I see that niggas being shot is back in the news. Here's a brief recap for those of you living under a rock. In North Charleston, South Carolina, Officer Michael Slager shot 50-year old Michael Scott in the back while he was fleeing after a traffic stop. After he hit him at least 4 times, the officer then cuffed Mr. Scott with his hands behind his back and left him to die.
Not to be topped, The Tulsa Oklahoma Sheriff's Department managed to allow Eric Courtney Harris to be killed WHILE he was being arrested. The man was on the ground and had been tackled by not one but two deputies when he was shot by a .380 revolver being held by Reserve Deputy Robert Bates. If you smell something fishy here, that's because there are a number of problems with this; outside of the dead Negro.
First off, you may ask yourself "What the fuck is a 'Reserve Deputy?'" Good question. Apparently you can volunteer to be a gun toting member of the Sheriff's Department in Tulsa... If that doesn't sound safe to you, that is because it isn't. The Reserve Deputy in question was a 72-year old CEO of an insurance company... on a sting operation.... carrying a gun. (To the department's credit, they released the damning video of the incident.) A bit of irony thrown in to this is that Mr. Harris was being recorded for trying to sell and illegal handgun to an undercover officer. That's right, the guy with the illegal gun, dead. Guy with the legal gun, killer. (You paying attention Governor Brownback?)
Now the real impressive thing about the cases of Mr. Scott and Mr. Harris is that both of their deaths have brought indictments. Officer Slater is up for Murder. Pretend Deputy Bates is up for 2nd degree manslaughter. The difference between the two charges is because Pretend Deputy Bates says he thought he had pulled a tazer instead of his COMPLETELY different looking revolver. (FYI: Had Mr. Bates used his tazer while Mr. Harris was in contact with the arresting officers, he would have shocked all three of them)
Officer Slager walked over and planted his tazer next to his dying victim, seemingly to fit his narrative for a justified shooting. It is the one thing that I think will burn him in the end.
Before you celebrate the indictments, beware, we are looking at some trials looming on the horizon that could make OJ case look like an episode of Judge Judy. With Black folks still on edge after Eric Garner and Mike Brown this shit could get real ugly, real quick.
The similarity of these two cases is that both of these Black men were killed while trying to escape the police. Neither of them athletic, young or particularly spry so why even bother? Where were they going that wasn't under the purview of the police state? The current game that we are playing with the police isn't one that we can win, it is one that we can only survive. We have survived this long by playing better than that.
By no means am I trying to justify the murder of these two men. My point is that we have learned that our interactions with the police have been consistently deadly since... ummm.. ever fucking ever. It's not even a war on the Black body. It is a constant terrorism that has more Black men in jail that there was in slavery. This situation is so obviously fucked up that I'm amazed when people are shocked when they see it on the news.
Niggas being shot will leave the airwaves as soon as that Miley Cyrus sex tape comes out. If America's panties weren't in a bunch over this shit 50 years ago, it won't matter 50 years in the future either; not without direct action from the victims.
Solution? If you're going to do crime, be a criminal. Too many of us are dying and going to jail while just trying to make the 'American Dream' a reality. So instead of failing at being good Negroes, let's just admit our adversarial relationship and earn the disdain we are living in anyway.
You get caught doing crime, lawyer up, take the plea and come home alive. Afraid cops are going to kill you? Let them. The price of freedom is death and you ain't gonna live forever anyway so you might as well die on your feet.
Some of you may debate that this will not help our plight and you may be right but neither has our current plan of carrying this burden until we die of heart failure caused by constant pressure, pain and poverty.
Tonight another police officer is getting into his/her car and cannot see enough humanity in others to prevent him/her from being the next contestant on 'Who Wants to Kill an Unarmed Man'. And if I happen to be the unlucky victim I will face my killer as a man and let him/her know that I am human and I shall fear no man.
Isn't that the point of the status quo, anyway? I don't even think the powers that be want us all dead *(notice that I didn't say 'cops'. Cops are the military arm of corporate America), they just want us scared and subservient. They want us in a sub-citizen place in their hearts and laws and will blast and lock away just enough to keep the rest of us in line. So let's step out of line and if they want us back in, make sure they know your life matters enough to stand for it. Look your executioners in the eye and let them know your life matters much more than they have been lead to believe and that you are willing to bet it to affirm it.
Not to be topped, The Tulsa Oklahoma Sheriff's Department managed to allow Eric Courtney Harris to be killed WHILE he was being arrested. The man was on the ground and had been tackled by not one but two deputies when he was shot by a .380 revolver being held by Reserve Deputy Robert Bates. If you smell something fishy here, that's because there are a number of problems with this; outside of the dead Negro.
First off, you may ask yourself "What the fuck is a 'Reserve Deputy?'" Good question. Apparently you can volunteer to be a gun toting member of the Sheriff's Department in Tulsa... If that doesn't sound safe to you, that is because it isn't. The Reserve Deputy in question was a 72-year old CEO of an insurance company... on a sting operation.... carrying a gun. (To the department's credit, they released the damning video of the incident.) A bit of irony thrown in to this is that Mr. Harris was being recorded for trying to sell and illegal handgun to an undercover officer. That's right, the guy with the illegal gun, dead. Guy with the legal gun, killer. (You paying attention Governor Brownback?)
Now the real impressive thing about the cases of Mr. Scott and Mr. Harris is that both of their deaths have brought indictments. Officer Slater is up for Murder. Pretend Deputy Bates is up for 2nd degree manslaughter. The difference between the two charges is because Pretend Deputy Bates says he thought he had pulled a tazer instead of his COMPLETELY different looking revolver. (FYI: Had Mr. Bates used his tazer while Mr. Harris was in contact with the arresting officers, he would have shocked all three of them)
Officer Slager walked over and planted his tazer next to his dying victim, seemingly to fit his narrative for a justified shooting. It is the one thing that I think will burn him in the end.
Before you celebrate the indictments, beware, we are looking at some trials looming on the horizon that could make OJ case look like an episode of Judge Judy. With Black folks still on edge after Eric Garner and Mike Brown this shit could get real ugly, real quick.
The similarity of these two cases is that both of these Black men were killed while trying to escape the police. Neither of them athletic, young or particularly spry so why even bother? Where were they going that wasn't under the purview of the police state? The current game that we are playing with the police isn't one that we can win, it is one that we can only survive. We have survived this long by playing better than that.
By no means am I trying to justify the murder of these two men. My point is that we have learned that our interactions with the police have been consistently deadly since... ummm.. ever fucking ever. It's not even a war on the Black body. It is a constant terrorism that has more Black men in jail that there was in slavery. This situation is so obviously fucked up that I'm amazed when people are shocked when they see it on the news.
Niggas being shot will leave the airwaves as soon as that Miley Cyrus sex tape comes out. If America's panties weren't in a bunch over this shit 50 years ago, it won't matter 50 years in the future either; not without direct action from the victims.
Solution? If you're going to do crime, be a criminal. Too many of us are dying and going to jail while just trying to make the 'American Dream' a reality. So instead of failing at being good Negroes, let's just admit our adversarial relationship and earn the disdain we are living in anyway.
You get caught doing crime, lawyer up, take the plea and come home alive. Afraid cops are going to kill you? Let them. The price of freedom is death and you ain't gonna live forever anyway so you might as well die on your feet.
Some of you may debate that this will not help our plight and you may be right but neither has our current plan of carrying this burden until we die of heart failure caused by constant pressure, pain and poverty.
Tonight another police officer is getting into his/her car and cannot see enough humanity in others to prevent him/her from being the next contestant on 'Who Wants to Kill an Unarmed Man'. And if I happen to be the unlucky victim I will face my killer as a man and let him/her know that I am human and I shall fear no man.
Isn't that the point of the status quo, anyway? I don't even think the powers that be want us all dead *(notice that I didn't say 'cops'. Cops are the military arm of corporate America), they just want us scared and subservient. They want us in a sub-citizen place in their hearts and laws and will blast and lock away just enough to keep the rest of us in line. So let's step out of line and if they want us back in, make sure they know your life matters enough to stand for it. Look your executioners in the eye and let them know your life matters much more than they have been lead to believe and that you are willing to bet it to affirm it.
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