This happens to black and brown people 200-300% more often than it does to white people. But white numbers are going to continue to rise, and the gap is going to close
As more and more police officer skate after they murder someone, they are going to become more and more secure in shooting first, protecting self first, and evaluating later.
Yesterday morning, I saw a reenactment of the shooting of Justine Rusczyck.
The woman was apparently standing on the driver's side of the police car in her pajamas. She was shot through the driver's side car window by the dark-skinned cop who was still sitting on passenger's side of the car.
The dashcam didn't record because they were still in the car.
The body cameras were off because they were still in the car, not having begun to investigate anything yet. Even if they'd had automatic body cameras that come on as cops leave the vehicle or stand up, they still probably wouldn't have come on.
If this isn't another "oops you're dead" I don't know what is.
Unless Rusczyck and the cop who has now been identified as Mohamed Noor were having an affair that went sour, this was an accident. It sounds to me like the cop's partner is lucky he isn't the one who is dead.
There are conflicting reports, but it sounds like Noor fired his gun more than once.
To me this is yet more proof that cops protect themselves first and think later. Officer Noor has only been a full fledged cop for 1.5 years -- since 2016. And his partner has been on the force for an even shorter time period, approximately a year from what I've read.
What the heck are they doing in the car together instead of with more experienced officers?
In general, I think one should go to jail when one is incompetent and shoots someone else dead. I thought so when Philando died. I thought so when Yvette Smith died. And I think so now. Yet, this particular shooting is a hell of a lot more explainable as an accident than Philando Castile's shooting was.
So in the interest of fairness I suppose Noor should walk away too, yes?
Officer Jeronimo Yanez actually said he was scared because he though Philando Castile's nose looked like some other violent suspect.
In other words, Castile is dead because the cowardly Yanez racially profiled him to the point that Yanez was almost pee-on-himself frightened.
Officer Darren Wilson said Mike Brown was a like a demon because he's a racist coward --if he's not straight lying.
Tamir Rice is dead because Officer Timothy Loehmann imagined, as cowards are apt to do, that the young boy in black skin was much bigger and older than he was.
Rekia Boyd is dead because the cowardly Officer Dante Servin got scared (with an unregistered weapon while off-duty) when he confronted a bunch of black people about a noise complaint
And now Justine Ruszczyk is dead because Mohamed Noor got scared too.
It would be rather ironic if Noor was simply trembling and scared of white people in general because there are so many white supremacists among them. But reading between the lines on Noor, I doubt that's the case. Besides, as the day went on yesterday I learned that there was a loud noise that startled the officers just before the Noor's gun went off.
A loud noise? Can you believe it? In protect-self first-last-and-always fashion, I'm guessing the gun was pulled out and went off prematurely. But if the gun went off more than once, then he was indeed panicked -- much like Jeronimo Yanez was when he shot Philando Castile.
https://heavy.com/news/2017/07/mohamed-noor-justine-damond-ruszczyk-minneapolis-police-officer-somali-mohammed/
What ought to happen is nothing - as far as indictment or jail. And I say that should be so regardless of the officer's recent history. (I think there's been more than one complaint against him during his short career. If he's one of the few black folks on the force...who knows?)
Still, any way you slice it, the death of Justine Ruszcyzk is a hell of a lot more logical or explainable than the shooting of Philando Castile.
I have to wonder what Ruszcyzk's family thought of Black Lives Matter complaints prior to this woman's death.
Either we change the laws so cops go to jail when they shoot unarmed people (even when theyre black or brown) or we keep watching people die for nothing. Black and brown people will continue to die most. But we won't die alone.
A white man named Kelly Thomas, mentally ill, was beaten to death by a police officer in Southern California.
A white teenager, Dylan Noble, was shot four times (including one shot gun blast) for not obeying orders while drunk.
And now Justine Ruszcyzk is dead too...possibly because white juries have been telling police officers nationwide that it's okay if you protect yourself first-last-and-always.
If just 20 percent of these trembling cowards with guns and badges to hide behind went to jail when they killed unarmed people, they'd learn to keep their guns in their holsters until actually threatened. They wouldn't dare shoot someone down for not jumping at massa's commands fast enough.
Of course this kind of accountability wouldn't eliminate racist motives behind shooting black and brown people. But I do believe a lot fewer people, altogether, would wind up dead including black and brown people if the boys in blue knew they'd be held accountable for killing someone that's unarmed.
I can't believe we have to demand that police officers be held accountable for shooting unarmed people. I just can't believe that's necessary.
Accountability would have a chilling effect on hiring. That's what white folks worry about when they think only black and brown folk are being mowed down. Not me. To me, if a lot fewer people volunteer to be cops because there's accountability that involves manslaughter charges and jail time then you'd have a lot fewer dumb asses with badges too.*
Harder to staff police stations are a good thing.
If the average Jane and average Joe can't accidentally kill somebody due to incompetence and EXPECT to walk away 99 times out of 100, then why should cops be able to? You cannot construct a blue population truly dedicated to "PROTECT AND SERVE" when they have zero accountability.
IT
CAN'T
BE
DONE
So, I'm wondering how many white people are going to have to die for white folks to understand the basics of how this world works?
People who abuse power always come for black and brown folks first --always --because we're a socially weaker population. But anything comes to get us always comes to get white folks too eventually?
I think it could take a long time for white racists to realize they are racists and sit up and take notice. For example, look at the white people in this two year old video blow. This is a retirement party for a policeman at an Elk Lodge in Glendale California. There's a singer that is singing about the death of Mike Brown at the hands of police to the tune of the song "Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown" Look at how casual the white folk moving around in video are. Look how "normal" the deadly version of white supremacy is to some white people.
http://www.tmz.com/2014/12/23/michael-brown-song-video-dead-police-parody-leroy-brown/
Mike Brown in August of 2014. This video appears to have been discovered in December of the same year. I hope that the person who recorded the song was white too. I hope there was one decent human being at this charity gathering.
So the death of Justine Ruszczyk makes me wonder how many other white people have to die before white America recognizes its out of control police problem and out of control gun problem, both?
BLACKCHICKROCKED.BLOGSPOT.COM
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By the way -- After reading a HEAVY.COM article on Noor's decision to quit a lucrative job to become a police officer. I wonder what truly motivated Noor to become a police officer. The job of police officer has a certain macho lure for some men.
And according to a friend quoted in a Heavy.com article Noor busted up his marriage over the decision to become an officer.
This doesn't have to mean a thing...like him being a gun-happy, authoritarian, toxic masculinity sufferer But I don't think this is a good sign. We'll see.
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