police murder megathread

[Adam Griffin]

Let's obviously not forget about Walter Scott, which was undeniable murder no matter how much of a racist you are.

[Adam Griffin]

Then there's Freddie Gray.

[Adam Griffin]

I only mention this one because the cop involved (now ex-cop, thankfully) will no doubt be a future murderer. The victim was Victor Hernandez, who managed to survive after being shot eight times, including in the face.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Adam Griffin]

Rekia Boyd, who was murdered when a cop fired aimlessly into a crowd of several people because "muh safety". Initial charges have been dismissed because the judge believes involuntary manslaughter was too low of an offense; potentially some future justice on this one.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Should've been minding his own business if he was off-duty.

[Adam Griffin]

Let's not forget Eric Harris, who was unarmed, already on the ground with multiple men surrounding him, and killed by a cop who supposedly didn't know the difference between a taser and a deadly firearm.

[Adam Griffin]

Yes, why exactly should any of us be made to apologize or even feel remorse over these outbreaks of destruction? The simple fact is that large portions of America - particularly white America - simply don't understand the level of systemic poverty, discrimination and lack of opportunity that exists (and has existed for decades or more) in areas where this behavior typically arises. All too many people want to refer to these people as animals, when in reality, it is a response from them being treated like animals.

They're not looting because they want free stuff. They're not burning down buildings in "their community", because nothing in their so-called community belongs to them in the first place. When dealing with areas where a majority of fathers and young sons are being hauled off for responding to their institutionalized poverty in mostly non-violent but unconventional ways, where generation upon generation has found itself denied equal opportunity, where education truly lacks in structure - let alone at home - and where justice seemingly doesn't exist, these people lash out because it is all that releases the stress and all that sends a message. Nothing around them is truly indicative of a community. Nobody at any other time ever listens.

The only way things change, whether pacifists and non-violent propagandists like it or not, is through systematic agitation of the power structures that wish it would stay the same. Sometimes, that means action like what we're seeing. Drawing the venom out is necessary, because it's seeping all over the place under the surface anyway.

Of course, latte-loving white suburbia is going to frown and flex its big, lazy mouth through internet commentary that calls them "animals" and says "shoot them all on sight!", because they haven't the faintest clue nor care about what is truly going on in these places except when it is to indulge their worst stereotypes with 24/7 media coverage. How inconvenient it must be for and how much skin in the game must there be from all of these tough-on-crime suburbanites and rubes who watch from afar and prognosticate about entire groups of people and their motivations! If there was a God, then these sorts of people would be blessed with the same sort of unrest and injustice within their own little posh ecosystems.  

[Adam Griffin]

Thanks to the Guardian, we now all know where we're most likely to be murdered by a cop in 2015, among other things

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database

(Shades indicate groups of 5 states; reds are in the top half in per-capita and greens are in the bottom half per-capita; the darkest green shade has 6 due to inclusion of DC)

And to think most probably envision it as a Southern problem...