The predominate question after Edmund Perry’s death was not about the reality of police brutality, but rather how someone with so much promise and opportunity, could engage in such reckless behavior?
Twenty-five Years Later, Edmund Perry's Case Still Resonates
by Mark Anthony Neal | TheLoop21
If there was a shared belief regarding the promises of the Civil Rights Movement, it was the faith that with the legal limits of segregation removed, young Black Americans would be able to achieve the American Dream if they adhered to a program of hard work and dutiful study.
In June of 1985, Harlem bred Edmund Perry seemed the embodiment of that faith, having just graduated from one of the nation’s most prestigious prep schools with his first year at Stanford University awaiting him in the fall. Instead, 17-year-old Perry was shot to death in his Harlem neighborhood by a White undercover detective, in what was “officially” termed an act of self-defense. Twenty-five years after his shooting, Edmund Perry’s death still resonates in meaningful ways.
On the evening of June 12, 1985, Perry and his 19-year-old brother Jonah, a second year student at Cornell University, were walking on Morningside Drive in Harlem. After a skirmish with an undercover police officer, Perry was shot in his abdomen and died shortly thereafter.
The story of Perry’s death elicited many public responses, particularly in the context of regular charges of police brutality directed at the New York City police department. Suspicions of the NYPD occurred in the aftermath of the questionable deaths of the graffiti artist Michael Stewart and 66-year-old Elenor Bumphers who was shot-to-death during a forcible eviction in the Bronx. As noted cultural critic Nelson George queried at the time of Perry’s death, “Was Edmund, like so many other victims of this city, just too black for his own good?”
Less than a month after Perry’s death, a police investigation cleared the officer of any wrongdoing and Jonah Perry was indicted on charges of assault of the police officer. Perry’s family was represented by attorney C. Vernon Mason, who along with attorney Alton Maddox, who successfully defended Jonah Perry, and the Reverend Al Sharpton, would form the political triumvirate that came to national prominence in the late 1980s in response to the rape case of Tawanna Brawley and the murder of Yusef Hawkins. Edmund Perry’s death was one of the many events that inspired Spike Lee’s depiction of racial tensions in New York City in his film "Do the Right Thing" (1989).
Yet the predominate question after Perry’s death was not about the reality of police brutality, but rather how someone with so much promise and opportunity, could engage in such reckless behavior?
Read the Full Essay @ theloop21.com
Twenty-five Years Later, Edmund Perry's Case Still Resonates
by Mark Anthony Neal | TheLoop21
If there was a shared belief regarding the promises of the Civil Rights Movement, it was the faith that with the legal limits of segregation removed, young Black Americans would be able to achieve the American Dream if they adhered to a program of hard work and dutiful study.
In June of 1985, Harlem bred Edmund Perry seemed the embodiment of that faith, having just graduated from one of the nation’s most prestigious prep schools with his first year at Stanford University awaiting him in the fall. Instead, 17-year-old Perry was shot to death in his Harlem neighborhood by a White undercover detective, in what was “officially” termed an act of self-defense. Twenty-five years after his shooting, Edmund Perry’s death still resonates in meaningful ways.
On the evening of June 12, 1985, Perry and his 19-year-old brother Jonah, a second year student at Cornell University, were walking on Morningside Drive in Harlem. After a skirmish with an undercover police officer, Perry was shot in his abdomen and died shortly thereafter.
The story of Perry’s death elicited many public responses, particularly in the context of regular charges of police brutality directed at the New York City police department. Suspicions of the NYPD occurred in the aftermath of the questionable deaths of the graffiti artist Michael Stewart and 66-year-old Elenor Bumphers who was shot-to-death during a forcible eviction in the Bronx. As noted cultural critic Nelson George queried at the time of Perry’s death, “Was Edmund, like so many other victims of this city, just too black for his own good?”
Less than a month after Perry’s death, a police investigation cleared the officer of any wrongdoing and Jonah Perry was indicted on charges of assault of the police officer. Perry’s family was represented by attorney C. Vernon Mason, who along with attorney Alton Maddox, who successfully defended Jonah Perry, and the Reverend Al Sharpton, would form the political triumvirate that came to national prominence in the late 1980s in response to the rape case of Tawanna Brawley and the murder of Yusef Hawkins. Edmund Perry’s death was one of the many events that inspired Spike Lee’s depiction of racial tensions in New York City in his film "Do the Right Thing" (1989).
Yet the predominate question after Perry’s death was not about the reality of police brutality, but rather how someone with so much promise and opportunity, could engage in such reckless behavior?
Read the Full Essay @ theloop21.com
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