Are you having a happy new year thus far? I hope you are. I say that because there are at least three families who aren’t. To date (yes and the month isn’t even over yet), there have been three high profile police shootings involving Black men here in America. Though they’ve not all equally received media attention, they are, and that fact alone, is indicative of a problem we have in this country.
Three Black men: Oscar Grant, Robbie Tolan, and now Adolph Grimes III, have been the victims of police shootings. Of the three, two of them are dead, and one still sits in a Texas hospital with a bullet lodged in his liver. Now I could go into detail surrounding each shooting, but I’ll just sum it up and say that in everyone of them, all accounts are pointing to officer error.
Oscar Grant: While pleading not to be tasered as he lay unarmed on the ground was shot in the back and killed. So far, the talk has been that it was accidental since the cop (who has since resigned) was reaching for his taser but got his gun by mistake, and pulled the trigger.
Robbie Tolan: While in his own driveway at the home of his parents he was shot after being suspected of driving a stolen vehicle. It has since been discovered that the SUV in question was not stolen.
Adolph Grimes III: Just three hours after ringing in the new year in New Orleans, he was shot 14 times, 12 times in the back, by New Orleans police. This was done just after he stepped out of his grandmothers house and sat in his car as he waited for his cousin. His mother had to hear the news about his death on the 5 o’ clock news. The police said he shot at them first, and was armed. He was carrying a registered firearm; registered in his name. The police are also saying they recovered a shotgun from the trunk, but they somehow won’t produce it. But how does a man running away from the cops who gets shot in the back 12 times while fleeing pose a threat?”Police shootings receive intense media coverage but are still relatively rare. The U.S. Department of Justice reports that less than one percent of encounters with police involve threats or use of force. Blacks and Hispanics, however, report violent or potentially violent encounters with police at twice the rate of whites. Fifty-seven percent of those involved in a police force situation reported that they had argued, disobeyed or resisted or had been drinking or using drugs at the time.”SOURCE
With the exception of Grimes who had a weapon in his possession. What all these three men have in common is the fact that they were all Black, unarmed, and “allegedly” posed a threat to the police. Maybe I’m wrong here, but when is anyone laying face down or handcuffed a threat in the presence of trained police officers. I don’t want to say that this is all racist because of the history of the police, racism, and racial profiling. Instead, I’ll say just like some of my non-empathetic white brothers and sisters, that the police were just doing their jobs, and they felt their lives were in danger. All of these shootings are a concern for me. I am a Black man ya know. I’m especially watching the case of Mr. Grimes in New Orleans. If you’ve been reading this page you may understand why. But if you don’t, you can click here to read all about it and catch up.
Seriously, I don’t even have a solution for this problem short of all Black people (males in particular) having to walk around naked in public. When you’re naked in public, though you may fit the profile of a criminal by being black. At least we may have a chance for survival or not encountering police shootings. By being naked there’s no way they can say you had a weapon or a gun unless it was in your hand. Or worse…stashed in your asshole.
My concern as a Black man, is how can we stop this? Or will this ever stop? This is something that has been going on since Jeremiah was a bullfrog, and its senseless, and inhumane. Yes its inhuman, and obviously prejudicial to assume that a person has a propensity for crime because of the color of their skin, and hence the use of unnecessary force. Would this all end if there were Black cops shooting White suspects? Would society at large recognize this as a problem then?RECOMMENDED READING: CONFRONTING LEGALIZED MURDER BY THE BOYS IN BLUE By Black Women Blow The Trumpet