Racism Doesn’t Stop at the City/County Line : Police: The shooting death of Arturo Jimenez by a sheriff’s deputy demands another look at the abuse of people of color.

Certain events have the power to resurrect longstanding wounds in the psyche of a community. One such event is unsanctioned violence within an institution that professes to protect the community it serves. Such has been the effect of the killing of Arturo Jimenez on the mental health of East Los Angeles.

Some call it the Latino community’s Rodney King case. Arturo Jimenez, 19, was shot dead by a County Sheriff’s deputy at the Ramona Gardens housing project in East Los Angeles last weekend.

Conflicting accounts of the events leading up to Arturo Jimenez’s death abound. But one thing is clear: This is the first major challenge of the post-Christopher Commission era for us to deal with the systemic and widespread use of force and racism in police/community relations.

Rodney King’s case shattered the rosy image many people had of the “protective” nature of police officers. A videotape of his beating by Los Angeles police officers existed; he had to be believed. Had there been no tape, no Christopher Commission would have been convened. As with so many other victims of excessive use of force, the burden of proof would have fallen on the victim and witnesses. As still often happens with rape victims, the character of Rodney King would have been on trial. He was purported to be drunk, on drugs, a parolee no less. Rodney King versus officers sworn to uphold the law. A black man versus four white men.

Were it not for the videotape, the best that Rodney King might have hoped for is the benefit of the doubt: “Maybe it did happen, but it won’t happen again.” Instead, the videotape permeated our collective consciousness and ignited political discourse.

Then Arturo Jimenez was killed. A videotape was made by a bystander, but it only captures the shooting’s aftermath. Hence, our first challenge in the wake of national attention to police brutality: Who is to be believed? Sheriffs’ deputies? Despite the videotape of Rodney King, which gave many people their first glimpse of the separate and unequal administration of justice in the separate and unequal America inhabited by African-Americans and Latinos, many of us still tenaciously cling to the belief that the police are generally trustworthy.

Are the people of Ramona Gardens to be believed? Poor people, Mexicans--you know, people on welfare. Who believes them? They cheat the government because they’re too lazy to work and they’re poor because they have too many kids. Then they raise them to be gang members. Arturo Jimenez was a “gang member.” One of those dark-skinned young men with bleak futures. Tattooed arms. Macho. They’re the ones responsible for drive-by shootings where innocent people get killed. If the cops hadn’t killed Arturo Jimenez, a rival gang member probably would have got him at some point.

That’s what we might tell ourselves.

How easily we justify violence when we have handy images by which to dehumanize others while preserving our cherished beliefs. Indeed, in a recent study of police use of force, the majority of 631 college-student participants (representing all racial groups) agreed that police brutality is widespread and should be questioned. Yet when asked the same question with the target of such brutality identified as a “gang member,” all of the respondents--regardless of race or ethnic origin--were less willing to question the use of force. This turnaround was obtained simply by identifying the victim as a gang member. How would a jury respond?

Rodney King and Arturo Jimenez. Similarities? Disturbingly, yes. But this time it will be our perception of truth and justice that will be on trial as calls for an independent investigation continue, as the Christopher Commission findings unfold, as we hear even more about “gangs” within the ranks of the sheriff’s deputies themselves.

The shooting of Arturo Jimenez brings us to the crossroads in how we will continue to administer justice in the County of the Angels. It is the classic American dilemma: What is the truth? As we decide, we need to ask ourselves if our perception of truth is colored by a long legacy of racism in the depiction and treatment of people of color in this country.

As civil rights further erode, raising the specter of accelerated levels of unsanctioned violence in our communities, East Los Angeles will continue to shed blood from longstanding psychological wounds. The shooting death of Arturo Jimenez, so soon after the beating of Rodney King, is a challenge to the quest for truth. Are we prepared to meet it?