Both Scene Magazine and the PD have recently focused on the veracity of Police Chief Calvin Williams’ statements regarding the protests (and the police response) that occurred in downtown Cleveland in the wake of the brutal death of George Floyd. Seemingly contradictory statements made by Chief Williams and Cuyahoga County Sheriff Dave Schilling are at the heart of the matter.
At issue are statements by Chief Williams that when the protesters were at the doors of the Justice Center, had they been able to push back the county and city police forces protecting the building they would have set fire to the structure and released the 1,100 prisoners in the attached county jail. Certainly if that were the case any amount of police reaction meant to protect the building was necessary. But if that were not the case (as Sheriff Schilling states), if that was not the intention of the protestors — who, by the way, did not throw bricks, rocks and jugs of urine at the police as Williams and others alleged, but instead water bottles — then the truth becomes obvious: The police overreacted.
However, police overreaction in this country is as American as apple pie. Going back to the days of the civil rights and anti-war protests of the ’60s, police have consistently responded to even peaceful protests like packs of mad dogs, and then always attempted to justify their actions by blaming the uprisings on “outside agitators.” Chief Williams also made similar allegations.
In the case of the protests led by Dr. King, such nonsensical statements were particularity galling since what the racist establishment was attempting to say was, “Our Negros are not upset with the conditions they’ve been forced to live under down here below the ‘Cotton Curtain’ … indeed, they actually like our collective foot on their collective neck. It’s those Yankees that are causing the problems.”
But back to Cleveland. Would Chief Williams have reason to lie? You bet your sweet ass he had — and still has. What if he told the complete truth? What if Calvin Williams had instead said, “Some of these racist cops that serve under me have absolutely no respect for the rule of law or the public, or for me or my authority for that matter simply because of the color of my skin, and they know they can get away with virtually anything because they are protected by the police union.”
That would make for a great sound bite but he would have been fired by the end of the day. If police overreaction and misconduct is admitted to by anyone in authority in city government, then it means that the city is on the hook, responsible for the millions of dollars in damage that was done, and that simply ain’t happening, not here in Cleveland or anywhere else in this country.
In fact, any police chief in any city in America, be they black or white, who dares to tell the truth about the departments they lead would suffer a similar fate. All of them are forced to lie through their teeth or the mad dogs they supervise will slip their leashes, turn on them and tear them to shreds. This is the hard reality of how policing goes in the country we live in. By now it should be very clear that ours is really a totalitarian state, one run by men with guns, but with the polite political patina of “rule by law.”
This is not to say that Chief Williams hasn’t made every attempt within his limited power to reform the department he leads, but as Mayor Jackson knows (similar to what mayors Carl Stokes and Michael White knew), police reform is the toughest nut of all to crack.
The answer to the question is, yes, Chief Williams lied. Hell, lying while being able to keep a straight face is part of the unofficial job description of all police chiefs in this country, plus being able to fake empathy in front of TV cameras is also considered an asset. However, in Calvin Williams’ case, the empathy is genuine and sincere; he really does care about the people he had sworn to protect and serve.
So would you rather have had Chief Williams “shade the truth” or have him speak forthrightly, in which case he would be long gone — most likely to be replaced as chief by some white cop who cares little about police reform or the rights of the citizenry?
How well would you fare, how well would you shoulder the load if you were placed in the position of being between this proverbial “rock and a hard place.”?
One Response to “MANSFIELD: Did Police Chief Calvin Williams Lie?”
Harriet Applegate
Mansfield – as always you speak the truth – and you say it so very well!!!