Are the police always wrong?
Are suspects always right? © 2016
Whenever there’s a police-suspect confrontation, before any facts are released, the black community tends to make an automatic assumption that the police was always the bad guy. Even if the suspect was a robber, rapist, carjacker, had a lengthy criminal history and routinely preyed on his own people, the community treats the suspect like a freedom fighter of sorts and the police like the criminal.
Sometimes, of course, video reveals that the police was the bad guy and did act like thugs. In those situations, those rogue officers should be prosecuted, and in situations where their life was not threatened and they executed a suspect on the spot, they should get capital punishment. But all police-suspect confrontations aren’t that drastic.
The point being made is that every suspect we choose to turn into a martyr may not be so deserving. Some of these suspects are career criminals who have made a living victimizing their own people.
We don’t know all the facts, but another police-suspect confrontation took place Saturday in Milwaukee, and riots followed. Allegedly, two armed suspects fled their car after a police stop, and one of them was shot and killed. According to the police, the suspects had lengthy arrest records and stolen guns were involved.
That’s we know at this point. Is that enough to justify rioting, looting and burning down our own neighborhoods?
Before we jump into high gear and start protesting on behalf of people we know nothing about, maybe we should consider the words of a recent carjack victim in Detroit. In her situation, the police captured her carjacker, and he wasn’t treated with kid gloves. There was a slight community uproar on behalf of the criminal. But she begged to differ:
Carjack Victim: These coalition people are pissing me off. (She said of those calling for charges against the officers.) Nobody cares that he terrorized two kids. They are trying to make this a Trayvon Martin or Mike (Brown) case ... I'm tired of people making this a racial thing, and they're not looking at what he did to my family.
She was really upset when she heard the suspect called Jesus’ name when he was getting arrested.
Carjack Victim: He's calling on Jesus? Where was Jesus when he pulled his gun on us?
He put a gun in my face and said, I'm robbing you bitch.
She said she told him she didn't have any money and that he couldn't take the car because her grandsons were inside. One of them has special needs.
Carjack Victim: He told them to get the (expletive) out. He was yelling and screaming.
They chased him for a quarter of a mile. No one was killed. And they caught a felonious criminal. I don't want this guy using this as an excuse to get off.
Before we turn someone into a martyr, we should at least know something about the person. You could be defending a murderer, a rapist, a carjacker, a mugger—a really bad person.
Are suspects always right? © 2016
Whenever there’s a police-suspect confrontation, before any facts are released, the black community tends to make an automatic assumption that the police was always the bad guy. Even if the suspect was a robber, rapist, carjacker, had a lengthy criminal history and routinely preyed on his own people, the community treats the suspect like a freedom fighter of sorts and the police like the criminal.
Sometimes, of course, video reveals that the police was the bad guy and did act like thugs. In those situations, those rogue officers should be prosecuted, and in situations where their life was not threatened and they executed a suspect on the spot, they should get capital punishment. But all police-suspect confrontations aren’t that drastic.
The point being made is that every suspect we choose to turn into a martyr may not be so deserving. Some of these suspects are career criminals who have made a living victimizing their own people.
We don’t know all the facts, but another police-suspect confrontation took place Saturday in Milwaukee, and riots followed. Allegedly, two armed suspects fled their car after a police stop, and one of them was shot and killed. According to the police, the suspects had lengthy arrest records and stolen guns were involved.
That’s we know at this point. Is that enough to justify rioting, looting and burning down our own neighborhoods?
Before we jump into high gear and start protesting on behalf of people we know nothing about, maybe we should consider the words of a recent carjack victim in Detroit. In her situation, the police captured her carjacker, and he wasn’t treated with kid gloves. There was a slight community uproar on behalf of the criminal. But she begged to differ:
Carjack Victim: These coalition people are pissing me off. (She said of those calling for charges against the officers.) Nobody cares that he terrorized two kids. They are trying to make this a Trayvon Martin or Mike (Brown) case ... I'm tired of people making this a racial thing, and they're not looking at what he did to my family.
She was really upset when she heard the suspect called Jesus’ name when he was getting arrested.
Carjack Victim: He's calling on Jesus? Where was Jesus when he pulled his gun on us?
He put a gun in my face and said, I'm robbing you bitch.
She said she told him she didn't have any money and that he couldn't take the car because her grandsons were inside. One of them has special needs.
Carjack Victim: He told them to get the (expletive) out. He was yelling and screaming.
They chased him for a quarter of a mile. No one was killed. And they caught a felonious criminal. I don't want this guy using this as an excuse to get off.
Before we turn someone into a martyr, we should at least know something about the person. You could be defending a murderer, a rapist, a carjacker, a mugger—a really bad person.