Another mass killing by gun in the United States is no longer a surprise. It is now just a matter of fact that every few days one occurs. My reaction to finding out a 29-year-old hero, a black guy, saved a lot of lives by wrestling the gun from his hand though was disconcerting but real.
It is sad that I could not sit back and look at the hero who saved multiple lives at a Waffle house as just a man doing a good deed. But in time where one can kill you for just assuming what your being represents or the fear of your being, I just could not.
Mass Killer suspect: 29-year-old Travis Reinking of Morton, Illinois
29-year-old Travis Reinking allegedly shot and killed four people at a Waffle House in Antioch, Tennessee, southeast Nashville. A patron, James Shaw Jr., jumped the gunman while he was either fumbling with or reloading the gun. Shaw wrestled with the gunman, snatched the gun away. And then he threw it over the counter. Subsequently, the gunman ran away. Wisely, Shaw did not run after the gunman; he said for fear that he might have more guns.
James Shaw Jr. Antioch Waffle House HeroI am glad, James Shaw Jr., the hero, did not run after that gunman for a different reason. My biggest concern would be that the police, after hearing about a shooting at a Waffle House and seeing a black man chasing a white guy would succumb to implicit bias and make the wrong assumption about who was the killer.
Precedence for this is the reality of many. John Crawford III was gunned down by police officers for doing what any Walmart gun shopper would do. And then there is the Tamir Rice story where the cops came up almost guns a blazing killing a child with a toy gun.
While these feelings are not new though unexpressed most of the times, I felt compelled to talk about it today after black far-right personality Candace Owens blatantly and irresponsibly put ideology over the safety of people of color. She said, ” Police brutality is not an issue that is facing the black community whatsoever.” on Fox News as she attacked Black Lives Matter. The thing about Candace Owen is that she is very smart and as expressed in this video, is correct about 70% of the times. I understand why Kanye West admires her. Hell, I do as well for several of her comments in the video about a media that foster racial division, the prison industrial complex, and a failed education system that disproportionately affects people of color. But her provably false statement about police and hate groups diminishes her point of view.
But back to the Waffle House hero. It is great that the media is giving this guy his due. He saved lives, and his actions did not get him killed.