So once again, this time in New York, a grand jury returned a decision not to indict a police officer for killing a black man. You will recall only a week ago, a grand jury in Missouri returned a decision not to indict a police officer for killing Michael Brown.
In New York Eric Garner was selling loose cigarettes, a crime. There is some video (that I'm sure you can find on your own) of the ensuing altercation between Eric Garner and the police officers, one of whom placed Garner in a choke hold - a move that has been banned by the NYPD because it has been proven to cause serious injuries and even death.
If the transcripts of the NY grand jury have been released, I have not read them, nor will I. The Missouri grand jury transcripts have been released and you can read a comparison of some testimony in a piece in the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/ferguson-grand-jury-chart/).
I have been pleased to see the level of engagement by people all across the country, mourning the death of an 18 year old killed by a (now former) police officer. I can certainly understand the anger (though I don’t understand the looting and burning). I should note, though, that Black people don’t have a monopoly on destructive rioting (https://storify.com/betakateenin/white-people-riots). I would argue, however, that there is more meaning, and more reason for the anger than in any of the cases cited there. Just think pumpkins!
I am left wondering if there is any truth to the slogan that has been widely adopted in the protests and marches, "Black Lives Matter." Well, I think many of my friends and colleagues would say that the statement is true; perhaps many people actually believe that Black lives matter. I certainly do! In fact, I believe that *all* lives matter.
However, it doesn’t seem that certain lives matter in America.
Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Kimani Gray, Kendrec McDade, Ervin Jefferson, and Tamir Rice are just some of the people of color killed by police.
By contrast, Eric Frein, James Eagan Holmes, and Timothy McVeigh are examples of White suspects (who killed others, including police) who were apprehended (not killed) by police.
FBI data (though there is some question about its accuracy) does show that, in absolute numbers, more whites are killed by police than are blacks. However, as a percentage of the population, blacks are three times more likely than whites to be killed by police (http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/aug/21/michael-medved/talk-show-host-police-kill-more-whites-blacks/). What does this say about perceptions of blacks by police officers? about perceptions of blacks by society at large? I’d like to think that blacks are not targets (as it may seem to some) and that our lives *do* matter. I’m trying to be hopeful that I’ll see some proof.
Posts
