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So i know I said that I was done with the blog for good, but it's a new year so, stop bring up old mess! But anyway I guess I felt inspired to write another entry.
So I'm sure that everybody knows by now about the young man that was gunned down in the San Francisco train station. The thing i still can't grasp is why a cop would discharge his weapon so close to another officer, not to mention the man was clearly restrained. That's just bad training and I hope the take the BART police to the bank. While what happened in the bay area was certainly tragic, I'm sure a lot of people don't know about the young man that was shot in Bellaire, Texas, in his own driveway, in front of his mama. The police officers thought he was driving a stolen car. Basically the victim, Bobby Tolan was a minor league ballplayer and his pops was a former major leaguer so I guess Tolan's car was a little nice. But the cops rolled up on him in this mostly white neighborhood started yelling "get on the ground". Bobby's parents came outside to see what was going on the cops got rough with Mrs Tolan, so Bobby said something along the lines of what are you doing to my mom. The cops shot him. To find out more click here
Fortunately for Tolan he didn't die. But we all know that this kind of situation isn't anything new. Unarmed Black men have been getting gunned down by police officers for decades, centuries even. And no matter how upset the people get over this, it's never going to change. I believe that most of the officers in these situations don't get out of the bed in the morning and say "I'm gonna kill a Black man today" And to be honest being a police officer is a tough job so I empathize with them on that aspect. But the reason it's never going to change is because the reason these officers are killing these Black men is because they're afraid. Afraid for their life. In a job where you constantly come in contact with dangerous individuals you can't help but be afraid when you stumble upon a "situation" late at night. Now who creates the "situation" and who's involved in the "situation" is what makes it end up tragically. So let's say officers run up on a group of white men acting a little rambunctious after last call. The officers ask the men to calm down and try to get them to get in their cars and stop causing a disturbance. Worse case scenario somebody gets arrested for being too drunk or cursing. Now let's say these same guys are now Black and acting the same. A bunch of guys just laughing and joking with friends probably loudly. The cops approach the black guys but instead of getting them to calm down the cops automatically let fear grip them. They assume the black men are armed, unholster their weapon and let their senses go on high alert. Any sudden moves and the cops start firing until the men stop moving. And in reality the cops had no chance to react differently, if you're afraid for your life and you have a gun more than likely you'll shoot until the person you feel is threatening your life stops moving.
As I said earlier the underlying cause for these kilings most times is fear. This fear was manufactured hundreds of years earlier with slavery. Black men have been villainized for centuries. We've been made out to be big viscious monsters that like to rape white women and kill mercilessly. That's not to say that there aren't Black men who do these things or that there aren't dangerous Black men, but that shouldn't be the first thought associated with Black men. But this idea that the black man is to be feared has spread like a virus and affects each and every one of us. The virus is too far gone, I don't think there's any cure for it either. And that's exactly why police officers will never stop using excessive force, they can't help it. They aren't going to wait until they see a gun, hear a gunshot, or get attacked. They're just going to keep firing until they feel safe. Self preservation is human nature. But at the end of the day that doesn't make it any righter or tolerable even.
J-Full
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| | Posted 1/10/2009 11:55 PM - 5 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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