Last week a Tulsa man was shot by a police officer who claims that the victim didn't comply with her commands to stop. He kept walking away, and at one point he lowered one of his hands, leading the officer to fear he was going for a gun. (He was not.)
The video shown on TV over and over was from a police helicopter circling several hundred feet overhead. The audio from the helicopter said, "He looks like a bad dude." Really? From 200(?) feet overhead what does a "bad dude" look like? How can you tell? DUMB!
Then yesterday Presidential candidate Donald Trump, speaking to a largely black audience, said of the victim, "He looked like a nice guy." Really? How can you tell what a nice guy looks like from 500(?) miles away? DUMB!
Oh, and how about that Don King soliloquy/introduction? Isn't he a piece of work? DUMB!
Some in the minority community immediately called for the arrest of Officer Betty Shelby, the shooter. Doesn't Officer Shelby get a hearing to determine if she acted appropriately or not? These people say no, just arrest her. Now. DUMB!
It seems the Tulsa police received (at least some) body cameras in July, but hadn't yet issued them to patrol officers. Why? I would fast-track their implementation....I can't think of one piece of equipment that would be more likely to determine the facts in a police shooting than body cameras. They may not always be conclusive, but they would be better than the "he said, she said" we have now.
I would think every honest cop would welcome body cams as a way to show their professionalism and exonerate them after a shooting. I would think every bad cop would be looking for a new line of work if they thought their body cam would show them doing something likely to send them to prison. (Good riddance!) Not using body cams....DUMB!
Then in Charlotte, NC, where police DO have body cams, they aren't releasing the footage of their fatal shooting. They said they couldn't because they were prohibited from doing so by state law. Why would legislators pass a law prohibting release of video that could possibly quell protestors if the video showed it to be a justified shooting? DUMB!
Why do protestors show their outrage by looting a Walmart? Because it was Walmart's fault? Why do they destroy a downtown souvenir shop? Because it was the souvenir shop's fault? DUMB!
At least the protestors shown above were venting their anger toward the police. It still wasn't right, but at least it was focused.
One frustrated Charlotte minority leader went on TV telling blacks to "keep their money in their pockets" and not spend it with white-owned businesses. Umm....don't those businesses have black employees? Is putting even more blacks out of work a good thing? Was this boycott well thought out? DUMB!
But then it turns out that the new state video law doesn't go into effect until October 1. So if they can, why haven't the cops released it if it proves their case and stops the rioting now going on? DUMB!
And if the video doesn't prove their case, if it shows an unjustified shooting, then why are they protecting a guilty cop? DUMB!
Then on one of the TV news roundtables, when it was pointed out that the Charlotte police shooter was himself black, one of the commentators said it didn't matter. She said the police were institutionally bigoted, regardless of the race of the officer. So if you wear a badge you're automatically bigoted? DUMB!
By inference would that mean that the commentator (the former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus) didn't want any police, black, white, Asian, or anyone else to patrol minority neighborhoods? Then who you gonna call when someone kicks in your back door? Is it then every man for himself....vigilante justice? DUMB!
What is wrong with us? Why are we saying and doing such DUMB things?
S
EDIT: "Why are we saying and doing such DUMB things?" I think I've answered my own question. It's because we only hear what we want to hear, we only see what we want to see, and we only believe what we want to believe. Now that's DUMB!
That's about the size of it. I wish I could argue against these conclusions, but I can't.
ReplyDeleteYesterday on a train ride home from the city a rather large African-American gentleman in the seat in front of me felt compelled to turn around and inform me that "The white man is the devil." and wearing a Trump hat was considered "Hate speech" recently at a college campus. So happy that President Obama has spoken out and helped bring us all together.
ReplyDeleteYour edit at the end says it all: we're dumb because we believe what we think we need to believe instead of what's right.
ReplyDelete"Why would legislators pass a law prohibting release of video that could possibly quell protestors if the video showed it to be a justified shooting? "
ReplyDeleteI think they're more afraid the footage will incite protestors by showing an unjustified shooting. The Tulsa thing there might be more to the story but on the surface looks like another panicky idiot cop.
For once I agree with every one of your points.
ReplyDeleteSadly we all seem to do a lot of dumb things once emotions (positive or negative) get involved.
ReplyDelete