⚖️To Be Black and Policed in America.

Catherine Pugh, Esq.
6 min readApr 22, 2021

An ongoing list of a diminished brand of Americanism.

Let me introduce you to my media feed, from March 19, 2021 to date. It is a daily reminder of how many police view the people under non-White skin.

I’ll update this list while I write and promote the FIX OR FIRE SERIES: Changing the Police Culture by Making Departments Fire sergeants, Lieutenants, Captains, Majors, Deputies and Chiefs Putting Defective Agents in Our Neighborhoods, Homes and Businesses.

🌿BEFORE WE CONTINUE, NEVER FORGET THAT WE CAN CHANGE THIS.

The culture will only evolve when the culture appreciates that mediocrity comes with a pink slip. When leaders up and down the police supervision chain fail to do their jobs, they must be cut from the force with intent: sergeants, lieutenants, captains, majors, deputies, chiefs as the facts demand. It is up to us to motivate police departments to routinely engage these leaders.

This five-part series walks us through what it means, how to do it, and why it is the deal-breaker of deal-breakers in reforming American policing. It pushes a basic demand we have never once advanced as one voice of one nation. We can do this. But like with misconduct and excessive force, we must rise up as one impossible-to-ignore swing.

End this crippling loop of Rodney King Groundhog Days. Here is how; it is a choice; and, the choice is yours.

To change the police culture, you must change the culture makers. CULTURE=CULTURE MAKERS.

Fire those who fail to supervise to the public’s detriment.

PART I. OUR RELATIONSHIP IS WITH THE DEPARTMENT.
PART II. THE DEPARTMENT MUST (AND CAN) CORRAL THE POLICE.
PART III. A DEPARTMENT DOING ITS JOB NEUTRALIZES THE UNION.
PART IV. YOUR SERGEANT, LIEUTENANT, CAPTAIN, MAJOR, & DEPUTY NON-ACCOUNTABILITY IS KILLING A PEOPLE.
PART V. FIX THEM OR WE FIRE THEM AND YOU.

He who suffers the consequences is motivated to drive the change. CONSEQUENCES=CHANGE.

It is no more, and no less, complicated than that.

. . . BACK TO SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING

~April 21 — ‘Tragic Day Here’: Deputy Fatally Shoots North Carolina Black Man While Serving Search Warrant.

~April 21 — Columbus cop shouts “blue lives matter” at the scene of deadly police shooting of Ohio teen.

~April 21 — Woman Alleges Police Put Her In Chokehold After She Complained About Panda Express Meal.

“[Officer Steven Pascarella stated] that if she could complain about an inability to breathe, she must, in fact, be able to breathe.”

~April 21 — A former Minneapolis police officer called Derek Chauvin’s guilty verdict a ‘tragedy,’ saying he fears it will start a ‘new trend’ of sending cops to prison.

~April 21 — Woman shackled by police while in labor settles with New York City.

~April 21 — Virginia city fires police officer over Rittenhouse donation.

~April 21 — Contra Costa Sheriff’s Deputy, on leave for 2021 police shooting, charged with voluntary manslaughter, assault for a different fatal 2018 police shooting.

~April 21 — Police Investigated After Video Confiscating Black Teens’ Bikes Goes Viral.

“We can’t even ride bikes now… I’m not surprised. I’m just angry.” ~⁶Kid

~April 20 — (the day of the Chauvin verdict) “Columbus Police Fatally Shoot Black Teen Who Called Them for Help

~April 18 — “Judge Repeatedly Said N-Word When Asking Black Colleague Why White People Can’t Use It: Filing.”

The judge, “who is white, asked the colleague, who is Black, why Black people can use the [nigger]-word, but not white people. She also asked whether it is different ending with an ‘er’ or an ‘a.”

~April 18 — “NYPD Detective Filmed Using ‘Banned’ Chokehold [on Black Man] Won’t Face Disciplinary Trial After Choosing to Retire.”

~April 17 — “Police body camera footage shows fatal shooting of Black man in Honolulu.”

~April 17 — “White Police Officer to Face Charge She Intimidated Son’s Black Friend.”

~April 16 — “Knoxville Police Chief supports release of bodycam video of Austin-East shooting” — 17-year old Black Teen.

~April 16 — “Bodycam video released by LAPD of fatal shooting of man with suspected mental health issues raises questions.”

~April 15 — ‘We failed Adam’: Body camera videos show 13-year-old [a boy of color] Adam Toledo put hands up before fatal police shooting in Chicago.

~April 11 — “Minneapolis black man, 20, was shot dead by cop after being pulled over for ‘air freshener hanging from mirror.’

Authorities say the officer “apparently intended to fire a Taser, not a handgun, fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop.”

~April 10 — “Off-duty Pentagon police officer charged with murder for allegedly killing 2 [black citizens].”

~April 9 — “Cops Caught on Video Holding a Black Army Lieutenant at Gunpoint, Then Pepper-Spraying Him.”

~March 26 — “Police Screamed at a 5-Year-Old [Black Child] and Told Him Handcuffs Would Be His ‘Best Friend.’

~March 20 — “6-year-old black boy arrested for picking a tulip.”

~March 19 — “[Black] Texas Man Arrested for Weed Died After Officers Pepper-Sprayed Him and Put Him in a Spit Hood.”

Be well,

EMAIL: title42usc1983@yahoo.com. FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/catherine.pugh.79. TWITTER: @EsqPugh.

Before you engage me or others, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Catherine Pugh is an Attorney at Law and former Adjunct Professor at the Temple University, Japan. She developed and taught Race and the Law for its undergraduate program, and Evidence, Criminal Law, and Criminal and Civil Procedure for its law program. She has worked for the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section, and was a Public Defender for the State of Maryland. The view expressed here are personal. Nothing in this or any Medium writing is a legal recommendation, legal advice, or a legal opinion.

To my sweetest of loves: I am the wall for them; you are the wall for me. And nothing — nothing — has ever gotten past you. You are my everything. #CubanKitchen.

“It takes the wisdom of the elders . . .” Thank you for teaching us, loving us, leading us all: Mary Stovall Davis Budd, Andrea Tucker, Lorenzo and Dorris Pugh, Jacqueline and Roger Wallace, Kenneth Davis, Sandra Davis, and Karen Davis.

Quilts and the Underground Railroad

--

--

Catherine Pugh, Esq.

Private Counsel. Former DOJ-CRT, Special Litigation Section, Public Defender; Adjunct Professor (law & undergrad). Developed Race & Law course.