This is more an essay than an article as the subject is a serious focus for many people in this country. I have an account at a digital news aggregator website and as I read articles, I sort them into “magazines” as they are called to save and archive those I will review later.
The curated magazine that causes me concern is called “Police Shooting Blacks”. This magazine contains articles from across the nation that not only describe police action shootings, but the conditions around many arrests and incidents.
The stories are full of descriptions of heinous acts being committed against citizens who have not been convicted of a crime and in some instances not yet charged for a crime.
Some articles point to how suspects are mis-identified, others point to the ways that complainants weaponize law enforcement by accusing people of non-crimes, or reporting people without a charge or as it has been re-named lately “driving, walking or even breathing while Black”.
One article describes grievous torture, i.e. beatings, harassment, endured by natives of Rankin County, Mississippi where witnesses and victims have complained of abuses for decades (in an article from 12/23). The article describes an investigation into the alleged abuses and the records in the county where Pearl, MS is. The stories are full of descriptions of tasing, beatings, confinements and illegal entry by law enforcement.
Reasonable people can admit that mistakes do happen, errors are made in the most competent department, but the cliché that “all Blacks look alike” and “you happen to fit the description” in the age of facial recognition and fingerprint databases doesn’t work anymore.
There are articles about the “Karens” (male & female) who take matters in their own hands to weaponize the police on their own behalf. There are law enforcement officers who engage Blacks and other non-whites for no reason. One article cites a Black U.S. Navy Seal in full dress uniform harassed by a deputy who could not believe a Black man had achieved that status.
Lastly, we have the all-encompassing and most egregious occurrence called “Living While Black” in which Black Americans attempt to navigate through their lives under duress of threats and legal consequences for no real reason.
In Chicago, Dexter Reed was stopped by plain clothed police for either auto window tint or a seat belt infraction and ended up dead with 96 shots fired by police.
Another article cites how after Super Middleweight Champion Terrell Crawford won a championship fight, he came home to a hero’s welcome. He received the key to the city, was the subject of a victory parade, then he was stopped by Omaha police at gunpoint and placed in handcuffs, that same night.
Why are citizens subject to this kind of treatment? What kind of entitlement gets the extra attention of law enforcement at the expense of bystanders? The last article I’ll mention is one entitled “Systematic Racism in Police Killings” from the National Library of Medicine. (QR for article below). These are not chance occurrences, this is a national pandemic, a health emergency that would be downplayed by most conservative leaders. The conversation needs to be brought before congressional leadership and kept before the people. The critics want to silence every notion of systematic assault, but the evidence is there. And the assault must stop.
