On Views of Race and Inequality, Blacks and Whites Are Worlds Apart

Attorney Ben Crump demand justice for Delucca Rolle.

The 15-year-old’s name became known nationwide after cellphone video footage showed a Broward Sheriff’s Office slamming his face against the ground during an arrest in Tamarac back in April.

Now, months later, Civil Rights Attorney Crump, who is defending Rolle, claims the treatment of the officers involved is staggering compared to the treatment of the officer who was caught on camera slamming a student of the same age to the ground.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know what this message is,” said Crump. “We don’t value the lives of little black and brown children the way we value the lives of little white children.”

Civil Rights activists in the media conference said there was a clear racial bias at the State Attorney’s Office.

“America needs to know the discrimination and racism that’s happening right here in Broward County,” said Crump.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know what this message is,” said Crump. “We don’t value the lives of little black and brown children the way we value the lives of little white children.”

Civil Rights activists in the media conference said there was a clear racial bias at the State Attorney’s Office.

“America needs to know the discrimination and racism that’s happening right here in Broward County,” said Crump.

Rolle was originally arrested and charged with resisting arrest and battery on an officer, but when cellphone video showing the arrest was released, it showed a different scenario. The deputies were seen pepper-spraying the teenager and throwing him on the ground before slamming his face against the pavement and punching him.

According to Crump and NAACP members, three white deputies involved were charged with misdemeanors in the case of Rolle, but when video released last week showed a black BSO deputy slamming the 15-year-old girl on the ground, they said, he was fired nearly a week later and charged with a felony.

BSO, however, said the deputy has been suspended without pay.

“The officers which lied about the report and lied about everything, they only charged them with a misdemeanor,” said Clintina Rolle, the mother of the victim. “Whereas they hit him on the ground, and he’s still emotionally going through the pattern. I just want equal justice.”

The civil rights leaders said the two cases are similar and the only difference is the students’ skin color.

“When you brutalize a child, you should be charged with a felony,” said Crump.

“It is in black and white that it took the state attorney 68 days, one rally and two press conferences to file misdemeanor charges in Delucca’s case,” said Attorney Sue Ann Robinson, “and it took eight days, just eight days, for them to review the video in this new case and file a felony charge against the black Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy.”