Recently there have
been two high profile cases recently where the grand jury has declined to
charge white police officers for the killings of African American civilians.
And how, one might wonder, has the United States managed to imprison more than
two million people if grand juries can’t find probable cause for murder or even
manslaughter in two such straightforward cases, where the identities of those
who killed and the means of death were clear?
The first incident
that for the most part erupted the recent racism riots was the case of Michael Brown
in Ferguson, Missouri where he was shot unarmed by a white police officer. The
second major incident was Eric Garner of Staten Island who had repeatedly
pleaded that he couldn't breathe while an officer held him in a chokehold,
which is itself barred by NYPD rules.
For those hoping to
see officers who kill unarmed people at least publicly tried, there are likely
more disappointments in store. Tamir Rice was 12 years old when police shot and
killed him last month within two seconds of their car's approaching him. Akai
Gurley also died last month, shot by a New York officer in what the police say
was an accident.
Just a few days
ago, a grand jury in Jasper, Texas, declined to indict two white officers who
had brutally beaten a black woman on video. They had arrested her for an unpaid
ticket, though she had been making monthly payments.
The real question
here is: Is this a flaw in our police system and the result of a prejudice
society? Or, is this just the kind of thing that black people in the American
society have needed for years to express their pleads of unjust? Could this
door of racism open two ways?
Much like the case
in Ferguson MO, an unarmed man was shot by a police officer. What is the
difference between the cases? The officer was BLACK and the victim was WHITE.
Therefore, he deserves no media attention right? The victim was 20 year old Dillon
Taylor, whom family and friends say was unarmed at the time of the shooting,
was shot and killed by a police officer in Salt Lake City, UT. According to
Police Chief Chris Burbank, the shooting was caught on the officer’s body
camera, but he did not say whether Taylor was armed at the time of the shooting.
Police reportedly arrived on scene because of a “man waving a gun around.”
Taylor must have matched the description of the suspect, but witnesses claim
that he may have been pulling up his pants, causing the officer to think he was
drawing a weapon.
Dillon’s brother
Jerrail explains in an interview: “He couldn’t hear them, he had headphones on, so he just kept walking.
Then … they had guns pointed at his face. That’s when he turned off the music,”
he said. “I saw them point guns at my brother’s face, and I knew what was going
to happen.” The officer told Dillon Taylor to get on the ground and to put his
hands on his head. “He got confused, he went to pull up his pants to get on the
ground, and they shot him,” Jerrail Taylor said. He didn’t have a weapon, he didn’t
attack or confront officers in any way, and he just tried to pull his pants up
a little bit so he could get on the ground comfortably. Dillon Taylor was shot
twice and died at the scene. By law cops need to see a weapon, or at least what
they think is one, before they use deadly force.
The investigation
in Salt Lake City, Utah into the officer’s conduct will continue without a riot
and looters, without distractions from the DOJ, without race baiting. It will
be conducted as all investigations are, much like Ferguson, Missouri should
have been. While national news media continue to focus on race in Ferguson,
Missouri, where a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black
teenager, they apparently don’t think a similar case in Utah with the races
reversed is that newsworthy.
In March 2014 a
black officer pulled over a white 70 year old disabled war vet, whom he asked
to exit the vehicle. The man opened his door reaching for his cane he was shot
by the officer who supposedly thought he was reaching for a weapon. Why did
nobody hear about this? Unarmed white people who get shot by police just do not
become national news.
What do all of
these cases have in common? They have everything but the color of the skin
between the officers and victims. In all of these cases the police officers
felt that their life was in danger. I
don’t care what you watch, hear, or see in the news. You CANNOT and WILL NOT
understand what it was like to be in the shoes of those police officers. It is
easy to get caught up in the hype of the media and pick a side from the outside
looking in. But what was going through those police officers minds will never be
understood by the common civilian. If it was your job to protect society, make
sure your children’s father, or your wife’s husband came home safely at the
end of the day, what would you do to make that happen? What would you do to
protect your own life?
I do not feel to
the slightest degree that these homicides are an issue of racism by white people or vice
versa. This war of prejudice will never end until we let ourselves be enslaved
by African Americans. This of course will never happen, so the score will never
be completely even. There will ALWAYS be those people who feel like they have
been mistreated. All or most of which, don’t know anyone who was a slave, just
as we don’t know anyone who owned slaves. We cannot change history or change
what our ancestors did, but I guess we can be blamed for it.
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