Here are the perfect examples that show how cops react to real threats from those they treat as human beings. But are we surprised?
The white gun owner legitimately threatened these cops, and he lived!
Whenever we discussed the murder of people of color (POC) by cops, we are told that they would not occur if they complied. Complying does not work for people of color. They still get shot and murdered.
And as shown in this clip and others, whether white people comply or not, they live. Philando Castile complied. The officer shot him dead. George Floyd, a claustrophobic, begged for mercy. Officer Chauvin murdered him; Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old young man panic as he tried to drive off. Officer Kim Potter murdered him, shot him dead.
According to TMZ,
The incident went down a few days ago in Ohio, when Officer Mike Sigman and his K9 Ben showed up to help the Ohio State Highway Patrol during a traffic stop. The driver, Merak Burr, was instantly uncooperative. Cops notice there’s a gun in his vehicle … a loaded, Beretta 9MM semi-automatic handgun on the front passenger seat.
- He refuses to put his hands on the steering wheel
- He refuses to get out of the car
- He puts his hand on his gun
- He twice threatens to shoot the cop
- He closes the car door and speeds away
Officer Sigman exercised incredible restraint, but it’s impossible not to think about case after case where a Black suspect is shot and killed for being way less threatening than the nutcase behind the wheel.
There are reasons why people talk about defunding the police. It is not about having no police. It is about defunding what murders us. It is about some Americans funding what harms them, what murders them, what deprives them of their liberty and pursuit of happiness.
Ironically, none of this is new. What is true is that it is now on video. The ubiquity of these tragic events makes it impossible to ignore them. So while it is said that the revolution will not be televised, the videos of the constant assault on the bodies and lives of POCs may change that moniker.
(h/t lufthase)