If the beating were an isolated incident, we could shake our heads, punish those involved and move on. But this is just the latest in a growing list of blatant police attacks that compromise public confidence in the police. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have recently called attention to the large number of police beatings of suspects after car chases.

And let's be clear: Poor black and Latino communities have been the hardest hit.

The Jones beating would not have happened in just any community, and it would not have happened to just any suspect. The reign of terror being carried out by certain sectors of big city police forces is targeted at poor people of color. And not just suspects. Entire communities are put at risk by high-speed car chases and shoot-outs on residential streets, as happened in Philadelphia.

Former Washington Post reporter Jill Nelson's recent book "Police Brutality: An Anthology" (W.W. Norton, 2000) documents the longstanding problem of police violence in minority communities.

Philadelphia is no stranger to police violence and corruption. Four years ago, under threat of lawsuits, the city entered into a court-monitored agreement to curb police corruption. Philadelphia police officers had allegedly stolen drug money, given false testimony and framed suspects. Most recently, railway cops last week fatally shot a homeless man for throwing a chair at them. He was otherwise unarmed.

Some commentators have attempted to downplay the vicious nature of the Jones beating by suggesting that the cops may have been afraid for their own lives, since one of them had already been shot. But since no weapon was found on or near the suspect, it is possible that the officer was shot by friendly fire. In any case, a man who had already been shot five times hardly posed a threat to a dozen armed police surrounding him. There is no excuse for cops behaving like a lynch mob.

When I was growing up in Detroit in the 1960s, police brutality was a problem of primarily white suburban cops freely wielding authority and billy clubs in poor black communities that they had little other connection to.

We naively thought electing a black mayor and hiring black police officers from minority communities would solve the problem. It didn't. The problem is much bigger than the individuals involved.

Part of the process of joining the police force is proving your loyalty to the team. Unfortunately, that loyalty often means a code of silence. A 1998 Human Rights Watch report observed: "The excessive use of force by police officers ... persists because overwhelming barriers to accountability make it possible for officers who commit human-rights violations to escape due punishment and often repeat their offenses."

Police can share the same set of biases toward the so-called criminal element, even when they themselves come from diverse backgrounds. When the stereotype of criminals is a racial one, cops of all races can unconsciously internalize this image and act based on it.

The Philadelphia beating comes on the heels of promised federal intervention to alleviate the problem of police brutality. Last year, President Clinton delivered a speech called "Strengthening Police Integrity" and proposed several interventions. Attorney General Janet Reno has met with police chiefs and citizens to discuss the problem, and civil-rights and human-rights groups have issued reports documenting the nature and extent of police brutality.

Still, a dozen Philadelphia cops felt perfectly confident pummeling a wounded suspect in broad daylight with television cameras overhead. Either they were not thinking or they believed they could get away with it. Both possibilities are equally disturbing.

Ransby is an assistant professor of African-American studies and history at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Reach her at pmproj@progressive.org or by writing to Progressive Media Project, 409 East Main St., Madison, WI, 53703.

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