According to the new, reflexively defensive school of thought, it is not fair to call people racist. The proponents of this school of thought say that racist people believe others are inferior, and there is no way of knowing what the angry Caucasians in Charlottesville, Va., toting tiki torches, or people like Donald Trump, actually believe. Unless we can see what they feel in their hearts, they say we should not slander them with the term “racist.”
There is no way of knowing what Seattle Police Officer Cynthia Whitlatch believes in her heart. All we can say is that Cynthia Whitlatch has done racist things. She posted numerous racist tirades to social media. She once arrested a man for “walking while black.” A judge awarded a black man more than $1 million after a jury found that Whitlatch violated his civil rights. But we must be careful not to paint Whitlatch as a racist cop because she is endowed with the privilege of innocent whiteness.
On July 9, 2014, not-racist Cynthia Whitlatch was patrolling the Capitol Hill area of Seattle when she spotted William Wingate walking around the area with a golf club.
Because William Wingate is black, he is not afforded the same presumption of innocence as Whitlatch. Because William Wingate is black, Officer Whitlatch assumed that the golf club was probably a weapon. Even though Wingate was 69 years old. Even though Wingate was using the golf club as a walking cane. Even though he took the same walk to pick up newspapers, with the same golf club, every day. No, dear reader, William Wingate was probably up to something.
Whitlatch immediately got out of her car and yelled at the elderly Air Force veteran to drop his club. She repeatedly asked him to do it, but Wingate kept telling her that he couldn’t hear her. He instead asked her what was going on. She said the golf club was a weapon. He told her he’s been walking with it for 20 years. He said he would never use it to hurt anyone and asked her to “call somebody.”
Then, not-racist Cynthia Whitlatch said that she saw Wingate swing it at someone. She said he also hit a stop sign with it. She said she had it on video and audio. Another officer arrived on the scene, called Wingate “Sir” and asked for the club. Wingate politely handed it over.
Then they arrested Wingate, handcuffed him and took him to jail, where he spent the night.
Whitlatch never saw Wingate swing the golf club, but she wrote it up in her report. She let authorities file charges against Wingate for unlawful use of a weapon. She let him hire a lawyer. It was only after Wingate got in contact with state Rep. Dawn Mason that the police even acknowledged that footage of the arrest even existed. Mason is black, and police figured she’d make it one of those “Black Lives Matter” issues, so, of course, they wouldn’t let her see the video. Instead of getting loud, Mason left and came back with two white women.
“I just took some white women into the precinct with me,” said Mason, “who know they have privilege and know they can make a difference.”
They let them see the video.
Cynthia Whitlatch might not be racist, but Cynthia Whitlatch is a liar. The video did not show Wingate swinging a club. She would later say that she knew he swung it because he “looked angry.” But don’t take Wingate’s word for it—watch for yourself:
Wingate eventually sued the city of Seattle, and a federal jury awarded him $1,278,479.85, according to the Seattle Times. More than a year after making her false arrest of Wingate, the Seattle Police Department fired Whitlatch for biased and overly aggressive policing.
Then, just as one would expect from a not-racist über-Becky filled with privilege, Whitlatch blamed the whole thing on black people. She believed she was wronged despite the fact that she falsely arrested an innocent man. It didn’t matter to her that she was a sworn police officer and that she lied in a police report. She didn’t care that there was video of her misdeeds. It all happened to her because she was white, as Whitlatch said, according to The Stranger:
I mean that’s really insulting. I mean this guy did this to me, swung a golf club at my car and then he’s arrested for obstruction, and then our assistant chief goes over and takes the golf club back to him and makes a media production of it, and then they don’t charge him? And then the judge changes his sentence from his dispositional continuance from 24 months to, to nothing now, whatever it was? What race were these? The judge was black and the chief is black, so I mean to me ... how does that look? It, it doesn’t support the officer, that’s for sure. I, I mean how can you have a chief take the weapon back to a guy who swung it at an officer? I really have a hard time accepting that.
Now, remember, Whitlatch is not racist. We cannot see inside her heart. We can, however, see Whitlatch’s Facebook wall, where she posted statements like this, according to The Stranger:
If you believe that blacks are NOT accusing white America for their problems then you are missing the point of the riots in Ferguson and the chronic black racism that far exceeds any white racism in this country. I am tired of black peoples paranoia that white people are out to get them. I am tired of hearing a black racist tell me the only reason they are being contacted is because they are black solely because I am NOT black I am tired of black people saying poor poor me when other races and genders and homeless and gays suffer far more prejudice than any black man does in the US
Keep in mind that for 13 years, Whitlatch trained officers in the Seattle Police Department. You should also know that Whitlatch had been reprimanded by the department for rude and unprofessional behavior. You should be aware that citizens had filed eight reports against Whitlatch during her time as an officer. You also might want to read what Whitlatch said when asked about all of this, as reported by The Stranger:
Well, first of all, there’s a lot of people that come to this country that have absolutely nothing that work their asses off to succeed, and they save, they live under terrible conditions, they’ll, you know, lots of people in one room, but they don’t say, “You know, hey, you’re only doing this because I’m Hispanic,” or “You’re stopping me because I’m gay, or because I’m Asian.” They come to this country, they work really hard, they try to follow the rules, they try to learn the language, they, they have a lot of ethics and integrity and they have accountability for their actions and they wanna get ahead by working hard and doing the right thing. It’s the people that don’t wanna do anything and try to get away with things or get off of things or scare people by saying “Hey, you know, you’re only doing this ‘cause I’m black.” And there’s a lot of people that are discriminated against, myself included, for being gay and for being a woman.
Whitlatch still believed that she was fired because she was white. So Whitlatch fought her firing, costing taxpayers even more money than the $1.3 million the city had already paid.
Last week the city announced that it had reached a settlement with Whitlatch. She was now unfired for her not-racist actions. Instead, the city decided to put her down as “retired,” allowing her to collect her retirement, pension and ... OK, you’re not going to believe this part:
The city gave Cynthia Whitlatch money. A lot of it. The city awarded her $105,000 in back pay. Yes, Whitlatch was fired for cause, after a jury inside a courtroom found her guilty of basically practicing racism, and she still received money for not working.
And that’s how Cynthia Whitlatch falsely accused a black man of a crime he didn’t commit, was caught in a lie, blamed it on black people and made six figures doing it.
I cannot call her a racist, but I know what is in Cynthia Whitlatch’s heart:
Nothing.