It happened again this week and almost no one batted an eye, no one except the family and friends of Terrence Crutcher. To many he is just another name, another hashtag, another face on a teenager girl’s prom dress, but to others, he was a brother, father and son.
This week, officer Betty Shelby of Tulsa, OK was found not guilty in all charges connected to the shooting death of Terrence Crutcher. These cops are out of control. It’s a little insulting to the man’s family to call what happened a “shooting death”, we’ve all seen the video over and over, lie many other unarmed Black men, Terrence Crutcher was murdered by an on duty police officer.
If you run from the cops you might be shot, right? What if they roll up on you in the commission of a crime, you can expect a weapon to be brandished, correct? Say you’re spazzed out on PCP and attacking people, cops may have a reason to shoot you right?
What about poor Terrence Crutcher, whose only crime was breaking down and waiting for roadside assistance. Somehow the sight of this Black man in his car was so threatening, that the police who are charged with “serving and protecting” felt the need to have him step out his car, raise his hands like a criminal and then shoot him.
We’ve seen the video replayed over and over, many of us dumbfounded, sure this was an open and shut case. By the time officer Shelby shot the unarmed Crutcher, who had his arms raised at the time, she had been joined by three other officers. As the four of them face down this unarmed man, weapons drawn, only Officer Shelby feared her life enough to discharge her weapon.
If you hesitate, if you delay, then you die,” Betty Shelby testified in court Monday. It was also testified in court that Terrence Crutcher never spoke to the cop before he was shot. How does a civilian break down and instead of the police approaching and offering assistance, they end up shooting him dead? “If you delay you die,” three other officers delayed that day and three other officers go to sleep at night knowing they aren’t murderers Betty Shelby, you monster.
Just last week, I had to write another article that was a slap in the face to the family of an unarmed Black man, chased down and murdered by an on duty cop. We had to take consolation in the fact that Michael Slager, who shot and killed unarmed, Walter Scott and planted a taser on him as he lies dying at least will do some time. Slager just plead guilty in federal court to excessive force and other stupid charges that won’t carry anywhere near the sentence he deserves for taking this man’s life.
Even more depressing, and mentioned in the aforementioned article, the cops who shot Alton Sterling at point blank range while kneeling on his chest walked out of court with no charges.
What is the life of a Black man worth in today’s America? Have the police abandoned their mission to “protect and serve?”
I was watching a documentary the other day “America Divided” and Chicago’s former top cop said something so profound he acknowledged that black people fear the police and WHY. This white cop said it so plainly and idiot could comprehend. The police have been used by the government to enforce the rules and laws of the land. While the copsthemselves may not be racist, what they have represented for so long, are policies and practices against Black communities.
The screwy thing is when there were racial segregation laws, the police could do these horrible things and it was blamed on the “Negro” disobedience. We live in a different society these days, yet these incidents are still occurring regularly.
If white cops are constantly beating and killing Black men and women and getting off legally, does that mean they are just still following orders of a racist American government?
