Let’s assume that certain shootings that caused the deaths of black men and in some cases kids were totally accidental.
Let’s assume the police in those incidents thought they were doing the right thing and thought there was a legitimate threat when they pulled the trigger or choked someone to death.
We will ignore just for a moment, that their threat levels are always higher when a black male is involved and believe they didn’t want to kill that individual. If you were to assume all of that, what do you think a normal person reaction would be after they killed someone?
Empathy? Regret? Maybe, they would think about what they could have done differently? How should the police departments handle such tragedy? Review their policies? Maybe don’t hire cops who were let go from other departments under suspicious circumstances?
What do you think a person who could see themselves, their child or their father being Tamir Rice, John Crawford or Eric Garner is going to feel when they see these deaths happening, but nothing is being done about it? They might be upset, they might speak out, they might wear a tee so it isn’t just swept under the rug.
You know what frustrates people, when the police department, cops, politicians, the ignorant, the racists and others focus on everything except fixing the fundamental problem of why are so many preventable deaths are happening at the hands of the cops.
The Saint Louis County police and Head of the Police Union are spending more time worrying about an athlete’s shirt than the reasons unarmed black men are being gun down and choked out. Who is really the pathetic person here Andrew Hawkins or the head of the police union?
Listen to what Hawkins had to say about wearing the Tamir Rice/John Crawford shirt.
How could anyone, white, black, cop or otherwise find any fault with that? This isn’t about bashing good cops or the cops who are keeping our streets safe and don’t have a racist bone in their bodies. This is about weeding out the bad cops and when I said bad, I don’t necessarily mean they are racist or prejudice, but cops who don’t know how to handle certain pressure filled situation. I don’t know if the cop who choked out Eric Garner is racist, what I do know is as cop he should have known that chokehold was illegal and when someone says they can’t breathe to let them go.
When cops are asking for an apology for something that is promoting not killing people for cigarettes or having toys in their hand, it makes you wonder if the cops care at all. You shouldn’t be fearful of the police, but they aren’t giving us many reasons not to be. Instead of asking for apologies they should be working on doing things so people, specifically minorities aren’t living in fear. GOOD COPS should be upset that BAD COPS are making them look bad.
It is common for some people to say…
“If you aren’t committing a crime, you have nothing to worry about.”
Two things abou that. Many of these deaths over the years have no criminal element to them. What was John Crawford’s crime? Going into Walmart shouldn’t be a crime. When I was 12 I had plenty of toy guns my mom brought me from the store, if cops rushed me at 12-years-old I don’t know how I would react. What crime did Tamir Rice commit, besides being a kid?
Secondly, if you are engaged in criminal activity you need to be in jail, not in your grave. If Mike Brown stole cigars, he shouldn’t have to die for that. If Eric Garner sold some illegal cigarettes at most that should be a citation not a death sentence.
Another thing some people say…
“Where are the protests for Black on Black crime?”
This is one of the most asinine statements of all-time. Black on Black, White on White, Mexican on Mexican and etc crime happens all the time. Criminals come in all races, but people seem to forget one thing.
THE COPS AREN’T SUPPOSED TO BE THE CRIMINALS
It is like a teacher taking advantage of a student or a boss their employees. There should be a higher standard when it comes to our police force and I wish people would understand that.
The police are the ones who should be apologizing for failing in these preventable death situations and vowing to do better as oppose to covering up the crimes, protecting their own and lashing out at peaceful protestors and athletes.
Darren Wilson clearly states he would kill Mike Brown again, even though he knew Brown didn’t have a weapon. Even if you believe Wilson’s perfect version of events, it never changes the fact it was Brown who was wounded and Wilson who had the gun, meaning in Wilson’s mind an execution is warranted whenever HE DECIDES, who cares if there were things that could have been done to prevent it.
If that is going to be the attitude of cops, we are going to need a lot more than tees and marches to be safe.
