Shoot First and Ask Questions Later

In America, African American males don’t fear terrorists; we fear police.  On the heels of Mike Brown’s untimely death, John Crawford was killed by police in a Wal-Mart not too far from UCBA in Beavercreek, Ohio, on August 5. 

Let’s not forget the shooting in South Carolina of Levar Jones, who was shot while going for his wallet in his car after being instructed to do so by the officer in question.  I guess Mr. Jones is lucky being that he wasn’t killed in the incident. 

While most citizens are concerned with the airstrikes in Syria and the Middle East, it seems the police have waged war on African American males right here in the United States. 

No matter how hard we try to disguise it, racism will always be an issue in the United States.  Subsequently, it would be foolish to think race doesn’t have a hand in the treatment of African Americans by the police.  The truly amazing part of it all is that there is very little effort by our government to change the way the police interact with African Americans.  How many African Americans have to die before somebody in our government steps up and says something?

The justice system in the United States is extremely flawed.  The same people citizens put in place to protect and serve them are the same people who can kill them and get away with it.  

Something has to be done on some level of government to curb the violence from police on blacks.  There hasn’t been any emotional reaction to any of the shootings of these African American men from anyone in Congress or the President.  By the same token, let the latest maniac tough guy terrorists make a few videos that get aired on television, and it becomes a world issue.  I don’t mean any disrespect to the victims in the Middle East, but we have an issue right on our front lawn in America that needs attention.

With smart phones, and dashboard cameras being the norm in the United States, it’s likely we haven’t seen the last of the police shooting unarmed black men.  

The true question for me is “What are we going to do about it as a society?”  More needs to be done than just a press conference.  There has to be some legislative changes to prosecute the officers who commit these crimes.