LEAD: The talk of the country today is about how I, a black police sergeant, was picked up and attacked by white police officers in Long Beach, Calif. Some people wonder how I have the audacity to challenge the police. I have the audacity because I know who I am and I know what the police have represented to my people.

The talk of the country today is about how I, a black police sergeant, was picked up and attacked by white police officers in Long Beach, Calif. Some people wonder how I have the audacity to challenge the police. I have the audacity because I know who I am and I know what the police have represented to my people.

It is the police that tracked us as we fled the plantation. It is the police that took Rosa Parks off the bus in Montgomery, Ala. It was police chief ''Bull'' Connor who set dogs and fire hoses on black men, women and children protesting for their civil rights in Birmingham, Ala.

Knowing the history of law enforcement, how could I do otherwise? I am well aware of the black criminal, and I will stand against his or her presence in any community. However, I recognize the fact that blacks are labeled criminal at birth - for some causing self-fulfilling prophecy, for others the lingering mistrust for what I call the criminal injustice system.

In this country, a black man will spend more time in jail for killing a white than he will for killing one of...