Despite repeated warnings from civil rights leaders and black police officers in Cincinnati, the police department's official response was that the shootings must be considered individually rather than as a pattern. More important from the perspective of black Cincinnatians is that no city police officer has ever been convicted of a killing. There has been only one reprimand. But many Americans, particularly white Americans, are quick to deny race as the primary motive in almost any negative act against a person of color unless the person committing the act is wearing a white sheet. Police brutality cases are just a symptom of the illness.
Denial is the more serious affliction.
Had he been charged with the death of his first wife, a black woman, many blacks argued, the case would not have been so spectacular and surely would have been dropped after he was acquitted of criminal murder charges. So eager are we to deny the existence of racism that many white Americans and even some black Americans now argue that race should not be a factor in any decisions regarding school and college admissions or hiring. There are even attempts to deny the existence of racial profiling. As a result, far too many Americans easily accept the fallacy that fighting racism and discrimination is no longer necessary. The problem is not that reasonable people cannot disagree about what constitutes racial profiling or hold different opinions on other tough race issues.