What Dr. Cosby Needs to Learn

It is outrageous that a comedian, who has over the course of his lifetime probably made more than the current Detroit budget deficit, would save his toughest rhetoric for a diatribe attacking individuals who are merely trying to "make it" everyday. Perhaps people are fascinated by the prospect of Dr. Cosby bringing the gospel of "bootstrap upward mobility" to Detroit and urban center across the nation because so many things seem not to be going right.  What Dr. Cosby said about justice and the law struck the most strident and discordant note in me, and in many Detroit citizens. He said, 'Why are you afraid of the police?' Why are Detroiters afraid of the police? Why not ask Daron Caldwell, falsely accused of murder in the nationally infamous Detroit Fireworks shooting melee last year? Mr. Caldwell was held for weeks with minimal and contradictory evidence, in light of the mysterious loss of exculpatory evidence, and released only when a strong community response and good lawyering forced the Detroit Police Department and the Wayne County Prosecutors Office to admit that they had erred in holding him as they lacked evidence to proceed. He is now suing the City for $100 million. The good doctor needs to do his research. The City of Detroit is one of the most dangerous cities for citizens in the country. In eight years, we have had more than 55 suspicious killings of citizens by Detroit police officers. The City has paid tens of millions of dollars for these egregious mishandlings, and is now under a Federal Consent Judgment for its shoddy police practices. In fact, Federal District Court Judge Julian Cook recently castigated the Department for its failure to progress on mandated and required improvements in police procedure and practice while he at the same time has failed to include the very citizens and organizations who made this a public issue. [more]