Madison area Chefs Network presents
official event guide o n ly i n t h i s i s s u e
MARCH 3–9, 2016 VOL. 41 NO. 9 MADISON, WI
Brian Whitmore, UW-Madison police officer
Officers risk being branded as traitors to their community
POLICING WHILE BLACK A N DY M A N I S
n COVER STORY
POLICING WHILE
ISTHMUS.COM MARCH 3–9, 2016
ANDY MANIS PHOTOS
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Officers risk being branded as traitors
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By Steven Potter
ot all of Brian Whitmore’s friends wanted him to become a cop. It wasn’t that they feared for his safety.
It was because they saw him as a traitor.
“All you’re gonna do is lock up more brothers,” friends told Whit-
more, who is black. “You’re just going to oppress more of us because that’s the system you’re going to work for.”
“It was a hard thing to deal with,” admits the 34-year-old Whit-
more, who nevertheless shrugged off the disapproval to became a UW police officer in 2010.
While those friends saw Whitmore supporting a racist criminal
justice system, he saw it as a chance to help. “They didn’t get it,” he says. “I want to be a role model for other young black men.”
Race-based backlash — whether from family, friends or someone
encountered on the job — is not a frequent occurrence for black police officers. But it’s something they all face in their careers, several local black officers say.
Deon Johnson, a Madison police officer, was confronted with the
stigma a couple of years ago while arresting a drug dealer on the city’s south side. “There was this young kid with his phone camera out referring to me as ‘Uncle Tom,’” he says. “He wasn’t happy we
BLACK
were there, and he took to me as a way to channel his anger.”
Johnson gets the sentiment. “Being a black man, I can understand
some of the frustration that comes from the black community [toward police],” says Johnson, who has been with the Madison
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to their community MARCH 3–9, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM
Brian Whitmore, a UW police officer since 2010, says people often expect him to choose between his race and profession, “that I should be on one team or another.”
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