in the 42 years since Arthur McDuffie died and police were acquitted.
One chilling difference in the cases – the circumstances of McDuffie’s death and the police trial made relatively small headlines across the country, at least until Miami’s deadly riots. George Floyd’s death is already infamous, from Miami to Seattle, Los Angeles to New York. And the jurors’ verdict will be instantly known to all.
But the key to change is not just what juries decide, it’s eliminating racially motivated police brutality to stop tragedies before they end up in jurors’ hands. Police departments themselves should lead – even conservative televangelist Pat Robertson has urged them to “open their eyes” and stop the “onslaught” against people of color.
We need sustained, lasting reform. We need to train police more extensively, truly emphasize de-escalation tactics and cultural understanding, weed out those predisposed to violence. We need to address qualified police immunity, which can make it difficult to hold officers accountable.
We need reform at all levels: nationwide, statewide, here in Greater New Orleans and Jefferson Parish. No matter what juries do, that would be the most effective way to honor memories of the victims – from Arthur McDuffie to George Floyd.
(Note: Paul Anger spent 48 years in various media positions, retiring in 2015 as top newsroom editor and publisher of the Detroit Free Press and Freep.com.)