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OP-ED: Police Corruption: “Your eyes aren’t lying and your ears aren’t deceiving you”

Published

11 years ago

May 9, 2015

By Richard Wembe Johnson, Folsom Prison

As we daily witness police officers from around the country committing undeniable acts of aggression, assault and murder against people of color, it reminds us of the infamous Oakland Riders case where our cops were found guilty of lying, planting evidence, excessive force and other crimes of corruption.

Even though statistically people of color are at the brunt of these overt acts, all people are at risk of being injured or killed at the hands of America’s finest.

We as a society cannot continue to go on in collective denial, as if our eyes and ears are lying to us. We must also look behind the force-fed media messages describing and defending this outbreak of lawless police behavior.

I cite a few examples of police excessive force and killings, which include: the outrageous sheriff beating of a man on horseback in San Bernardino; the murder of the Black man shot 8 times in the back; the Black college student savagely beaten as he tried to get into a late night club; the young Black child killed while holding a toy gun; the Black man shot in Wal-Mart while holding a toy gun from the store’s shelves; Eric Harris, the Black man shot in the back, supposedly accidentally, by a 73-year old volunteer reserve police officer, who in my opinion, is beyond the age to be actively making life or death decisions in split seconds.

Oscar Grant

With our own eyes and ears we sadly witnessed the Tulsa, OK reserve officer claim he mistakenly grabbed his service revolver instead of his taser after Mr. Harris, the suspect, was already subdued.

The Harris killing is Oscar Grant deja vu.

And just recently, a Hispanic man in Arizona was brutally rundown by a police vehicle. Then, inexplicably, the officer was speedily cleared of any wrongdoing.

As much as some may want to deny or refute the truth of these terrifying acts of police violence, our eyes and ears are observing how some of the police are overtly and covertly punishing the public that they have been sworn to protect.

It is not my intent to inflame the public, but I want to inform the public with the proof of how the inept, racist, homophobic and irresponsible conduct by men in blue is so overwhelming that it’s pointless to detail all of them.

But for those who choose to be in denial, seeking absolute proof, I suggest that you look at all the officers who are under indictment, investigation, and/or in jail or prison for their crimes. It’s depressing that only a few of those charged are convicted.

I mentioned the Oakland Riders case at the beginning of this column because five years before they were actually charged, I said these rogue officers were lying about what actually happened in my own case.

Quite naturally, they circled the wagons and flatly dismissed my claims. Yet, five years later they were forced to revisit them on a much larger scale.

Crime is still crime, regardless of who commits it. Corruption, whether by police or civilians, is criminal. Video cameras and cell phones are now being used to reveal police behavior previously unseen by the public.

This makes it hard to deny some instances of police criminal acts. It’s becoming even harder to say, “we can’t believe our lying eyes,” or that what we hear is unreliable.

We must begin to address the fundamental root causes of this culture of violence. When we remain silent, we enable these acts. At some point the resounding chant of “Black Lives Matter” must be acted upon.

You can reach Mr. Johnson by letter: Richard Johnson K-53293, CSP-SAC c7-106, P.O. Box 290066, Represa, CA, 95671.

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 8 – 14, 2026

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Black Artists in America, Installation Three Wraps at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens

TRI-STATE DEFENDER — With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

Published

3 weeks ago

March 24, 2026

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By Candace A. Gray | Tri-State Defender

The tulips gleefully greet those who enter the gates at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens on an almost spring day. More than 650,000 bulbs of various hues are currently on display. And they are truly breathtaking.

Inside the gallery, and equally as breathtaking, is the “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” exhibit, which runs through Sunday, March 29. This is the third installment of a three-part series that started years ago and illustrates part of the Black experience through visual arts in the 20th century.

“This story picks up where part two left off,’’ said Kevin Sharp, the Linda W. and S. Herbert Rhea director for the Dixon. “This era is when we really start to see the emergence of these important Black artists’ agency and freedom shine through. They start to say and express what they want to, and it was a really beautiful time.”

With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

“Though [Davis] was from LA, he actually lived in Memphis for a decade,” said Sharp. “He was a dean at Memphis College of Art, and later opened the first gallery in New York owned and operated by black curators.”

Another featured artist is former NFL player, Ernie Barnes. His work is distinctive. Where have you seen one of his most popular paintings, Sugar Shack? On the end scene and credits of the hit show “Good Times.” His piece Saturday Night, Durham, North Carolina, 1974 is in this collection.

Memphis native James Little’s “The War Baby: The Triptych” is among more than 50 works featured in “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens, the final installment of a three-part series highlighting the impact and evolution of Black artists through 2011.

The exhibit features other artists with Memphis ties, including abstract painter James Little, who was raised in a segregated Memphis and attended Memphis Academy of Art (before it was Memphis College of Art). He later moved to New York, became a teacher and an internationally acclaimed fixture in the art world in 2022 when he was named a Whitney Biennial selected artist at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Other artists like Romare Bearden, who had a Southern experience but lived up North, were featured in all three installments.

“During this period of time, he was a major figure,” said Sharp. “He wrote one of the first books on the history of African American art during a time when there were more Black academics, art teachers, more Black everything!”

Speaking of Black educators, Sharp said the head curator behind this tri-part series and Dixon’s partner in the arts is Earnestine Jenkins, Ph.D., an art history professor at the University of Memphis, who also earned a Master of Arts degree from Memphis State University (now UofM). “We began working with Dr. Jenkins in 2018,” he said.

Sharp explained that it takes a team of curators, registrars, counterparts at other museums, and more, about three years to assemble an exhibit like this. It came together quite seamlessly, he added. Each room conjured up more jaw-dropping “wows” than the one before it. Each piece worked with the others to tell the story of Black people and their collective experience during this time period.

One of the last artists about whom Sharp shared information was Bettye Saar, who will turn 100 years old this year. She’s been working in Los Angeles for 80 years and is finally getting her due. Her medium is collages or assemblages, and an incredible work of hers is on display. She’s married to an artist and has two daughters, also artists.

The exhibit catalogue bears some of these artists’ stories, among other scholarly information.

The exhibit, presented by the Joe Orgill Family Fund for Exhibitions, is culturally and colorfully rich. It is a must see and admission to the Dixon is free.

Visit https://www.dixon.org/ to learn more.

Fun Facts: An original James Little design lives in the flooring of the basketball court at Tom Lee Park, and he makes and mixes his own paint colors.