By June Boyd
Guest Commentary
The recent controversy relative to police dogs being sent to attack African American men must stop.
History tells us that dogs were used to catch and attack run-away slaves. Many of us remember Bull Connor, the white supremacist who used dogs to attack Blacks during the civil rights movement. The tone of that era has cast a shadow over the police departments that are using dogs in fighting crime.
My concern is that I have yet to see a Caucasian male attacked by a police dog. Someone please tell me if I am wrong.
Personally, I believe police dogs should be used for sniffing for drugs in a search; perhaps finding a corpse or trained to find missing persons. They should not be used to attack African American men because it is too much like a scene from a dark past that is still haunting us as African American citizens.
The entire community should be outraged by the attacks because it appears the police officers involved are deliberately ordering the dogs to attack. It is a gross injustice; more so when the individual has not been convicted of a crime.
The ugly history of slavery, the civil rights struggle, water hoses, people being beaten, attacking dogs – many times for just attempting to register to vote. The only sure way to keep from reminding us is to stop using the police dogs to attack African American men.
As a member of the race amity group through the Bahai faith, we constantly celebrate those who have made every effort to promote racial equality.
Today, we need that more than ever. We should begin to recognize the abuse from those who have racist tendencies and come together as a people and object to hate and discrimination against someone because he or she is of a different color; a different ancestry or religion or disabled; a different sex gender or sexual orientation. God loves us all.
June Boyd