Video on How to Be Arrested

When I was 8, my mother explained to me why I had to sit on the back of the bus. When I was 12, I was told that I had to call my lifelong white friend “mister.” Thus started a long line of degrading activities that were standard operating procedures for blacks to survive in racist America.

Now I find that Joan Milke Flores and Chief Gates are in agreement that blacks should learn yet another lesson: how to get arrested without running the risk of being beaten half to death.

I imagine if we roll out of our automobiles onto the pavement and lay face down spread-eagle, it would allow us to get beat by a relaxed policeman instead of a tense, scared one.

I’m scared to death of policemen, as are most other black males in this city, but I’m not going to genuflect when I see one. I intend to act and be treated like any citizen of this city should, with mutual respect and dignity.

I hope that it’s obvious to all citizens of Los Angeles that police brutality is the fuse that can light a powder keg of social unrest for years to come.

ERNEST WILLIAMS

Granada Hills