Guess Which One Ended Up Dead?
Michael Harriot
Derek Hicks (Indianapolis Arrestee Processing Center), Aaron Bailey (National Association Against Police Brutality via Facebook)
Police aren’t racist. Critics of the Black Lives Matter movement believe this despite data from police departments in New York, Kansas City and San Francisco (pdf) showing that cops are more likely to stop black citizens. Those who make deities of anyone in uniform believe in the infallibility of the badge despite the numbers that show black people are 2.5 times more likely than whites to be killed by police.
Regardless of all the statistics, anecdotal evidence and studies that say otherwise, some people will never believe that many officers patrol the streets of America with a badge, a gun and a deep-rooted implicit bias.
We submit to you the cases of Derek Hicks and Aaron Bailey.
According to WTTV, on June 28, Indianapolis police officers attempted to stop a car around 1 a.m. The driver, Hicks, allegedly refused to stop, and led law-enforcement officers on a brief car chase that ended when Hicks crashed the vehicle.
Still refusing their orders, Hicks fled on foot before he was apprehended. When he was finally arrested, police allegedly found Hicks in possession of marijuana, driving without a license and carrying a semi-automatic Smith & Wesson .45 with five rounds in the clip. He was arrested and booked into jail.
Derek Hicks is white.
The next day, according to the Indianapolis Star, on June 29, Indianapolis police officers attempted to stop a car around 2 a.m. The driver, Aaron Bailey, initially stopped, but allegedly took off 10 minutes later and led law-enforcement officers on a car chase that ended when Bailey crashed the vehicle.
Unlike Hicks’ case, when police searched Bailey’s car, they discovered that Bailey did not have a weapon. Unlike Hicks, Bailey stopped for the flashing lights. Unlike Hicks, Bailey was not wanted for a crime. Unlike what they did when they apprehended Hicks, the police officers opened fire on Bailey, who is black.
Also, unlike Hicks, Aaron Bailey is dead.
2 traffic stops, 2 separate outcomes: Derek Hicks fled and lived, Aaron Bailey fled and was killed
Both had criminal records. Both ran from police. One is still alive, the other is not.
This paragraph is supposed to contain quotes about how police feared for their lives. It should also include a couple of sentences about Bailey’s criminal past, as if his execution squad were soothsayers who had his rap sheet in their heads. For impartiality, it should contain a brief statement that the officers who killed Bailey—Michael P. Dinnsen and Carlton J. Howard—have no record of disciplinary offenses. The paragraph would usually conclude with a quote from the mayor, the police chief or a spokesman for the city calling this incident a “tragedy” and assuring citizens that there will be a thorough investigation.
Derek Hicks has a jury trial scheduled for Sept. 20, 2017.
Aaron Bailey will have a funeral.
Jeff Thomas
Publisher • Opinion Columnist • Licensed General Contractor • Real Estate Appraiser • New Orleans
Jeff Thomas is the publisher of Black Source Media and one of New Orleans’ most direct voices on civic affairs, economic justice, and Louisiana politics. He writes from the intersection of experience and accountability — as a licensed general contractor,a tech company founder and executive with over 30 years experience, and a businessman who has worked across the city’s civic, media, and construction ecosystems for decades.
His Sunday column covers Louisiana legislative politics, insurance discrimination, housing policy, and the forces shaping Black community life in New Orleans and across the state. Thomas writes in the tradition of Black journalists who hold power accountable without apology — building arguments from data, delivering verdicts from evidence, and speaking to Black New Orleans with the directness the moment demands.
He is also the principal of Executive Appraisers Louisiana, an MBE-certified real estate appraisal firm, and EA Inspection Services, LLC, a government inspection services company. Black Source Media is his platform for the civic conversation New Orleans has needed and too rarely had.
Selected Articles by Jeff Thomas
Black Neighborhoods Pay the Highest Insurance Rates in Louisiana. Here’s What They Don’t Want You to Know.
They Didn’t Yell the N-Word. They Went to Law School, Bided Their Time, and Rewrote the Constitution Instead.
Vappie vs. Morrell: Why Does Justice Look Different in New Orleans?
The State Has the Money. New Orleans East Just Needs Them to Use It.
The Failure of Mitch Landrieu
Publisher — Black Source Media
Jeff Thomas
Publisher • Opinion Columnist • Licensed General Contractor • Real Estate Appraiser • New Orleans
Jeff Thomas is the publisher of Black Source Media and one of New Orleans’ most direct voices on civic affairs, economic justice, and Louisiana politics. He writes from the intersection of experience and accountability — as a licensed general contractor,a tech company founder and executive with over 30 years experience, and a businessman who has worked across the city’s civic, media, and construction ecosystems for decades.
His Sunday column covers Louisiana legislative politics, insurance discrimination, housing policy, and the forces shaping Black community life in New Orleans and across the state. Thomas writes in the tradition of Black journalists who hold power accountable without apology — building arguments from data, delivering verdicts from evidence, and speaking to Black New Orleans with the directness the moment demands.
He is also the principal of Executive Appraisers Louisiana, an MBE-certified real estate appraisal firm, and EA Inspection Services, LLC, a government inspection services company. Black Source Media is his platform for the civic conversation New Orleans has needed and too rarely had.
Selected Articles by Jeff Thomas
Black Neighborhoods Pay the Highest Insurance Rates in Louisiana. Here’s What They Don’t Want You to Know.
They Didn’t Yell the N-Word. They Went to Law School, Bided Their Time, and Rewrote the Constitution Instead.
Vappie vs. Morrell: Why Does Justice Look Different in New Orleans?
The State Has the Money. New Orleans East Just Needs Them to Use It.
The Failure of Mitch Landrieu
“With liberty and justice for all”