Was prejudice at heart of Manuel Ellis’ death?

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, January 16, 2024

As a draftee in 1953 I was sent to Korea where I lived in an eight-man tent with six Black kids and one Latino kid. Utter chaos, but what an education. I became good friends with a couple of the guys and corresponded for years after the Army and boy, did I learn a lot about race in those days.

I think about that time every time I hear about racial tensions like those that arose after the trial of former police officers in Tacoma over the death of Manuel Ellis. Just like my Army days there are some people that just will not accept what they don’t want to believe or hear. In the Ellis case you could bet on reaction from some just like you can every time one of these black/white confrontations happen and especially when it’s white cops and a Black man. I assume that I saw the same footage of the Ellis confrontation that everybody else saw, and it sure appeared to me that Ellis was fighting with the officers in every frame of the footage.

There’s good reason of course for Black folks to see racial prejudice in these incidents given the history of race relations in this country and especially with law enforcement. But it’s not racial prejudice every time. Obviously, relations between the Black community and law enforcement especially, needs improvement from both sides.

Don Curtis

Stanwood