MICHAEL X?
Social Eye Media
Where's Councilman Johnson been on profiling and police abuse toward Hispanics? In the nativist camp, according to his own writings.
Related Content
More About
Of all the ironies in the fallout from Councilman Michael Johnson's alleged roughing-up at the hands of a rookie Phoenix cop, there's one that's particularly troubling:
The presence of Charles Muhammad, a minister for the Nation of Islam's Phoenix branch, at a press conference given by Johnson last week at City Hall.
Muhammad was there at the invite of Johnson, according to Johnson flack Stephanie Ribodal. And Muhammad conveyed an incendiary message at the press conference from none other than controversial NOI leader Louis Farrakhan.
"If justice is not served," warned Farrakhan in a statement read by Muhammad, "it will produce revolution."
During his time at the mic, Johnson continued to riff on the possibility that the incident, in which Phoenix cop Brian Authement reportedly laid Johnson on the ground and handcuffed him, was racially motivated or, perhaps, a reaction induced by the post-traumatic stress disorder suffered because of Authement's tour of duty in Iraq.
We don't know what was in Authement's head that night, in part, because we haven't heard from Authement, who's been ordered silent by police brass as they investigate the incident.
On the night of the confrontation, Johnson was checking on a neighbor whose house was on fire, and maintains he had the okay from fire officials to approach the victim.
Johnson is black. Authement is white. Did Authement overreact? Was it based on race, miscommunication, or just a cop's mentality of "shut up, and do as I say"?
Thing is, there's no Rodney King-like videotape. At least not that we know of. But let's accept for the sake of argument that race played a part in Authement's takedown of Johnson.
If so, why would Johnson invite a Nation of Islam minister to convey the thoughts of a man known for making anti-Semitic, anti-white, and homophobic remarks?
Over the years, Farrakhan has called Jews "bloodsuckers," Hitler "a very great man," and Judaism "a dirty religion." He's falsely claimed Jews were behind the slave trade and promulgated various anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
For such rhetoric and for its advocacy of black superiority over other races, the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled the Nation of Islam a hate group.
But don't listen to it. In his day, Dr. Martin Luther King criticized Black Muslims, as they're also known, as "a hate group arising in our midst that would preach the doctrine of black supremacy."
If you've ever read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, you know that the theology of black separatism preached by Elijah Muhammad's followers has little to do with Islam.
In fact, Malcolm X eventually broke with NOI over Elijah Muhammad's extramarital affairs. And when Malcolm X made his pilgrimage to Mecca, it brought home the fact that true Islam was a faith embracing many ethnicities and nationalities.
Farrakhan regarded Malcolm X as a traitor and proclaimed at the time that "such a man is worthy of death."
Decades later, Farrakhan said he regretted the statement and admitted it may have led indirectly to Malcolm X's assassination. He's also attempted softening some of his rhetoric, though his anti-Semitism has persisted.
So why is Johnson, a former Phoenix homicide detective, aligning himself with Farrakhan and Farrakhan's followers? Is Johnson planning to become a black revolutionary?
Hardly. It's just one of several missteps by Johnson over his manhandling by Authement.
INVISIBLE MAN
As has been noted by my colleagues Paul Rubin and Monica Alonzo on New Times' Valley Fever blog, Councilman Johnson has hardly been Mr. Civil Rights when it comes to allegations of abuse of power by Phoenix cops.
Indeed, in the councilman's statement after the Authement incident, he practically admitted that he didn't take complaints against cops seriously before violence happened to him.
"For years now," reads the Johnson release, "I have received calls from residents complaining about police harassment, abuse of power, and, in some cases, brutality. I retired from the Phoenix Police Department and couldn't believe it. How could our police officers harass the very people they promised to protect and serve?"
Johnson concludes by promising, "I, Councilman Mike Johnson and police department veteran, am going to be the voice for the voiceless, and I'm going to be heard."
So Johnson's had his road to Damascus experience. Too bad it took getting put facedown on the ground for him to get there.
Johnson spokeswoman Ribodal told me that the councilman and his staff have had meetings with police commanders previously over other allegations of police abuse.
She characterized the councilman's concerns over the misuse of police authority as not something new, but "something that has been ongoing."
Then where were the press conferences from Johnson decrying past incidents? Most of Johnson's verbal ammo has been utilized in the past to support Phoenix cops and their union, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association.
Regarding the Johnson incident, PLEA is backing Authement, saying that Johnson was in the wrong for not obeying a police officer protecting the perimeter of a fire scene.
That's gotta rankle Johnson, who has consistently been in the cops' corner.
His past silences aside, Johnson hasn't been slow to throw his weight around regarding the Authement affair, informing the media that he's met with U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke to press him to investigate the matter.
