September proved to be a killing month of African Americans at the hands of police. Thirteen year old Tyree King running away from police in Columbus, Ohio, Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma with hands upon while being shot, Keith Lamont Scott, suffering with a brain traumatic injury in Charlotte, North Carolina and Alfred Olango, suffering from an epilepsy attack in San Diego County, are the most recent and notable names known in the media. The Guardian and Washington Post have kept as accurate a tally as possible since there is no federal database of police shootings and killings. In 2016, almost 800 persons have been killed at the hands of police. In 2015, it was 990. It averages roughly 1000 lives taken each year by police. From the period of 2005-2015, 54 police officers were charged with either manslaughter or murder. That averages out to 5 police officers charged per 1000 killings each year. It seems as if the recent wave of police killings of unarmed blacks … [Read more...] about Dear Police: Black People are Humans Too
shootings
How Police Get Away with Killing Unarmed Blacks
I was sad to hear a mistrial declared in the case of Jonathan Ferrell whom Charlotte-Mecklenburg officer Randall Kerrick shot 10 times as Ferrell sought help following a car accident in 2013. The deadlocked jury after 4 days of deliberations sadly came as no surprise to me. And as a former prosecutor, I felt anger at the jury and a criminal justice system that often vindicates police killings of unarmed black men and boys. A grand jury indicted Kerrick on voluntary manslaughter for which he stood trial. A civil suit resulted in a $2.25 million settlement. No dispute existed by prosecutors or the defense that Kerrick intended to shoot Ferrell and that Ferrell died as a result of the shooting. The issue remained whether Kerrick shot in self- defense or used excessive force as the prosecution argued. The jury of eight men and four women consisted of 3 African Americans, 2 Latinos and 7 whites. The initial jury vote was 7-5 and the final vote was 8-4 for acquittal. … [Read more...] about How Police Get Away with Killing Unarmed Blacks
Why Charleston Church Killings Are All About Race
Dylann Roof goes into Emanuel African Methodist Church, a historically black church, kills the Pastor and 8 persons during Bible study and some people raise the gun control issue. I understand about guns and gun control legislation. The facts of the Charleston church killings are about race hatred in America. And any discussion of gun control in these particular killings dilutes and diminishes the real reason of racial hatred towards blacks. No one ever said 911 was about faulty security checks in airplane flying schools from which the terrorists learned how to fly airplanes but never learned how to land them. No one said Columbine school killings and the Boston Marathon bombings were about making home grown bombs. No one said the 1963 killings of 4 little girls bombed at a Birmingham church was about bombs. To be black in America means being a target for terrorism and hatred whether blacks want to be or not. Being black in America means no place feels safe without … [Read more...] about Why Charleston Church Killings Are All About Race