There’s a problem when those of a certain hue must be more trained than a trained police officer to survive officer-purported fear. There are two reasons this continues and both are terrible.
James Smith, a neighbor, called the police on a none emergency number after he saw his neighbor’s front door open for an extended amount of time. He just wanted someone to check if the family was OK. He did the right thing. Officers are supposed to be trained for that kind of thing. A neighbor just walking up without a uniform or training for an unknown situation could be precarious.
Another police officer killed another black person in their own home.
Several officers came. An officer saw Atatiana Jefferson in the window. In a trigger-happy manner he shouted ‘put your hands up’ and in less than 2 seconds shot her. Yes murdered her. Already some are saying to wait for an investigation. If the video is not investigation enough it just proves the little value some have for the lives of humans of some hues. Hell, he shot from outside through a glass window not having identified himself as a police officer. There is nothing more to this case. It is just modus-operandi for many police officers and POCs, black folk in particular.
These incidents occur on a continuum because the underlying disease has not been addressed. Many think there is something special about a police officer than the population at large.
Trayvon Martin was minding his own business in his neighborhood when wanna-be-cop George Zimmerman murdered him. Botham Jean was minding his own business eating ice cream in his own home when police officer Amber Guyger murdered him. And now, Atatiana Jefferson was in her own home minding her own business when this Texas police officer murdered her. If one cannot feel safe in the sanctity of their own home or vicinity and is murdered by a police officer just for who they are, what’s left?
I was saddened by some comments I saw in my Facebook feed because they showed not only a lack of empathy but deep racism within — I am sure some do not really realize it is there within themselves. The following comment made my blood boil.
Easy…comply with the Police, don’t resist arrest, and don’t walk around with a toy gun that looks like a real gun…..and if you do……. comply with Police when they approach you. Why does none on your side of this issue say these things?
When that one message is unpacked it makes it clear that the author is willfully ignorant to the duality of the statement. Aren’t we open-carry in many places? Did Philando Castile not do as he was told?
All police officers are a reflection of society. Some actuate two cancers that are fatal to POCs too many times.
First, there are the racist cops that are just looking for a kill that has a semblance of justification. They have innate hate of some and they have the power to act on it knowing there is a willful population out there that will support them.
Second, there are cops that should not be cops. Society, our new programming, Hollywood, the FBI data would have many believe that POCs and black men, in particular, are more dangerous. As such, out of an unwarranted irrational fear they shoot much more readily at a POC than at a white person.
To be clear anyone can categorically state that the FBI data has a racial bias. Why? It comes from all the cities and towns around the country. And most have a biased criminal justice system. POCs are overrepresented.
Here is a simple example that makes it clear the FBI data cannot be but biased against POCs. In my white community, one finds cops giving teenagers and adults alike breaks more often than one finds in POC neighborhoods.
A friend called me a few years ago and told me after an inebriated teenager hit his car, the police officer told him the kid was going off to college and he could be impacted by a record and asked him to defer to the parent. My friend said he sure wish that kind of policing occurred in his old neighborhood.
Interestingly, another friend’s son was speeding, not drunk but beer on his breath. The white girl in the car with him ran off. Both were underage drinking which is under 21 in Texas. The officers ignored her and took my friend’s teenage black son to jail. He is now in the criminal justice system — the same community, the same level of affluence for these two cases. Empirical but probative.
There is a danger with the weaponization of America congruent with people misinformed by design about so much. As a reflection of society and as recipients of the same cues from our political leaders, manipulating think tanks, and thought corruptors, police officers share the same proclivities as society at large. They are pre-programmed to believe that black lives, POCs lives have less value. And the aggregate of their actions makes that very clear.