They Don't Even Respect Black Cops

Push the Columbus Division of Police into the Olentangy. They are not fit to serve.

I gotta go to this freak doctor in Worthington today for a routine cleaning and diagnosis of what can be done about my missing teeth. I’m thinking gold teeth but my former high school classmate tried to convince me otherwise the other night. I know she won a vote from my girlfriend.

One way or another, I’m getting at least one gold tooth to always remind me of that time I drove my car into a wall at 50 mph. That way nobody in the Bottoms can ever say I’m broke. Plus I like the aesthetic of looking like a pirate captain.

Anyway, please consider subscribing to The Rooster because unfortunately this freak in Worthington won’t accept anything but cold hard cash.

SEEMS LIKE ANY GOOD COP IN THE CDP WOULD HAVE QUIT BY NOW

My beautiful girlfriend saw this headline and said, “You wrote about the racist cops yesterday.” Well, buckle up. Because I’m writing about the racist cops again today.

Turns out the Columbus Police don’t even respect black cops.

From Paige Pfleger of wosu.org:

According to one officer, the department claims Black recruits are less qualified than white recruits, as an excuse for why it continues to hire disproportionately. Since 2010, according to department records, Columbus Police has hired at most seven Black officers per police class. 

"Along the lines of recruiting, I think that African American officers are systematically being disqualified from the process before they become hired," the officer says. "And that’s obviously the case."

Once inside the force, white officers disproportionately dominate the highest-ranking positions. The chief, Tom Quinlan, is white. There are no Black deputy chiefs and one Black commander. Just 7% of lieutenants and 8% of sergeants are Black.

Black officers say bringing in an outsider to lead Columbus Police would have helped bring about change in the department. They say it was a missed opportunity last year when Quinlan, then interim chief, was promoted to chief over Perry Tarrant, a Black former assistant chief for the Seattle Police Department.

Big shoutout to Mayor Ginther, the suburban doughboy who chose to hire the new police chief from within the violent racist gang that has patrolled this city from its inception.

I’m sure the corporate liberals will claim this system could totally be resolved by hiring more minority cops. That would be wrong. The only solution is abolishing the police department and building something new from the ashes.

Will that happen? Hell no. The local Democratic machine doesn’t even have the heart to attack the cop union contract. Things will get worse before they get better.

TURNS OUT THE HIPPIE BUS WASN’T A ROLLING HEADQUARTERS FOR ANTIFA

The Columbus Division of Police made big show during the George Floyd protest over the arrest of what they claimed to be Antifa soldiers who had traveled from Vermont to distribute weapons to protestors.

I called bullshit at the time. I didn’t even think the bus existed. I was wrong in that. The bus did exist, but that’s about the only accurate statement that was ever portrayed by the cops.

From Joel Oliphint of columbusalive.com:

“I didn’t get to a judge or anything. The guy that screens everybody to see if they want to plead guilty or not guilty took one look at [the ticket] and kind of giggled and just dismissed it on the spot,” said Digati, speaking on the record for the first time since Alive’s widely read June story about the Buttercup incident. “He was surprised that they impounded [the bus]. ... Imagine getting pulled over for a broken tail light or something and they say, ‘Well, you’re blocking the road now and we’re going to impound you.’”

While the citation was a confusing headache, the Columbus Division of Police’s social media posts about the incident caused the most problems for Digati and her fiance, Jonathan “Bearpaw” Crane. On Twitter and Facebook, CPD said the bus occupants were suspected of “supplying riot equipment to rioters” and listed some of the items found on the bus, including “bats, rocks, meat cleavers, axes, clubs and other projectiles.”

In reality, as Alive previously noted, the converted school bus with Vermont plates was a DIY-style RV (known as a “skoolie”) that served as a secondary home for Digati and Bearpaw. The axe was for the wood-burning stove, the cleavers came from a knife block in the kitchen area and the clubs were used for juggling (Digati and her friends are into circus arts, also known as Flow Arts).

My god. These people were prosecuted by the cops and taken downtown on trumped up charges. If we lived in an actual city, there would be an inquisition that would result in every bum cop involved in these shenanigans thrown into prison for the audacity they had trying to commit the scheme in the first place.

Just another reminder that the cops should never be taken at their word. They are professional liars who also have a badge.

JIM CROW CAME TO COLUMBUS, TOO

I remember growing up in Ohio and thinking wow, get a load of these racist schmucks in Southern States. Little did I know, racism was alive and well in Ohio as well. Columbus City Schools didn’t desegregate until 1980, which is just one of thousands of examples I could use to prove my point.

Don’t take my word for it, though. Take it from a black man who weathered the storm in this godforsaken city.

From Scott Woods of columbusalive.com:

The shifts in narrative tone from episode to episode have precedence in how I experience Columbus personally, and I imagine the same is true for many other residents. One week the show is a monster-filled horror show, the next a class study, the next a Goonies-style adventure. Future episodes will check the science fiction box.

Living in Columbus for me is often like that— an observation easily gleaned considering the title of this ongoing column. As a Black Columbusite, one day the city seems filled with economic and cultural potential, the next it is a police state, the next an adventure in pulling people out of educational and political quicksand. Living here was that kind of experience well before the sucking maelstrom that is 2020. The pandemic has only served to amplify the dissonance, vacillating wildly from a land of opportunity to a sickening oligarchy in the time it takes to drive from one side of town to the other.

Someone asked me today why I stay here when I give the city so much grief. I responded with one reason, but there are two in my head. The first is that I grew up here and am invested in its success. Conversely, I have every right to demand better of it. When I feel that the city has passed the point of no return — that it is truly a lost cause politically and culturally — I’ll start looking at brochures.

Just depressing all around. I wish we lived in the country that most white Americans like to pretend we do. In the meantime, check out Lovecraft Country on HBO. It’s a certified banger.

THOSE WMDs. My family’s slave… Seven ways to sabotage your financial future… The loan company that sued thousands of low-income latinos during the pandemic… The companies that help people vanish… When the world isn’t built for our bodies.