Murder of de Menezes Back in the Headlines

The murder of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician, by member's of London's Metropolitan Police in July 2005 in a Tube station, is back in the headlines as the inquest into the event is finally getting under way. That's right, the inquest is getting started three years after Mr. de Menezes was killed.

The police story at the time was that Mr. de Menezes resembled one of the fugitive terrorists from the then-recent July 11 bombings on the London transit system, was wearing bulky clothing and had jumped a turnstile, leading them to believe that he was about to detonate a suicide bomb. The bulky clothing story and the turnstile jumping have since been thoroughly debunked. Once again, the police lied about the circumstances of killing. As for resembling the missing bomber, de Menezes was Brazilian. About the only thing he had in common with the bomber was that he was brown-skinned. And that tells us a lot. Either members of some of the most elite squads of the Metropolitan Police are unable to tell brown-skinned people apart, or they were just out to shoot a brown man that day. While the first is disturbing, the second is absolutely appalling.

The Metropolitan Police as a corporate body has been convicted at trial of endangering the health and safety of Mr. de Menezes. What the inquest will determine is whether or not Mr. de Menezes was unlawfully killed. I don't see how the coroner's jury could possibly conclude otherwise. Mr. de Menezes was killed because he was brown, no other reason. What other possible reason could the police advance, given that their previous story has been completely debunked? Even if Mr. de Menezes did resemble a missing suspect, that is simply not grounds to shoot him. It might, if you stretch things, be reasonable and probable grounds for a short-term detention (i.e. an hour or two) to determine his identity, but these officers decided to shoot first and then try to avoid questions. If the jury comes back with the right verdict, these officers must face trial for second-degree murder.

Sadly, this case is just another demonstration of the need for fundamental reform in the way that society polices itself. The institutions of the police are too hopelessly racist, sexist and homophobic to deserve the trust of any marginalized groups in society, and are especially dangerous to any person that fits more than one of those bills. Civilians must have full and complete control of the police. The public must remember that the police serve us, not the other way around. We live in nominal democracies, and democracy gives us the tools to make a change, if enough people band together to demand that change. As Margaret Mead wrote, we must never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, people can change the world. And if even a small group can change the world given time, imagine how fast the people, united, could change it.

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