Recently, there was another shooting of a unarmed black man. His name was Stephon Clark and he was only 22 years old.
This is tragic and disappointing, as was every single incident involving an unarmed black man being killed by police officers.
The thing that sticks with me, and that continues to bother me, is the statement given to America by a superior police officer for the officers that killed this young man.
That statement was, "the officers feared for their safety," which was followed with the reason why they shot at this young man 20 times in he dark.
Well, the officers fearing for their safety in general and reacting by shooting 20 times at a person in the dark strikes a nerve in me in that it feels, sounds, ridiculous. It's a backwards statement.
What I actually take away from the statement, "the officers feared for their safety," is that the police officers were fearing for their safety in the line of duty, which involves stepping into violent situations of many different means and methods to protect US from crimes which can include terrorism, terrorists, dangerous animals, and/or from danger overall.
The point I'm making is, a police officer's job encompasses, is immersed in, is involved with, and is an everlasting part of DANGER. It's involves confrontations with violence, the violent, you know, crime. Of course, right? It is one of the world's most dangerous jobs.
And to hear they shot 20 rounds at a unarmed black man in the dark because they were afraid something would happen to THEM, is ridiculous because this is what can naturally occur in the life of a police officer; something can happen to them. Harm can befall them. That you are scared is no reason to shoot blindly in the dark at a person not knowing whether they had a gun or not or if another police office was there even.
I don't appreciate this excuse. I don't appreciate any excuse for shooting an unarmed person at all, but this excuse of a police officer being afraid for their lives as if they didn't know the job would be dangerous upsets me, and I see this statement as an insult to America and the profession.
Every time this happens it looks more like untrained people being placed on duty, which needs to be checked in some way shape or form today. We tend to pay the price every time it isn't checked.
There is definitely prejudices and racism behind this. That also needs to be checked as well before hiring and active duty occurs. Anyway, one can only hope the epidemic of systematic cowardliness in dangerous jobs and racism comes to an end one day. In both instances, this will take courage.
@toninorthern on Twitter
