The recent shooting of a 13 year old Black teen by a (White) police officer has sparked more outrage and questioning of the tactics and relationship between law enforcement and People Of Color (POC).
Every case is, of course, predicated upon different and specific facts so it is hard to group every shooting as the same, but the fact remains that it is unsettling for all People Of Color to feel that they are not endangered by the very people who are supposed to protect and serve them.
In this latest incident, the police have been very proactive in maintaining that the 13 year old (Tyre King) possessed a very real looking gun, though it turned out the weapon in question was a BB gun. We have seen pictures of the gun, and by pictures I am being quite literal. They displayed a picture on paper of what the BB gun looked like as opposed to showing the real item in question. Admittedly the picture did show a BB gun that could be confused for a real gun.
However, much of the initial police story does not pass the sniff test for veracity. The 13 year old was allegedly part of a trio that was suspected of committing an earlier armed robbery. Cops then chased the trio eventually cornering two of them. From there we are supposed to believe the police account which states that the kid, possessing a BB gun he obviously knew was not loaded with bullets, tried to draw on several cops. BS! I know what the expression suicide by cop means (in which an individual commits an act with the hope and intention of being killed by police) but you cannot tell me that this fits within that scenario.
I do not know the facts of that evening. If the boy was part of the alleged robbery he should be arrested. If he was in fact in possession of a real looking BB gun he was wrong on every level, however his punishment for either or both offenses fall far shorter than a death penalty by overzealousness.
This is why there is such a call for transparency for officers to wear body cameras. I have not heard any mention of body cameras in this case, but clearly if available they would show a version of what actually happened instead of relying on police officers, whose credibility is, as a whole, ever diminishing.
My tone and rhetoric should in no way be confused as anti-law enforcement. I respect the difficulty and danger of the job. I have had good friends and family serve as law enforcement. What I am against is lying and covering up. I am against law enforcement that is receiving inadequate training both for the tactical part of their jobs but also just as importantly for the sensitivity training concerning race and community relations.
The politicians and police unions have to stop with their BS. Stop justifying bad policing. Credibility can only be established if the public feel like you EVER tell the truth. Some police actions can simply not be justified, but they fight it to the end, further eroding the public’s confidence in fairness and change.
The Tyre King case is clearly not as clear-cut as the Eric Garner, Mike Brown or others involving unarmed individuals. I agree that facts should always be assessed before a judgment is made. Yet, the police leaders and politicians need to follow that model as well.
I have had more guns pulled on me by more cops than I choose to recollect at the moment. This, in spite of receiving an Ivy League education and law degree. My knowledge of my rights and my quickness in verbalizing these facts are probably the largest factors in why I am able to write about this today. I have been in many high crimes areas (I just called them home) in which I was aggressively stopped by men and women who rushed to judge my circumstances and it was up to me to calmly defuse their fears.
POC need not to fear the people who are supposed to protect us. Part of the protection needs to start from the top. We need to know that IF officers behave recklessly and improperly that they will in fact be punished. God knows that mistakes happen, but the official police narrative cannot always be denial, lies and dismissal then onto victim blaming.
Sometimes there really are unfortunate accidents. Sometimes the police really are justified. But, how can we ever give you the benefit of the doubt when the respective leaders and politicians never seem to accept culpability for the times when there is an obvious transgression?
#policeshootings
#blacklivesmatter
#justiceforall
