FRED TEMPLE, AUBREY POLLARD, CARL COOPER
Deliberately, I learned about the young lives of Fred Temple, Aubrey Pollard, and Carl Cooper. I actually watched a movie called “Detroit” a few years ago. I saw previews about the movie coming out and I had no clue this was a true story. These young teenage boys were at the Algiers Motel. In the movie Fred, Aubrey, and Carl were in the hotel hanging out with some white girls. The City of Detroit was on high alert due to the race riots going on during that time back in 1967. Racial tensions was at its pinnacle. The riots lasted for days. One of the boys was acting silly and he shot a starter pistol out of the window. The police saw it and it led them into the Algiers Motel. In the movie race played a major key part. Police brutality is not foreign to black folks. It played its part in the movie. There were three black boys with white girls and those white officers did not like that! There are a lot of unknowns as to why the three boys were shot to death but in the movie the police tortured them because they were with white girls. The police told the public they thought they had encountered a sniper. The officers went to the area where they said the shots came from. It was the Algiers Motel. The police officers killed Fred Temple, Aubrey Pollard, and Carl Cooper. They tried to cover it up but history didn’t let them. Ronald August, Robert Paille and David Senak are the police officers responsible for the brutal deaths of Temple, Pollard, and Cooper. They were charged with murder, conspiracy, and civil rights violations but they were all disturbingly found not guilty.
So many times black men and black boys are conditioned to interact a certain way with the police in light of the racial injustice witnessed by the world against them leaking for generations. Black men and boys are not given the liberty and justice as Americans. This happened in 1967. Today, it is 2019 and the situation involving some men and women who take oaths to serve and protect ALL people is not being fully practiced. Those individuals who make policy and laws are absolutely aware of the problem. Where is the collaborative rebuke for change? Where is the political influence for this matter to cease and desist?
So many times black men and black boys are conditioned to interact a certain way with the police in light of the racial injustice witnessed by the world against them leaking for generations. Black men and boys are not given the liberty and justice as Americans. This happened in 1967. Today, it is 2019 and the situation involving some men and women who take oaths to serve and protect ALL people is not being fully practiced. Those individuals who make policy and laws are absolutely aware of the problem. Where is the collaborative rebuke for change? Where is the political influence for this matter to cease and desist?
