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What’s black and blue and crooked all over?

The New York Police Department (NYPD). And after years of flashing their shiny badges and guns into the faces of innocent black men, destroying family and community structure with the war on drugs, and instilling fear by implementing “Stop & Frisk,” there’s isn’t much room for error on the black man’s part as he meanders through life as law enforcement’s hobby and worst fear.

Who you gonna call? Not the NYPD.

The police have maimed and killed our young and old, falling back on false claims, little evidence, and assumptions that justify their actions. And with no consequence, new throngs of police are coming out of the academy with the same perspective…and permission…that aided in the wrongful deaths of Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, Patrick Moses Dorismond, and most brutality, the beating and sodomizing of Abner Louima.

All of which have sent clear messages to black men. Don’t pull out your wallets. Dare to be intoxicated in public. Make sure you don’t try to break up a fight. And fuck it…just don’t have black skin. Period.

You might get shot at 41 times.

And while “Stop & Frisk” statistics show that mostly blacks and Hispanics are humiliated, berated and subjected to invasive searches based on unsubstantiated claims that they possess weapons or drugs, police commissioner Ray Kelly contends that those minorities are “under-stopped” – a clear manipulation of statistics to pacify the dissenters.

It must also be noted that Stop-and-Frisk protestors were targeted by the NYPD as professional agitators…despite not having broken any laws.

These are all examples of the NYPD’s war on black men, but each police department or law enforcement agency around the nation has done their part throughout history to ensure that black communities distrust them, so much so that an innate fear of flashing lights, black boots, gold badges, and gun holsters shake the core even when a crime is not committed.

So when they shoot our men and our children, we’re automatically skeptical.

We’ve witnessed the NYPD get away with unnecessary murder. We’ve witnessed juries acquit them and investigations fall through the crooked cop cracks in the department. We know that the sole purpose of the NYPD is to get the main threat off the street.

And the NYPD’s main threat…warranted or not…is the black man.

When 14-year-old Shaaliver Douse was murdered by two rookie cops over the weekend, there was outrage that he was the youngest person ever to be shot dead by the NYPD. And in his community, they celebrated the boy who was described as “just a kid.”

Radars immediately went off. Was Shaaliver running towards the police with a gun? Was it pointed at them? Did he pull the trigger? Were the police justified in their shooting?

Were they justified in their shooting of 16-year-old Kimani Gray just this past spring after suspecting he had a firearm (witnesses say he was adjusting his waistband)?

While we may never know what happened, the NYPD will never be justified for shooting in these communities until they protect and serve them. The shooting of our young black men, whether they are wielding a gun or not, will sadly be scrutinized until the department can establish a relationship between the people they are supposed to protect…and until they stop the war that has been brewing for decades.

And whether or not Shaaliver was shooting at a rival, or if his short life was riddled with run-ins with the police, his death probably won’t be forgiven until the NYPD rights all of the mishandled cases that initially caused this rift.

Police no doubt have a right to protect themselves. They should be respected for putting their lives in danger every single day. But are they allowed to pick off black boys they refuse to protect…well, that’s the conundrum, isn’t it?

Let’s just remember, two wrongs don’t make a right. It’s time for some real healing on both sides.

Christina Coleman 

Christina Coleman is the News and Politics Editor at GlobalGrind and a Howard University Alumna. Prior to this she was a science writer. That explains her NASA obsession. She crushes on Anthony Bourdain. Nothing explains that. Follow her on Twitter @ChrissyCole for all things news & politics. Oh. And afros.