Topic
for
3/24/97:		 Do you believe the decision to not extend the tenure of Los Angeles Police Chief Willie Williams to be a fair one, or just another example of the application of a double standard when it comes to African Americans?



Name: K.Leonard
Email: k8wra1@juno.com
Response: Willie Williams did what any ambitious law enforecment officer would love to have done. He landed the premier police position in the country. It would have been impossible to change things around in a short time for anyone in that position, given the bad publicity that had come out of LA in recent years about its police force and its activities. Anyone, any color would have failed to please the movers and shakers in that area and would probably have suffered the same fate. Chief Williams hadn't been there long enough to get politically cozy with the power structure who wanted all that bad publicity to go away. But he won't suffer. That experience will look very good on his resume and he will land another job, probably as good and less pressure filled.


Name: paula mitchell
Email: paumit!@aol.com
Response: I was glad when Chief Williams arrived to Los Angeles and I always felt he did an outstanding job. On the other hand I also felt that he was set up from the beginning because of the mess left behind by Gates but Williams did a great job under diverse circumstances. I admire his courage to confront issues that have plagued Los Angeles for quite sometime and those being drugs, gangs, unemployment, police brutality, sub standard housing, and the lack of services for several heavily populated minority communities. I wish Chief Williams the best and I am glad that he is staying in Los Angeles to pursue other avenues of interest.


Name: murray x
Email: murray@jumpnet.com
Response: You know they put him up there to prevent another riot A scape goat-- because the police force was still physically beating blacks and other minorities The city knew they had to do something to keep the calm in the city of angels. That's just another brother who thought he could change things but they knew they would get rid of him after a few year. And here we are-- he is about to go!!!


Name: reginald
Email: mdmonk@cts.com
Response: the city of L.A. has been looking for a reason to get rid of Chief Williams. I believe after they brought in an african american to head the police department aftrer Gates was exposed for what he was (the klan in a police uniform) they wanted to get rid of him after the nation believed the city leaders where not wearing the same white sheet as Gates. Chief Williams was an effective Police Chief, not some boy for them to control and they didn't like the fact that they couldn't control him. that's my take.


Name: Nnamdi Nzingha
Email:
Response: I think it is the ole american double standard at work. Becaues he wasn't the super n---er, to clean up the mess of his predecessors, they threw him out


Name: jim porter
Email: jimsnet@cds.net
Response: The same people who hire,should be able to fire.


Name: rosa reed
Email: darth6847@aol.com
Response: This job was a dream come true for Chief Williams, and he should had done a better job of it, instead of getting rapped up in the Hollywood glamour.


Name: Realist
Email: s015lab@desire.wright.edu
Response: We are always the last hired, first fired. I've been in that postion myself many times, although I am usually overqualified for the jobs I get, and a damn good hard-worker. Darryl Gates remained in that post for years, heading the most racially insensitive, brutally abusive police force I've ever heard or seen of in America. Get the Brothah in there for a "few minutes" and just because he has not parted the Red Sea, they are ready to get rid of him. Rome was not built in a day, and it is highly unreasonable to have expected him to turn that racially divided city around in such a short amount of time, particularly in the wake of the O.J. verdict. no matter who was in that office, the verdict alone would have made things worse either way. And this second verdict, which gives the whitefolks the vindication they so desparately seemed to need, just makes matters worse, and proves that the system inevitably will always work FOR THEM, AND AGAINST US. Willie Williams is just the icing on top of that "angel food cake" dose of reality.


Name: gene
Email: ap065@osfn.rhilinet.gov
Response: The decision is strictly a matter of race. The police board there doesn't care whether Chief Williams did a good job or not. They looked at the anti-black trend (Riordon's election, O.J., prop 209, etc) sweeping Cali and decided that they can make this move with no consequences. Look for them to replace Williams with an ideological clone of Daryl Gates. Their decision is not a strike against Chief Williams as much as it is a slap against the ENTIRE Black community in LA.


Name: Marcie
Email: MMcgee1048
Response: Undoubtedly race is of interest, otherwise, no news story. However, for me, a core issue is, what does the contract provide as recourse? My understanding is that there was no guarantee of another 5 years. Certainly with the police commission being appointed by Mayor Riordan, anyone--no matter the race--who gets on his hit list is out. This is politics as usual, whether it is played out in the public sector, or among the Fortune 500. Race simply creates a discussion topic. Chief Williams was offered the job because of many qualifications--being black was not one. As a black woman living in Los Angeles, the fact of a black chief is inconsequential when that person does not live among black folks here. So I return to, what does the contract he negotiated provide? As an outsider to LAPD, his fate was sealed before his name was known. His accomplishments were many--he also had many enemies who covet his role.


Name: Jesse
Email: jessee@surfnetinc.com
Response: Brother Williams was put in the job as a way to keep blacks quiet. That is why we must be careful in what we accept and above all we must remember that the struggle is not over it is just beginning. The FBI need to conduct a investigation of that entire police department. As far as Chief Williams is concened all blacks with good sense knew that wasn't going to last. The Los Angeles Police Department is to racist for a black police chief.


Name: Ayana Johnson
Email: Ayana@candy,com
Response: I feel that The media is very degrading towards ny type of person whether it's a male , female, child, bisexual, lesbian,gay, tall, short. The fact of the matter is is that's the medias job to keep up on the world. I think if women were not shown as sex objects and maybe sex educators they wouldn't be recognized as much I 'am fed up with the treatment that women are given it's wrong and needs to be stopped


Name: Randy Scott
Email: rscott@pbmo.net
Response: It's a matter of that old race thing. If Mr.Williams were white there would be no discussion. I find it amazing that white people think we are silly enough to believe everything they say. I deal with white people everyday. I'm a trucker and I hear it and see it almost everywhere I go. Allow me to kinda change the flavor. How about the way the media is keeping hush, hush in the Ramesy murder case? Sad is'nt it ?